nba2k27
There's going to be a ton of hype going into the NBA season this year thanks to the New York Knicks finally winning a championship and LeBron James sunsetting in Philadelphia. The only place to experience that hype in the virtual world is with NBA 2K27, if you fancy the NBA experience as opposed to MyTEAM or MyPLAYER. NBA 2K27 doesn't really move the needle for the franchise, at least on consoles. NVIDIA introduced DLSS 5, which features 3D-Guided Neural Rendering, and it is first released for NBA 2K27 if the player has an NVIDIA GeForce 50-Series graphics card. Thankfully, we have one as this provides a next-gen preview for the franchise.
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NBA 2K27 is More Than Just Eye Candy
There are three core modes that power NBA 2K: MyCAREER, MyTEAM and MyNBA/MyWNBA. Everything that has been introduced this generation for the franchise carries over here in terms of having ways to play. For MyCAREER, players can now create a female MyPLAYER to jump into the new Co-Ed City. Rather than having two separate worlds, this was the easiest and next logical progression. The City brought in new environments including a faithful recreation of Rucker Park in Street Kings. Crew HQ gets a dedicated homebase for squads to practice and do ranked competition. A lot of community feedback went into The City to enhance it for those players, but the experience is the same. Playing on PC, however, made traversing The City and playing online much more responsive and not so sluggish.
MyCAREER also features a new "Fire & Concrete" experience that features an eleven-chapter cinematic story. Sports games went through a spell of having a narrative mode, so if watching a movie during a sports video game is still a thing for individuals, this is here. This is double the length, and players can invite a friend to play cooperatively in their MyCAREER. Individual elements were added to MyWNBA, which is highlighted by a Build-as-You-Go progression model, where MyNBA keeps the different eras, introduces a new GM Trust system and can play a massive 100-year universe.
The major highlight is the addition of MyCAREER Eras. Players can now take their MyPLAYER and insert them into the beginning of any of the Eras in NBA 2K27. This is also the next logical progression to add to the game in terms of bridging these two ideas together. Is it executed well? Not completely. Players create their player and just choose the team they want to play on. There's no draft, no build-up, just simply entering the league at the beginning of a decade.
Want to play along Shaq in Orlando? That's going to take some time as no specific year can be selected. In this mode, players do have the option to only play key games which will shape their player and legacy by completing goals. Completing these goals during a game provide XP, and then individual goals that are driven by the character build can activate GOAT Mode once those are completed. There's no sense of depth to this mode, but it's still awesome to experience this with the Eras filters.
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Overall, gameplay modes are largely the same and so are the dated menus. The series seems stuck in its innovation status as it switches from community feedback to what is already there rather than taking chances and going different directions with the experience. The Eras were the greatest introduction to the franchise during this generation, but the dated and convoluted menus, especially in Franchise Mode, need a major change. Looking at what EA has accomplished in improving the context of its seasons has helped, especially with the weekly recap. It simply comes down to a lack of focus on the mode as other modes are prioritized.
The Microtransactions Get Worse
The Virtual Currency that 2K offers is what powers the game. If a player purchases the top edition of the game, they're granted VC and have to decide if they want to build a player or if they want to get initial MyTEAM cards. Spending close to $150K in VC amounted in MyPLAYER getting an 80 rating, otherwise it's the ultimate grind to get something worthy. Players will get destroyed online if they do not pay extra. Attempting to customize the player will cost money, and always has. The idea is to keep players engaged and on the server for a massive amount of time so that advertisers can promote their brand.
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Only garnering an 80 OVR and losing all that money really feels like leaving the casino empty-handed after having a good hand or good roll. This game can be enjoyed without it, especially if going with the traditional NBA or WNBA experience. MyTEAM still does a good job in comparison to other card modes at providing quality card pulls. Jumping online as someone who doesn't play all the time means getting beat will happen quite a bit. The game remains geared towards hardcore fans who only play 2K and have learned the shot timing and the animations. Paying more will not necessarily improve performance, but it raises the baseline for competition by providing better weapons to play with, whether it be MyTEAM or The City/MyCAREER. The grind just feels worse than ever.
NVIDIA DLSS 5 and NBA 2K27
Even without DLSS 5 or anything NVIDIA, the separation of PC and console is truly measured with this game. It's well optimized for any system, and while DLSS 5 does provide a massive performance hit, the overhead on this game was the perfect way for NVIDIA to showcase this technology. Is it a difference maker? Absolutely, and you can fully expect that the next-gen console version will look like this. Way back in 2002, EA released Medal of Honor on PC and it was a technical marvel. Many games offer performance advantages nowadays, but this difference rekindled the idea of how Medal of Honor truly showcased the difference between platforms. We may just be back to that with DLSS 5.
