The highly popular basketball video game ”NBA 2K21” was released on Sept. 4 to all platforms: Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PC, and PlayStation. The game retails for $59.99 for the standard edition, and it is well worth the cost.

One of the very popular gamemodes called MyCAREER is a story mode where the player is able to customize their ideal NBA player. A new feature added to this game mode lets the player play high school games, and after that players are able to choose their dream college, and play a couple of games for that college, which is a lovely add on to give players a more immersive experience. Then it continues like the previous games where players are able to choose any team they want from the NBA and play for them and play like a normal season.

The next gamemode is called The Neighborhood, which lets players play 2K beach. In Neighborhood they added new clothes brands for MyPlayer (the character players create). This gives more options on how to dress the characters and makes the game even more immersive for players. They moved around the level rewards such as the hoverboard which is now at All Star I (Level 7).

Moving onto gameplay, the graphics are better. A complaint from many players, including myself, is that while playing defense, characters tend to slide around the court making it harder to play defense because it’s hard to lock on to the offense.

Shot Put, and dribbling are still the same. They made shooting with the right stick easier to use, but then made it a bit more difficult a little bit after launch.

They removed some badges, which are like skills that make players’ characters unique, and better on the court. They also added jumpshots, which characters are able to copy.

There are mixed feelings among the community about the shooting. Some say it’s better, and others call it utter garbage, and I’d like to think it’s actually good.

Going to the MyPlayer, they get to own a personal penthouse where they are able to customize their own indoor court. They also changed the furniture to give a new sight to the eyes.

Most players like the new penthouse design better than last year, but I like the penthouse from last year’s game, although this one is almost just as good. They also added fireworks to be obtained at the second to last level, and DJ equipment at level 9.

The game still offers microtransactions, which is basically buying virtual goods with micropayments. This is usually to generate more income for the companies, and most gamers despise this because it makes the game pay to win. The more money players spend, the more VC (“NBA 2K21” currency) players get. With VC players are able to level their characters at a much faster pace than players who actually play the game and put time and effort into it.

Overall it’s another fantastic edition to the “NBA 2K” series; all it needs is some minor tweaks and changes and it’s golden. I rate it a 4.8 out of 5 stars.