I happened to get this game for free from PS Plus, and being a sucker for free stuff and sports games, I had no choice but to give it a spin.
I reviewed NBA 2K19 last year, and was expecting a minor revision for this year's title. Boy, was I surprised! NBA 2K20 fixed almost everything that was broken in the previous year's title, and absolutely astounded me with its overall quality. My main three complaints were that the game did little to approximate the varied styles of different NBA teams, that the game modes with micro-transactions were so dependent on using cash to compete that it was an obvious cash grab for people with little self-control, and that the defense was too predictable and easy to exploit, even on very high difficulties. Let's visit each in turn for 2K20.
Unfortunately, they really continued to fail to replicate real NBA style and rotations here. They still just default to the top rated players for starters for each team, regardless of how the real teams use them. My example last time of the Clippers bringing Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell off the bench in real life but starting them in the game continues to be relevant here. What's more, the style of each team is basically identical to the rest, depending solely on player tendencies rather than on the philosophy that undergirds each team. There's no differences between Houston, San Antonio, and Denver in this game, and that's a real shame for NBA fans.
The micro-transactions, on the other hand, have been greatly improved. The game is far more generous with daily gifts than it was previously, and it feels like skilled "free" to play (as free as a $60 game can be) players have a shot against their deep-pocketed rivals. I built a solid team with little effort, and was competitive in the games that I played.
The defense, however, was the single biggest achievement here. They COMPLETELY overhauled the defensive schemes of the AI, and it feels like a totally different game as a result. Defenders handle picks much more skillfully than they did in the previous year, and that injects a great amount of realism into the title. Real teams generally handle screens in one of three ways. They can trail behind the ball handler, bothering him from behind and keeping him from shooting threes, but allowing straight line drives at the rim. They can go under the pick, preventing the ball handler from driving but allowing him to stop and shoot open threes. They can also switch the pick, which allows teams to stop the ball handler from driving or from shooting threes, but opens up the possibility of the screener rolling towards the basket with a smaller man defending him. It's a magnificent game of rock-paper-scissors, and watching skilled defenders, ball handlers, and roll men navigate this dance is one of the joys of watching live basketball. But in the previous game, the defender would basically always get stuck on the pick and both the screener's defender and ball handler's defender would chase him around, opening up wide open opportunities for the screener. Now, the defenders will change their strategies, causing the offense to have to think about the appropriate strategy to deal with it. If they switch, you'll need to punish the smaller man in the post with your big. If they trail, you'll need to charge towards the rim while your big pops towards the three point line, opening up a three or a dunk. And if they go under, the ball handler will have to step back and knock down the open triple reliably. They've also greatly improve defensive rotations for situations where you beat your man, forcing you to think ahead and pass where the defense won't have a chance to get, or make the extra pass to keep the defense on its heels. It's really a magnificent overhaul, and I loved the chess match involved in playing offense in this game. That's not to say there aren't still some unpredictable things that happen (particularly when you're playing defense), but they've made great strides.
The MyPlayer mode's story was honestly pretty boring and not as engaging as the excellent iteration in 19, which was lame. But I enjoyed the actual game play much more, so I'll take that trade.
Commentary is excellent again, with a wide range of commentators and guest commentators holding down the mic. There's definitely some repeat stuff from 2K19, but that's ok.
I was extremely impressed by this game, and think it's one of the best sports video games, ever. It has a few rough patches here and there, but it's a solid improvement on an extremely good title. I'll give it a 9.3/10.
Up next is a game from a series I've been wanting to try out for a long time, but only did in the last few months. Here's a teaser...
-TRO
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