NBA 2K’s Best Mode Is Even Better This Year

NBA 2K has long been the standard-bearer for high-quality sports games. It's the pinnacle that other series like Madden, FC, and even the oft-beloved MLB The Show aspire to emulate in whatever ways their respective sports allow. That's not to say it gets everything right, but it often feels like the team at Visual Concepts is competing against itself. It creates trends; it doesn't chase them. That's always been most obvious in The City, the series' social PvPvE hub and the lifeblood of the game's community. Though some other parts of the game are more uneven with this year's entry, The City proves that if you only plan to play one sports game this year, NBA 2K27 is the way to go. The City is where players can meet up for basketball games of varying sweat levels, buy cosmetics, and complete live-service challenges--it is the center of NBA 2K27's solar system. This hub is thoughtfully attached to the single-player MyCareer mode at the proverbial hip, and this pairing offers more enjoyable and immersive things to do as a tandem than most other sports games taken in their totality. This year, The City makes several smart changes. At the core of it all is the long-awaited ability to im…