NBA 2K25 review-in-progress: From Downtown!

Even though I liked last year’s NBA 2K24, it felt like a year of treading water. It’s still the best basketball game around, but that’s largely down to a lack of competition, and I was somewhat ready for more of the same as a result this time around.

To my surprise, NBA 2K25 is my favourite entry in the series in a few years. It ties together a controversial new shooting meter, better visuals, and a whole new level of fluidity to make it the most realistic-looking basketball sim around. While I’m still dubious about the in-game microtransaction economy, I’ve enjoyed my time with it so far.

Squeaky Clean

In my opinion, NBA 2K has always been the industry leader for sports game visuals. From the sweat on players to the way light bounces off the court, it’s always been a looker. This year, it somehow looks even better, with increased detail in player models.

Even more impressive are the new animations. NBA 2K24 lay-ups felt like small, staggered animations that did the job, but maybe didn’t quite look how a player would in motion. This time around, it feels like there’s been a conscious effort to stitch those smaller pieces together, and the end result is a night-and-day improvement.

It’s not just lay-ups, either. Everything feels more fluid, while everything from the pick and roll to tactical fouls feels tuned to near-perfection. Contact dunks feel like a highlight-worthy moment, rather than the awkward coming together we saw in places last year, and a higher premium has been placed on creating a few inches of space by leveraging more expressive dribblers.

New this year is a revised shooting system called Rhythm Shooting. If you’ve been hitting big shots for the last few years and want to shake things up, it’s an impressively malleable system - and not just because it rewards you with some shots that’ll go in despite being ill-advised.

It’s tricky to get used to at first (and you can revert if you’d prefer), but the idea is that it’s more flexible and more accurately resembles a player’s movement when taking a shot. In practice, it’s likely more geared to better players than I am, but the new animations and the aforementioned chance of a bucket where there may otherwise not have been one is reason enough to persevere.

VC makes the world go round

One of my biggest critiques of last year’s game was the way everything feeds into the Virtual Currency (VC) economy. Levelling attributes, buying players in MyTeam, or earning cosmetics is all done through VC, and while you’ll be able to earn a relative pittance from actually playing the game, it still makes the (basketball) world go round.

Items are still very expensive at the higher end, and it still feels bizarre to have to choose to spend the currency on levelling your player or buying a new pair of shoes, but it’s no different to years prior.

Still, it does create a barrier to entry - I jumped into a casual pick-up game in The City, only to receive abuse for my player’s low rating. I’d understand the issue if we were halfway into a season, but this was on launch week.

Thankfully, The City is much smaller and easier to navigate than it has been in years. What felt like a large area for the sake of size last year has been squeezed into a smaller space that’s still dense with activities, and it’s still nicely tied into MyCareer. It’s also more fun to look at, with huge mechs in the background that give it a more fantastical vibe.

To the top

MyCareer this year has you start out as a top prospect in high school games before building a rivalry and later, a friendship, with another prospect that grows to be your manager.

Again, you can skip straight to exploring The City and grinding your attributes, RPG-style, or you can play a more traditional career mode for your chosen team, or dip between each. That’s perhaps NBA 2K’s biggest strength, and VC woes aside, I still appreciate the flexibility on display.

Player builds are more straightforward this year, too. Even a relative newcomer can easily understand what attributes are needed for each position and play style and plan accordingly, and that should help players find their feet on the court a little sooner.

This time, Eras takes aim at the Steph Curry era, and it’s once again a great chance to relive some iconic moments, this time with the Golden State Warriors in the late 2010s.

It’s a little strange to see pivotal players like Andre Iguodala, Blake Griffin, and John Wall missing, however, seemingly due to a lack of contracts for likenesses. It’s a small blemish, but worth noting for basketball historians.

Final Thoughts

I still want to spend more time with the more RPG-like MyGM mode, but for now I’m confident in saying that NBA 2K25 is a big improvement on last year’s game.

While the same VC woes remain, I’m convinced it’ll be remembered fondly in the annals of the franchise.

Review in progress on PS5. Review code provided by the publisher.