NBA 2K24

NBA 2K24 is the current entry in the long-running basketball series from Visual Concepts studio, which has long held the position of the most elaborate and best-selling basketball simulation on the market. The game continues the tradition of the MyCareer and MyNBA career modes, in which the player either builds their own athlete from the start of their career to star status, or runs an entire organization including trades, the draft, the budget, and the coaching staff. Also included is the online MyTeam mode built around collectible player cards, plus a social space in the form of a virtual city, blending career and multiplayer content where players spend time between matches.

On Xbox Series X and S the game benefits from motion-capture technology recorded from real players and a high level of animation aiming to replicate real basketball as faithfully as possible, including the individual dribbling and shooting styles of the league's stars. The console's extra power shows in smoother transitions between animations and faster loading of the extensive menus and game modes, which matters a lot for a title with this much content. The sound design, with commentator voices and licensed music, rounds out the atmosphere of a real NBA game, including crowd reactions to key moments and loud support from the home crowd.

Reviews consistently praise the depth of the simulation and the quality of the presentation, though criticism repeatedly surfaces regarding microtransactions in the MyTeam and MyCareer modes, which many players say affect the pace of progression without additional spending. Even so, NBA 2K24 confirms the series' status as the standard in basketball games, offering dozens to hundreds of hours of content for players interested in career and online modes of a professional-level sports simulation, including the ability to follow their player's development across multiple NBA seasons.

Why play it: With deep simulation and quality presentation it offers dozens to hundreds of hours of career and online modes, even though microtransactions in MyTeam and MyCareer remain a frequent target of criticism.