Jalen Brunson makes a fast break into the paint. The defense doubles up on him with 5 seconds on the clock and the Knicks are down by 1 point in the 4th quarter. 4 seconds..3 seconds.. he doesn’t have a shot but he looks to take a jump shot anyway.
BUT WAIT!!!! It was a fake jump shot to quick pass…. To the rookie MP who is already airborne. This is the most beautiful alley-oop you will ever see if it connects….1 second on the clock, the pass connects, and MP with the dunk. GAME OVER!!! THE NEW YORK KNICKS ARE YOU’RE NBA 2025 CHAMPS! So that’s how my NBA 2K25 career began with MP.
This year NBA 2k25 boots you right into career mode and right into a dream sequence for a rookie NBA star named MP. You pick the team, position, and a quick character model and jump into the most important game of his playing career. Once he wakes up, you can keep playing or jump into another game mode.
I stuck around a bit longer to try out the import face scanning feature which can be used via the NBA 2K companion app. With the Click of the (A) button, my face was imported into the game. From there you can dive deep into the character creation suite which has to be the most detailed suite I’ve ever seen in a sports game. You can easily spend hours customizing every aspect of your character.
One part of the NBA 2K series fans of other sports games (specifically EA Sports FC players) envy is the open world environment when off the court in my career. The City is back and it’s MASSIVE! There are more shops, events, quests, and badges.
There are now even more ways to earn SP and VC along with other goodies in the new proving grounds area in The City. Pretty much doing 1v1 up to 5v5 with other players. The two affiliate groups RISE and ELITE are back. Both help improve your character’s skills and have some over-the-top court locations. For example, ELITE has a court on the deck of a Pirates of the Caribbean-type pirate ship.
Honestly, The City can be its own video game entirely. Besides riding around on vehicles like the skateboard or go-kart, you can also use the subway. My Court can also be found here, so you and some friends can shoot hoops, play some games like horse, and simply hang out.
Now I’m not going to dwell on all the microtransactions since it’s been a mainstay in the NBA 2k for years so we all know how it works. Some love it, others hate it but regardless the fact remains that it is optional. Since there are more ways to earn VC, this at least allows players to earn more VC by playing rather than spending additional real-world money.
Now when it comes to the gameplay, NBA 2K has an upgraded version of Pro Play that uses actual NBA footage that translates into gameplay. Now before you roll your eyes and call this BS marketing jargon, let me tell you this feature is instantly noticeable. The players move more fluidly and are less robotic, especially the NPCs off the ball. I also noticed when I stop moving, my teammates will work harder to find open spaces instead of waiting for me to figure out the next move.
This upgraded pro play feature also included a good number of animations that appear to trigger from every position on the court. The Devs said there are hundreds of unique and signature moves for almost every player in the NBA. Triggering one of these animations simply requires you to press or hold up on the right stick. Positioning and player will impact the type of animation that occurs.
These animations look smooth and if you are playing with friends they will think you’re busting out some crazy button/trigger combo to pull them off. On the flip side, some animations are a few seconds and you need to let them play out.
It’s not like faking or canceling a shot. I’m sure some will argue that this takes away from the experience of developing player skills and oversimplifies the gameplay but if the real-life player can perform an amazing 180 fade-away jump shot wouldn’t you want him or her doing the move in the game?
When it comes to the visual and audio quality, NBA 2k25 is top-notch. Even a non-sports gamer would have to admit that this game is damn near perfect in these areas. I have a 5.1 surround sound system and the game sounds like an actual NBA game, from the crowd and arena sounds, commentators discussing the play that just took place, or pointing out some trivial info about a player it’s all incredible.
Visually there is a ton of detail on each player so that they look like their real-life counterpart. And since this game is running at 4k 60 FPS, all these features are front and center. The only giveaway that I am playing the game is I prefer to use the DRIVE camera angle.
NBA 2K25 is stacked with the following game modes:
- My Career
- My Team
- My GM
- NBA Today
- WNBA
- BLACKTOP
- And all the Play Now modes
At times, I feel like a broken record saying this but it’s true. The NBA 2K series produces the most complete basketball experience on the market. Sure, it could be due to a lack of competition from another Publisher like EA with the NBA Live series, but one cannot ignore the overwhelming amount of content and the insane attention to detail this series has and continues to implement. So even if a competitor were to appear, they would have a tremendous amount of work to do to surpass what is hands down the best overall basketball video game experience which is NBA 2k25.
This review was written based on a digital review copy of NBA 2K25 for the Xbox Series X provided by 2K.
