With NBA 2K21 MT, you simply know what you're getting into--a basketball simulation together with the presentation chops, star power, and gameplay mechanics to embody the sport on a professional and cultural level. You know you will build a custom player to go through a narrative that leads into a complete career and take to the streets and rec center for pick up games. You know you can perform a management sim via MyGM or construct a working fantasy team through card packs in MyTeam. And you also know all too well about the scheme of VC that looms over it all, which remains one of the prominent culprits of intrusive microtransactions.

Now, NBA 2K21 suggests that the franchise is outside of surprises. It comes with a strong suite of modes, but despite minor remixing year in, year out, the yearly releases are beginning to blend together (when they have not already). Mechanics get minor tweaks or additions, but largely remain untouched. So, for all those embedded in the 2K cycle, you know what the deal is, but because this year's game changes things mostly on a surface level, it is difficult to be excited about yet another entry.

And that doesn't just come from the player likenesses, character creation tools, or the broadcast-style demonstration; it is an issue of the core gameplay, too. Dribble moves with the ideal pole offer nearly full control of ball handling. It can feel a bit cluttered having so many actions mapped to slightly different moves on just 1 stick, as errant inputs can sometimes have you pull a pump-fake instead of the crossover you intended. However, if you can master a few important moves, you are going to be in an advantage for chances to drive to the basket or mitigate shot . The same holds for making the ideal moves at the post-game to get under defenders or get placement . All these are staples of Buy 2K MT for quite a while.