Balling on my phone has never been simpler or more expensive

315172

SHOULD I PLAY NBA 2K24 MYTEAM?

Give this one a go if you’re into basketball or basketball games—especially if you loved the MyTEAM game modes in any of the NBA 2K titles—but be warned that it has some major pay-to-win issues if you’re planning to play multiplayer. Playing NBA 2K24 MyTeam on the go gave me all the highs and lows I felt when playing MyTeam on console. Though I still prefer playing a classic game with a current NBA roster, if mixing and matching and making fantasy teams is your thing, NBA 2K24 MyTeam is worth checking out.   

TIME PLAYED

I spent around four hours on NBA 2K24 MyTeam, which allowed me to play the various game modes, including 3v3 and 5v5. I also leveled up my roster and had a chance to upgrade my players with new shoes.

WHAT’S AWESOME ABOUT NBA 2K24 MyTEAM

• Console-like graphics at my fingertips. The NBA 2K series is well-known for highly detailed graphics, and this mobile spin-off carries that legacy forward. NBA 2K24 MyTeam looked truly incredible on my iPhone 15 Pro, and I’m saying that as a guy who has spent plenty of time with NBA 2K24 on the PlayStation 5. Both player models and the environments look amazing and are boosted by little effects like court lighting. It’s not easy to replicate the console experience on a phone, but by looks alone, NBA 2K24 MyTeam is a win.

• Dope beats. I honestly could leave NBA 2K24 MyTeam on the title screen and just listen to the soundtrack for hours. It successfully incorporates the hip-hop basketball culture into the game through a ton of popular songs, with appearances from artists ranging from DMX to Travis Scott to 21 Savage. Just take a look at the NBA 2K24 Soundtrack playlist on Spotify to get a sample for yourself.

• Easy-to-grasp but hard-to-master mechanics. The controls in NBA 2K24 MyTeam are intuitive, with only a few actions assigned to buttons: dribble, pass, and shoot. That doesn’t mean the entire game is overly simple, though. When I had to take into account the physics engine and the various plays I could set up, the challenge became more complicated. I like that I was able to quickly jump in and enjoy a game while using the touch screen, but I’ll be the first to admit I’m nowhere near master level. NBA 2K24 MyTeam also supports a controller function, so you’ll likely want to bust that out if you plan on doing fancier moves.

• Becoming the manager. Having access to a roster of players across multiple eras in the NBA was great. Building up my dream team was the real draw of 2K24 MyTeam—like the name says!  Although there were moments that I wished I could just play a classic game of basketball, experimenting with the three-on-three and five-on-five across single and multiplayer modes with my bomb squad felt fantastic, even if I lost most of those games.

WHAT SUCKS ABOUT 2K24 MYTEAM?

• Pay-to-win mechanics. Seeing as you can buy packs to improve your roster and upgrade your players and then go online with your souped-up squad, NBA 2K24 MyTeam is pay-to-win in the purest sense. It’s possible to have fun playing fully single-player without spending money, but I don’t see how one could realistically expect to compete online without opening up their wallet.

• Gacha mechanics. There’s a lot of rolling and rerolling to get higher-ranked players, which is also incentivized so that you spend money. I’ve never really enjoyed gacha systems in general, but it feels especially frustrating in a game where I wanted to put together my perfect team but was often held back due to randomness.

PLATFORM TESTED:

iOS via iPhone 15 Pro phone.