Like its past several installments, NBA 2K25 is the best sports game I've played this year, but it still comes with a bolded, can't-miss asterisk. This year's basketball sim from Visual Concepts represents the latest in a series that has been lapping the competition in the sports genre--a group of games each seeking to be your live-service obsession. None justify their time commitment as well as NBA 2K25, which is in a league of its own--for presentation, gameplay, and overall immersion first and foremost--but the whole is actually less than the sum of its parts due to long-embedded pay-to-win tactics I fear will never be undone.
This year's biggest changes involve a new dribbling physics system that gives ball-control a more realistic feel. The impact of this is hard to explain but easy to recognize when you're playing it, aided by enhancements to the game's ProPlay animation system that converts real-life game footage to in-game mechanics. Virtually everyone has, at one point in their lives, played basketball, even if it's just shooting baskets at the park or a friend's house. You know what it feels like to maintain ball control and dribble, keeping it away from other players and feeling the weight of the ball as you learn to control it without needing to observe yourself doing so. NBA 2K25 captures that authentically, adding additional support to an already-excellent gameplay foundation that goes back years.
Unlike some other series that dispose of ideas if they don't work after a few years, NBA 2K has always seemed more committed to iteration, tweaking unwelcome features until they become enjoyable ones, and turning good aspects into great ones. Year two of the ProPlay system expresses this attribute. 2K24's foundational overhaul is made more nuanced with numerous new animations, many of them built to mimic a player's real-life play style. Basketball is a sport composed of many individuals who approach the sport in different ways, such that no two hoopers play exactly alike. NBA 2K25 better replicates that player specificity with more unique jumpshots, signature moves, and even post-score celebrations that are pulled from real life.
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