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Rookie
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NBA 2K24 PlayNow Online Review (Pre-patch)
I'd like to start by saying that my review comes from years of experience playing the entire series, never missing a game. This is STRICTLY a review of PlayNow Online ONLY.
This is NOT:
MyPlayer
The Park
MyLeague
Offline
*Also, all games were played on the Broadcast camera angle
Now that that's out the way, let's jump right in.
Online Shooting
Shooting feels very realistic in this game. You make the shots you should and miss the ones you should. The camera angles on perfect releases aesthetically highlight the shot, almost like a mini cutscene. This looks great but may telegraph shots going in too much. I haven’t seen it on misses, likely to allow rebounds. Consecutive threes create an authentic momentum feel. The variety of shooting mechanics allows customization, and making releases feels more skill-based. I don’t love it but but I really, REALLY like it. It will probably grow on to me. I can’t wait to see how this plays out for buzzer beaters and game winners.
General Shooting
The variety of shooting options allows total customization. With meter on or off, splash on or off, I prefer turning everything off and focusing purely on release timing. Making clean releases consistently gives a solid chance to score. Contested shots fall reasonably if released well, but also miss properly when defended well. Open shots work similarly - I've made many but also missed some good looks, realistically. Nobody expects to make every single open look. The balance makes shooting feel true to life.
Defense
Defense is similarly authentic. Bumping offense disrupts timing, and staying in front forces misses or turnovers. Off-ball bumping throws off positioning and spacing. Holding ground draws charges effectively. Spamming steal is now punished, requiring more discipline. A lot of 2K players with low basketball IQ are going to complain. If you’re a defensive guy, you absolutely can shut down teams and actually go on “defensive runs.”
Shot Blocking
Shot blocking now feels skill-based. Spamming block creates fouls appropriately. Proper timing alters shots. Over-contesting is penalized intelligently. I’ve seen both sides of jump shot fouls reasonably. Chasing shooters off screens now feels more realistic risk/reward.one seem to be the body block steals. Users used to be able to spam the block button in the paint close to the basket and create steals that should be called blocking fouls — these are now appropriately called as fouls. In past 2Ks, a user could make a living off of playing pogo stick defense in the paint/perimeter and get easy steals…2K seems to be doing the right thing and trending towards more honest penalties for over committing.
I've seen jump shot and three point fouls called properly on both offense and defense. Contesting shots seems to require good timing and positioning. With a shooter like Steph Curry, you really have to get close quickly to contest without fouling. For average shooters, just putting a hand up bothers their shot more. Chasing shooters off of screens now feels like a real risk/reward choice. You have to decide whether to jump and risk a foul, or lay back and just put a hand up. The game forces you to make smart decisions on how to best defend different shooters. Overall, it rewards players who make disciplined choices like in real basketball. Spamming actions like jumping constantly now gets penalized appropriately. The balance makes defense feel more true to life.
I played against a user with the classic Lakers as the current Spurs. Wilt Chamberlain has dominated and forced me to double team him in all past versions of 2K. But when I used the rookie Victor Wembanyama, he shockingly shut down Wilt in single coverage with 7 blocks! The other user kept aggressively trying to dunk ON Wembanyama instead of using Wilt's finesse moves. Wembanyama's volleyball blocks were everywhere.
As a big versus a guard, Wembanyama is slower. But against bigs without speed like Wilt, he feels like a 7'6" version of Paul George. Quick bigs can expose slower bigs now. The difference in speed and quickness is clear. Against guards speed is more even, realistically.
The balance is great. Guys like Shaq can overpower anyone inside and force doubles. But speed can counter strength well now. This tradeoff feels authentic.
Steals
In past games, spamming steal was overpowered. It was either an automatic foul or steal if timed perfectly. Now, timing and positioning matter. If you're in good position, you can poke the ball loose rather than get a guaranteed steal. This creates scrambles for the ball with players diving, like real basketball. Hopefully this leads to realistic injuries eventually too. Proper defense is rewarded instead of steal spamming.
Off-ball steals are more balanced as well. Guessing right earns you a steal or 50/50 ball. But guessing wrong leaves you out of position and vulnerable. Spamming steal off-ball is ineffective compared to smart positioning and timing. I can't believe the amount of 50/50 balls I'm seeing. The risk/reward feels realistic.
Overall, discipline is required instead of spamming steal constantly. Learning manual defense is encouraged over cheesy mechanics. For once, proper defensive fundamentals get rewarded appropriately in this game.
Defensive Rotations
Help rotations are key. When controlling on-ball, the CPU covers more intelligently this year. Backline communication stymes dribble penetration. Off-ball mechanics like mis-cuts are reduced. Forcing the extra pass disrupts offense. Defensive cohesion is rewarded.
Mis Cuts
So far, I haven’t seen any moments where a guy is wide-open in the corner, you pass it to him and then he suddenly decides to cut right into the paint, in heavy traffic and not be open anymore.
Double Teams
This seems to be balanced now. The window to pass is just enough. It’s not over powering. It’s beatable when overly used, it’s effective when properly used. Maybe an option to let you dribble out of double teams as a badge could be an idea for the future. (Dribble Out badge? ��)
Zones
Zone defense thrives against isolation but struggles versus ball movement, mimicking real basketball. The balance of making and missing threes against a zone is clear. Zones work when appropriate but get exploited if misused.
Fouls
Fouls are called appropriately - minimal cheap reaches or bumps, encouraging sound fundamentals. Physicality has real tradeoffs; drives and post-ups earn trips to the line if the defense gets impatient.
