NBA 2K27, NVIDIA Shine in PC Review

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.