A few hours into my MyCareer experience, I had the startling insight that the virtual money (VC) I had accrued during that time might be used to purchase my character a new pair of jeans. A pair of black Under Armour sweatpants that resemble the ones I wear when I go shoot hoops, not especially remarkable trousers, mind you. Not a particularly impressive prize and I was already feeling down after using most of the 100,000 VC that came with the $100 Michael Jordan Edition of NBA 2K23 just to raise my player’s attributes to a point where they felt competitive for some court action in The City, NBA 2K23’s impressively sizable hub for all things MyCareer.
A split similar to MyTeam is created between those who work hard for success and those who were paid to rise through the ranks when that person finally migrates out of the plot and into The City. It’s obvious that a certain proportion of players may like the game to let them upgrade immediately, but having to compete against them in The City’s courts and other PvP modes seems like being locked in a first-person shooter lobby with wall-hackers, etc. The fact that the same coin can be used to enhance your character, purchase tattoos, and repaint skateboards seem like a long-broken mechanic that the game simply keeps reintroducing every September.
Additionally, The City is so heavily saturated with a commercial promotion that it would be amusing if it weren’t giving me such a bleak glimpse of the so-called metaverse. From Mobil and Nokia to Gatorade and Nike, almost everything is a commercial. It seems like Mountain Dew has to be given to me every time I want to high-five a teammate.
These difficulties definitely prevent NBA 2K23 from being historically outstanding, particularly given how persistent they are year after year, but for yearly players who have become used to these faults, they’ll probably hurt less. There is no question that the outstanding basketball game that was created with meticulous attention to detail and a love of the game will remain once you forgive (or just try to ignore) those problems. The new and improved modes treat the NBA like a treasured historical landmark, and NBA 2K23 looks and feels realistic and thrilling in every drive on the floor. It makes an effort to accurately portray Jordan’s excellence in these crucial areas and demonstrates what it was like to play like Mike to both historians and NBA rookies.
Unfortunately, despite having a huge head start on venture capital, I was unable to compete with the huge spenders, and I’ve already encountered more of them than I anticipated. Due to their probable decision to spend additional money on NBA 2K MT coins, half of the players I faced in The City were already far better than my player’s ratings. For instance, even as a center who prioritized rebounds, I often found myself outjumped and out-rebounded by much smaller players. Whether it’s mostly in my mind or not, I often noticed that the scoring favored teams with high player attribute ratings, which made the games seem unfair and unbalanced, but unless I found somewhere cheap coins are sold.
