![]() Another way to get better is to get XP by smaller challenges such as scoring nine free throws with a specific player in a single match. And here, well, the grind-driven progression is even slower because the Spotlight Challenges aren't available as of yet. or you can invest some real money to try your luck at getting better players, badges, contracts, etc. You can progress just by playing, getting rewards (particularly online), and completing player and team challenges. It's still based on cards, packs, auctions and rewards. So, little has changed in terms of graphics and gameplay, and the same can be said about game modes, which can be hard to differentiate from NBA 2K20, and not always for the better, as shown by MyTeam. Now, you'll normally lose, but player skill comes into play more. Before, when your naturally-grown, 75-average team faced an investment-backed 95-average squad, you were going to be wiped out no matter what. However, the fact that the stick-based shot is trickier to pull off balances the matches ever so slightly. This mode, same as in previous entries, is by-the-book pay-to-win. This format might as well become the foundation to revamp the whole system in the future, and I found that it's already useful to ease the mess found in Neighborhood. The trickiest are the long shots as even more accuracy is required, but you can always press Square, which is what I normally do on PS4, and then when I'm closer to the post I enjoy trying to nail the more analogue Pro Stick moves. Now, some of you will be against this design choice, but I like it, and please allow me to tell you why. It makes scoring trickier, more so for those of you who start playing without taking a look at tutorials (and think this is NBA 2K20 all over again, which we can understand), but also for those who are getting into the series for the first time. ![]() So the shooting technique in NBA 2K21 is a double-edged sword. Now, when the player initiates the jump-and-throw movement, you also have to aim at the basket, and not just time the moment of releasing the ball. Visual Concepts have completely remapped the right stick actions so that they are more meaningful. The gameplay has changed little as well, but here there's an important touch which hides some interesting potential: the Pro Stick. What was technically brilliant four years ago is not bad today, but it's lost its ability to catch your eye. It's almost identical graphically, with the exception of some retouches to bodies and to the collision animations, which seem enhanced. Upon booting up the current version of NBA 2K21 (on PS4, Xbox One, Switch, or PC), you get the feeling that pretty much everything remains the same. From then on, we've seen fewer and fewer improvements, more ways to spend money, until last year we even got a casino. But that year, its creators realised that something as entertaining as Neighborhood, where you spend your time away from the court, was also interesting as a means of increasing player spending. The new entry enjoys the benefits of the great heritage of entries such as 2K16 and 2K17, which peaked at a technical level with 2K18. With NBA 2K21 it's time to say "enough", at least in terms of how it presents itself ahead of making the jump to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. The last victim of this is NBA 2K, which survives thanks to the gameplay quality achieved by Visual Concepts, but struggles surrounded by a lack of improvements and the use and abuse of an increasingly blatant monetisation system. ![]() Especially when the end of a console generation is nigh and resources are shared between two versions in parallel. Too often have we seen a sports game reign with such superiority that it ends up losing its way.
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