I don't follow the NBA very closely so I tend to buy 2k every other year or so, and this year's 2k is like every year I buy 2k: whatever the newest 2k is is the best basketball video game there's ever been.

I don't want to sound too hyperbolic or anything; there's stuff in here that I don't like. But when it comes to the pure on-the-court basketball? Whatever the newest 2k is the best it's ever been.

Are the newest 2ks my favorite basketball games? It's tough to say, but probably no--that would go to Dunk Kids I think.

Basketball is a skill game--it's tough and wonderful and joyful to watch; I think spiritually it's America's soccer. But the sort of individual skill we see our favorite players display is incredibly had to replicate unless you've got a powerful engine. It's why, for as much as I love NBA Jam, you don't get to feel like those guys like you do in every newest 2k.

If you like basketball, grab this and have a blast. It's incredibly easy to ignore the obnoxious microtransaction stuff.