I’ve seen a variety of fouls. Blocking fouls, illegal screens, fouls on jump-shots, loose ball fouls, a few travels. This seems to be the most balanced the fouls have been in all the years I’ve played.
Free Throws
Free throws are fine. I’m not having any issues. I’m making them with people I make them with, I’m missing them with players that aren’t good FT shooters. I occasionally miss one that I thought I should’ve made, I make some that I felt I should’ve missed.
Fast breaks
Pushing pace in transition is possible but structured. Floor balance curbs fast break exploitation. Careless outlet passes have consequences. Stamina now matters, tiring speedsters who overdo it by the 4th quarter.
Dribbling
I’m not a dribbling god but I can break down my defender when I need to. The game is VERY momentum based. If you’re the type to swing the stick very sharply all over the place, you see a lot of fast animations but it doesn’t really “create space.” When you move the stick subtly and then mix in sharp counter swings WHILE moving the joystick in the same way, you can REALLY control where you’re going and really make defenders look really bad or find WIDE OPEN blow by angles and/or "hezzi" opportunities. Turbo-ing into traffic more times than not forces you to pick up your dribble if you’re a good ball handler or lose the dribble altogether if you’re not a good ball handler. I crossed up some users pretty badly and they’ve also gotten me back pretty good too. I keep stressing how balanced things seem.
Passing
I used all forms of passing except directional. I primarily icon pass. This is the first year I’m finding that using all the different passing options actually work. I’ve usually religiously been strictly an icon passer (I’ll icon-pass to a player standing right next to me) but this year the lob pass, bounce pass, chess pass all work equally well. I haven’t had an opportunity to try out the bounce-alley-oop pass yet but I have no complaints. The ball zips when it needs to and the ball is soft as a feather on lobs when it needs to be.
*Magic Johnson, in particular, wow-ed me with some of his no-look passes. The animations are just beautiful when you pass to a wide open teammate and Magic automatically no-looks to sell the play. (Make the shot!)
Plays
Sometimes I run plays, sometimes I don’t. When running plays, timing is key. Hitting a guy as he’s JUST coming off a screen can create a WIDE OPEN shot but too early/too late and a play is broken. When I’m not running plays and just free flowing, there are broken plays left and right. Out the box, things don’t feel canned at all. Most of us worry that the “freeness” will be patched out. This is a huge fear of mine. I have never seen so much variety in live-play. In the past, within a few patches, the game becomes “routine.” Let’s pray 2K gives us better patches with LESS glitches/game breakers.
Substitutions
ACE. I usually turn it off after the first 2 weeks and would turn it back on during the playoffs to see if it improved…it never would. This year, out the box, ACE seems to work. 5 guys aren’t being subbed out at once anymore. Very rarely do I see a unit of scrubs on the court all at once. There always seems to be a star or a few for the stacked teams. I was quite impressed how the CPU coaches have staggered teams with multiple stars.
This goes right into fatigue.
Fatigue
Fatigue has never mattered in past games, but now it's a crucial factor. Players who hog the ball all game without subbing finally become exhausted. Tired players make more mistakes - loose dribbles, airballed shots, lazy passes. This punishes ball dominance appropriately.
I hope these mechanics stay intact. For too long, users could play recklessly all game with stars and face no consequences. Taking 60 contested shots, constantly turbo dribbling, never passing - these bad habits now drain energy. Ignoring fundamentals wears you down.
The complainers wanting infinite stamina miss the point. In real basketball, players tire when overused. 2K finally mimics this. More than anything, I hope this isn’t patched out. The user who wants to take 60 shots with their star player, 60 forced drives, 60 bad shots…finally, they’re gassed and useless. Please 2K, ignore the people who complain their players have no energy after dribbling for 23 out of 24 seconds in a shot clock…all while holding turbo…ALL GAME LONG…thank you for listening!
Rage Quits
Quitting is finally discouraged through penalties. I dashboard reset to avoid a mirror matchup (Suns vs. Suns) and a splash screen warned of possible account throttling. This should cut down on rage quitting and lead to more complete box scores. * - I only saw it once and didn’t quit a game after so I’m not 100% sure what the message read. I should’ve taken a picture.
Hopefully these measures create a more welcoming environment for new players rather than quick-trigger quitting. Full games will lead to proper stat tracking and leaderboards. Also matchmaking should improve when players can't instantly quit to protect their records.
This is a step in the right direction. Competitive integrity in online play has been lacking. Penalizing quitting promotes sportsmanship and playing games through. Cheesers may complain but it should benefit the community overall.
Conclusion
After extensive hands-on time, I am impressed with the balance and realism achieved this year. The mechanics capture the nuances of organized basketball and reward discipline over exploits. Shooting, defense, movement - all feel truer to the intricate rhythms of the sport. There is a welcome rise in skill gap. Mastering fundamentals provides satisfaction.
This strong foundation hopefully resists over-patching. Time will tell if adjustments uphold integrity or cater to casual play. For now, suburbs reign over arcade tendencies. Playing virtual basketball mirrors the real thing more than ever. Physics, spacing, decision-making - all aligned with strategic principles. Sweat and study earn success.
Veterans will appreciate increased depth while newcomers can develop skills. There is less reliance on spamming cheese plays or moves. Patience and high IQ get rewarded. Emergent moments arise from the organic flow. This stands to become the most balanced and authentic hoops simulation yet. For now, I am grateful for the increased realism. Let's maintain the vision moving forward.
(I hope this helps with making a decision for anyone who hasn't gotten the game yet. I did my best to describe "feel")
Last edited by guesswhozbak17; 09-11-2023 at 09:15 PM.
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09-11-2023, 08:34 PM
