As I loaded into NBA 2K25, I tried to think back on if I’d actually played an NBA game before. It’s a genre that has existed for as long as I can remember, including a time when EA was competing against 2K with their own NBA Live series of games.
I started to remember an announcer exclaiming, “Oh my! He’s on fire!” and a flaming ball. Then I realised… I had played an NBA game, it’s just that it was NBA Jam on the Sega Genesis back in the mid-90s.
As someone who hasn’t been deeply immersed in recent NBA titles, it’s been an interesting experience to see just how the game plays as a newcomer to the genre. Fortunately, my love of the Houston Rockets has ensured that I have the basketball knowledge to not feel like I’ve been thrown completely in the deep end.
Reading on, I will explore how NBA 2K25 presents itself to newcomers. How accessible is this game for those who, like me, are playing for the first time? Or perhaps re-entering the game after a long hiatus?
Thrown onto the court without a playbook…
Upon launching the game, you’re steered towards a game mode called My Career. It’s here you create a player, pick a team, and then play through the regular season trying to guide your team to victory. The game definitely expects that you already know what you’re doing, throwing you straight into a bit of a dream sequence where you’re instantly in a game. I had to pause immediately to check the controls, which at a quick glance seemed simple enough.
As the dream sequence ends, the career mode begins. NBA 2K25 (2K) actually surprised me with the amount of story they squeezed in, with a fair amount of voice acting from your coach, agent, PR manager, and more. The game gets you moving fairly quickly, once again with an expectation you have a good idea what you need to do. The start of the game a bit jarring, but with a bit of exploration I was able to work it out; some general gaming experience helps.
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Gameplay
I was immediately pulled into the game by just how smooth the animations felt. Dribbling the ball up the court, changing directions, passing, shooting. It all just felt slick. But oh, boy! Was I bad… I mean really bad.
I learned quickly to pass the ball to my virtual team mates as much as possible, let them shoot and resolved to work out how to actual play the game when this initial match was over.
Fortunately, there were a bunch of training options that I found in the team gym. These included tutorials, where I was finally able to learn the basics of how to actually shoot the ball, complete a layup or dunk, and much more. There is a lot of depth to the game, with a myriad of moves your player can perform. I chose to focus on a few ‘easy’ options, so as not to overwhelm myself, and loaded into the next game.
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I wasn’t much better, but at least now I somewhat knew what I was doing. Somehow, I’d assumed that I’d load into the game and immediately be a superstar but this is definitely not the case. There’s a skill level required to learn not only the moves, which are executed with thumbstick and button combos, but also when is the appropriate time to do each move. This is dictated by what kind of player you are, where you are on the court, who is guarding you, and much more.
Graphics
NBA 2K25 has actually impressed me with how it presents, although I think what is most impressive is the fact they’ve got digital scans of every single player in the league. From superstars like Stephen Curry and Lebron James to 3rd order bench players from struggling clubs, each player on the digital court looks like their real life counterpart.
The animations for the most part are very smooth, especially when the game is running at a higher frame rate. There are different animations and shooting styles for different players, dunks, dribbling and more, which also lends to the impressive visuals.
The game does look a little bit washed out, almost like the lighting is not quite right which is a bit strange. I also found a few times when character animations would bug out, mostly in the pre- and post-game cut-aways. But neither of those impacted the gameplay.
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Building a dynasty, brick by brick
The core game mode available, My Career, is where I feel players will spend a lot of their time. You have the flexibility to create your own character, choose how they look and then give them a name and nickname. These names are used by the in-game commentators which helps draw you into the game. I used my own surname for my player and the commentators actually used it, which rattled me the first time. I’m not sure if they use some AI tomfoolery or record the most common surnames (mine ranks 78th in the US according to ChatGPT).
Starting as a rookie, you are able to develop your player into a superstar as the seasons progress. You can set goals and receive rewards for achieving them. I chose to be the best rookie in my draft class, which then turns regular games into “Key Games” where you have to outperform your opposing rookie. This helps break up the season, pushing you in specific games to make sure you perform your best.
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Between games you have the option to hit the gym where you can work on increasing your raw stats (e.g., speed, strength) or go to the practice court and do basketball drills to increase specific stats like shooting, dribbling and more. Stats matter in this game: there’s a huge difference playing as Luka Doncic (97) or Stephen Curry (95) compared to your rookie (60). So the gym and practice are important, perhaps mostly to extend the season out to prevent keen players from finishing the season too quickly!
The Last Dance
I wasn’t sure what to expect loading into NBA 2K25. It’s a series I’ve known about for years, but somehow it was something I’d never touched. Perhaps I am tainted by the volume of EA sports games that got pumped out every year back when I worked at EB Games.
As a newcomer to the series, the initial experience is unforgiving. I’d say that as an ‘experienced’ gamer, I was fortunate that I felt comfortable enough with gaming in general to have a poke around to find out what where I could actually learn what I was doing. If I was someone who hadn’t gamed before, they’d have been completely lost. But new gamers, or even newcomers to the series, is clearly not who 2K are targeting with this series.
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There is a clear focus on returning players. They want you to load into a game as soon as possible. They want minimal time for you to think about why you’ve just spent another one hundred odd dollars on the latest installment. And, they certainly don’t want you thinking about how they deactivate portions of their games after two years, forcing you to buy the newest version to keep playing…
I dislike that part of the franchise. Which is a shame, because I’ve loved playing the game! It’s been a welcome distraction from the fact that there’s no NBA at the moment.
Who needs to watch the Rockets when I can play as the Rockets? Why wonder if their latest rookie will live up to expectations when I can ensure that he does?
Who needs the real NBA when we have NBA 2K25 at home?
A copy of NBA2K25 was supplied to the writer for the purpose of this article.
