Every year, the NBA 2K series, like our favorite NBA teams, teases enough improvements to give us a sliver of hope; a renewed sense of faith that maybe things will be even better than last time. Although that faith was rewarded last year, that hasn’t been the case in the 10 hours I’ve spent with NBA 2K27 so far. While the on-court play does feel better thanks to smoother and more responsive defensive movements, some new features, like MyCareer Eras, are the opposite. Instead, they act like magnifiers, placing a spotlight on issues that have consistently plagued this series, like an ever-growing emphasis on microtransactions. That can turn what should be an energizing session of hoops into a tiring exercise in scrutiny.

Let’s kick things off with the good stuff: the on-court experience. Offense, although it still feels largely the same, has a few new tricks up its sleeve that make it slightly more challenging than last year. For starters, Rhythm Shooting is much less forgiving than in 2K26 since you’ll have to actually hit the green part of your shot meter to make jumpers. Full disclosure: I religiously use the square button to shoot because it’s what I’ve been doing since 2K10. With this change, I've become even more partial to the classic hold-and-release method since there just doesn’t seem to be an incentive to master Rhythm Shooting’s more finicky timing and down-up motion. Of course, there may come a point when I’ll need to really dig into the latter, but today is not that day.

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