NLSC Your source for basketball video games.
From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #617 of the NLSC Podcast!
The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One generation of NBA 2K games – and their PC ports beginning with NBA 2K15 – saw some fantastic hits, but also a couple of disappointing misses. With that in mind, how would we personally rank the eighth gen NBA 2K releases? That’s the challenge before us this week, as we take a look back and rank NBA 2K14 through NBA 2K20 from worst to best. As you’ll hear, it was tough to separate a couple of the generation’s best NBA 2K titles that have also become some of our all-time favourite basketball video games, but between gameplay, modes, content, and overall vibe, we had ample criteria to devise rankings that we stand behind.
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Just listened to this episode and this is one of my most wished for episodes.
I was late to NBA 2K, first game was 2k13 and that blew me aways and i have now gone back to older games in my 2k gaming a bit and also include 2K 9/10/11/12,
But this gen, the XB1/PS4 gen is really the gen i still play to this day and where 2k really took a stranglehold on my sports gaming.
Quick background and how i mainly play these games.
Started off playing mycareer on 2k13-14-15-16 and a few seasons on 17 but nowadays when playing 2K14-20 gen i exclusively play Myleague except for 2k14 since its so stripped down and Mycareer is acctually really good there.
I always use sliders and settings that i feel are realistic, sliders and setting the game up properly to me can make a “meh” game into something really good, and thats why perhaps my ranking will differ for some games vs yours and Dee4threes.
Mentioned it before when ive posted here, my Myleague is pretty much a Mycareer,
I create a player , myself and either put him in the draft for the 2nd season (simming first) or put him on for the first season on a 1/2 year deal, all this using a player lock
This journey can take all sorts of twists and routes because not only does your progress/overall rating go up and down due to bad or good performances/injuries but so does your team aswell.
Ive had careers that have started with me being Rookie of the year and playing all star as a 19-20 year old to having both 2nd season and 3rd season ruined by injuries then bouncing back to becoming a force to be reckon with season 4-5-6
Its really a great way to enjoy the ups and downs of a career.
so enough ranting, and heres my list.
7.NBA2K18
A no brainer right? acctually played this for few seasons on release but it never felt right.
The blow by issue, the missed layups overall a horrible game for this gen, probably the only really bad 2k game ive played, not to mention all the insane micro transactions that came that year and to me kind of a blessing since it made me switch to Myleague instead.
6.NBA2K15
Now it gets a bit trickier to be honest, think its a good game especially gameplay wise (sliders hurray) but coming from 2k14 and how that looked and played, it was a step down.
I can appreciate it for what it is though, and i still think its a solid game, and i agree on the douchey mycareer guy, really off putting.
And one more downside being no player lock, just a position lock which makes huge difference to my gaming, playing the minutes you play then the game sims til youre back on again making it possible to play 4×12 qtrs.
This is a game i mainly enjoy on PC, i know its the same as the console version, but to me it runs smoother and look a bit sharper on pc
5.NBA2K19
Got to say this is a really good game, but what makes it tough for me is the fact that we came from a game that did let you blow by the cpu every time to game that pretty much suffocated you, cpu was pretty much living inside you uniform, to me at least very hard to shake the cpu.
Still had one of my best careers on it with the Hornets.
Really a very good game
4.NBA2K20
Suprisingly many seasons played on this one despite a few flaws to me, get in to the cpus force field when trying to sprint side by side being one, think that the cpu ai and team mate ai took a hit with this game, pretty much sticking to orders when you set up defending and not “thinking for themselves” is how i should describe cpu/team mate cpu defending.
Not to clever defending is quite common in the more modern 2k games as well, or a decision by the company to promote more attacking basketball instead of defense, who wants to see defending right? ( very common in all other modern sports titles i play as well).
Though the team mate defense can be set before every game and acctually making them play way better than vanilla set up, still is a step down for smart and organic behaviour.
Though, what ilike over 19 is the looseness of the gameplay and how you really can pull a few moves and completely leave the defender with its pants down, pretty much like playing a human opponent, reach and teach moments.
So now for the podium.
3.NBA2K14
This game is fantastic, on how it looks and plays, though content wise its so bare boned,
And being bare boned is my only complaint, i still play a few games every now and then on my old Mycareer and it feels amazing, but for me being a franchise guy it has to be a 3rd place for this gem of a game.
If only…
2.NBA2K16
This should really be a tie for me, gameplay is amazing , a bit to tough to beat your defender at times but when you do, its really rewarding, also the first game with a player lock having the opportunity to just play one player when he plays, big step up for me.
And the physicality, ive seen screens in this game that ive never seen on other game, clearly remember a screen that was so great to see playing this a year or so on my 2k16 Myleague
NBA 2k16 Nurkic screen
Really solid game all around, the only thing or i should say what makes this game coming in at 2nd is minor but yet quite important, more on that on my next game on this list.
Still up there competing for first place almost every year for me, brilliant brilliant game
1.NBA2K17
This game with how it feels on he sticks, running dribbling shooting how fluid it is, how you can put up great moves and the player does it, not being swarmed by tons of animation but just looks right and plays right.
What makes this over 16 for me is just that, plus one more feature added in for the first time, advanced rotation, being able to set when every player plays, not just the minutes per game, but when!
Huge feature for me
My only complain, the player models, way to skinny!
So thats my take on your list.
Great show, and what really made this show a good one is the fact that you could hear how much you guys love these games.
Thanks!
Thanks for tuning in, and for providing a detailed breakdown of your rankings as well! I’m glad that our passion and enjoyment of the games comes through. That’s always the goal; even when we’re criticising games it’s because we care, so it’s good to know that’s apparent in how we’re expressing ourselves!
I definitely see where you’re coming from with your rankings. I do think it was a strong generation overall, so while there are a couple of games that didn’t quite hit with all of us (and it feels like NBA 2K18 was a miss with a lot of us), there’s a lot of good there. NBA 2K really established itself during the seventh and eighth generations. To that point, there’s undoubtedly room for debate and moving a couple of games around in all of our rankings, a few that are very close calls that we could go either way on.
NBA 2K17’s body models are absolutely one of its weakest points, a noticeable downgrade in a game that’s otherwise fantastic and generally a step forward from the year before. Changes like that, and the lighting in NBA 2K15, are really puzzling. They’re not an improvement, and gamers generally weren’t demanding those changes, so they’re definitely questionable design choices. We can put up with them if we’re enjoying the gameplay, but it’s still a bummer to see visual downgrades like that.