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The system this was reviewed on is the best PC configuration that can be bought with an AMD Ryzen 9800X3D, NVIDIA RTX 5090 and 64GB DDR5 RAM. The system ran at 4K with everything maxed out including ray tracing at over 250 FPS, so maybe there is a market for those displays now. The test display was tested at 4K 144hz, but there's no option to cap the frame rate in the game, so V-SYNC was enabled to lock. This performance was at native resolution without DLSS on, so when comparing something like the Gears of War preview that would only hit the 40s with this setup and in native resolution, that provides an idea of the overhead this game is capable of while it runs at only 60 FPS on console. Even if you don't have a RTX 50 series card, playing on PC will provide a higher frame rate with higher visual fidelity and better input lag.
For DLSS 5, however, enabling this means you won't be going back. The 3D-Guided Neural Rendering that is utilized by any of the RTX 50 Series GPUs means more definition in faces and on bodies. Reflections are massive, sweat is more noticeable, while facial animations and static images are such a huge uplift that the realism bar gets raised. Much like the overall game, there's the occasional face that breaks that immersion. These are mostly the created faces that break that, but the coaches and crowds are noticeably improved with this. The women in the WNBA also feature more definitive facial details, and the Eras filters actually help with the legacy player faces even more.
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NBA 2K27 PC Test Bench Specs
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
GIGABYTE NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090
2x32 TEAMGROUP T-FORCE DDR5 6000 MT/s
WD Black AN1500 NVMe 2TB
GIGABYTE B650 AORUS ELITE AX V2
While this is the first officially supported game without forcing an insert on PC, there are some caveats. It's absolutely a must to turn off motion blur. The motion blur looks dreadful when turned on and causes artifacting around objects. The artifacts disappear when the option is turned off. Turning on super sampling may help with performance, and frame gen is included. Input lag is a fear with frame gen but when tested, shooting wasn't an issue. There wasn't any input lag. Are the changes noticeable at a distance? Not really. Player faces stand out more, but the replays and the close-ups are where the difference is at. NBA 2K27 with this hardware setup and enabling Neural Rendering dropped the frame rate substantially, but it stayed in the 80s.
Other sports games have caught up to the visual prowess that Visual Concepts has typically held at the top with the NBA 2K series. The dev diary from VC stated they were excited to implement this, and it's a showcase of what is possible in the future. NBA 2K27 is a performance example on PC for sports games and shows that if players jump over from console, they would be impressed with the results. It doesn't require a high-level system to get the visual results above what consoles have to offer that were released in 2020.
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The Most Balanced Gameplay This Generation
NBA 2K27 is extremely fun to play as it doesn't feature some of the frustrations of the past. Yes, the shot meter remains the core element that has forever changed this franchise, and it can be frustrating to deal with at times. Different player ratings, different scenarios will affect the speed of the meter. There does seem to be a perfect point that can be hit that will spread the green area out. ProPLAY continues to drive the core element of gameplay as 7,000 new animations have been implemented. Players can also conduct the side-step, or the "not-travel," step the NBA allows now.
While there are a lot of buzzwords like a new Dynamic Layup Engine and Expanded Dribbling Customization, the fact of the matter is that the gameplay on both sides of the ball is extremely balanced. The defense was reworked, and this feels like the main point of what drives the feel of NBA 2K27 . Visual feedback for shot coverage was added so players can get a better idea of how well they are doing. Player skills make a big difference, so taking advantage of mismatches feels more rewarding than ever.
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The shot meter has a plethora of visual options to change to help cater to what makes players comfortable on the offensive end. Dribbling and animations can still be awkward and the AI works well as a unit and seems aware. The entire experience is not head scratching and it just feels right. Contests with the AI remain tight as momentum and rhythm are battled for throughout a game. The game is utilizing AI for playcalling, whuch is a big help. It will pop up on the screen as the system will decide what to play to run, and then guide the player through positioning. This is some of the best basketball to play in a few years, at least on the traditional offline basketball-side of things.
Closing Comments:
Jumping to the PC version of NBA 2K27 is just what the doctor ordered for a necessary experience change. The game allows for high frame rates on systems that won't break the bank, and this is at bare minimum. If you have an NVIDIA RTX 50-Series card, the opportunity to utilize DLSS 5 with 3D-Guyided Neural Rendering will increase the realism to an unprecedented level. Multi-Frame Generation and Super Sampling is available to make sure frames remain high, which is something the consoles can't utilize at this moment. In terms of modes, the main modes return outside of adding MyCAREER Eras. There are changes to every mode, but nothing that supremely moves the needle for the series. There's a lot here to do, and if you have the extra funds for microtransactions, you can compete with others. The offline experience feels dated despite some changes to the MyNBA. The excellent gameplay helps to make up for some of these shortcomings, and if players don't get an NBA game every year, this would be the one to jump into.