Free Downloadable Demo for The All-New Strategy RPG, Available for PlayStation®5, PlayStation®4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC
LONDON (Sept. 22., 2022)– SQUARE ENIX® today released the all-new strategy role-playing game, The DioField Chronicle™, for the PlayStation®5 (PS5™) console, the PlayStation®4 (PS4™) console, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch™ system and PC via Steam®. The DioField Chronicle features a deep and strategic “Real-Time Tactical Battle” (RTTB) system, where players and enemy troops move in real-time, and the tide of battle can change in an instant. The game is set in a unique world which features a gritty and immersive storyline that combines fantasy, medieval and modern elements.
Watch The DioField Chronicle Launch trailer below:
Players can also try out a free digital demo on all available platforms. Save data from the demo, including all game progress and character levels will carry over to the full game, allowing players to seamlessly continue their missions with the Blue Foxes once purchasing the game.
The DioField Chronicle is crafted by a skilled and experienced development team, which features unique character designs by Taiki (Lord of Vermilion III, IV), concept art by Isamu Kamikokuryo (FINAL FANTASY® XII, FINAL FANTASY® XIII) and beautifully orchestrated music by world-renowned composers Ramin Djawadi and Brandon Campbell, known best for their work on Game of Thrones.
Check out a new video where the composers talked about their contributions to The DioField Chronicle below:
The DioField Chronicle is now available for the PS5™ console, PS4™ console, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, the Nintendo Switch™ system and PC via Steam®. For more information, please visit the official The DioField Chronicle website at: https://www.diofieldchronicle.com/
About The DioField Chronicle. The DioField Chronicle features a beautiful and unique world, blending fantasy with medieval and modern-day influences. Under the steady hand of the Shaytham dynasty, the Kingdom of Alletain on DioField Island has known peace for 200 years, but suddenly find themselves cast into an age of uncertainty due to the rise of warlike powers and modern magic. The Kingdom of Alletain is rich in the mineral Jade, prized for its use as a base ingredient in magic and sorcery, and the attention of both the Empire and the Alliance inevitably turns towards the island. Players will take control of a band of elite mercenaries calling themselves “Blue Fox,” but will the name “Blue Fox” come to signify hope or darkest tragedy.
About Square Enix Ltd. Square Enix Ltd. develops, publishes, distributes and licenses SQUARE ENIX® and TAITO® branded entertainment content in Europe and other PAL territories as part of the Square Enix group of companies. The Square Enix group of companies boasts a valuable portfolio of intellectual property including: FINAL FANTASY®, which has sold over 173 million units worldwide; DRAGON QUEST®, which has sold over 85 million units worldwide; and the legendary SPACE INVADERS®. Square Enix Ltd. is a London-based, wholly owned subsidiary of Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd.
Collectible card game now features characters and locations from Archer series.
San Diego, CA (September 22, 2022) – Kongregate, creators of the beloved web gaming platform Kongregate.com, is celebrating the sixth anniversary of Animation Throwdown: The Quest for Cards, a free-to-play card collecting game with over 10 million downloads. Initially launched in 2016, the game includes characters from 20th Television’s Family Guy, Bob’s Burgers, Futurama, American Dad, and King of the Hill. With the anniversary, comes an island takeover showdown event and, for the first time, the arrival of characters from the beloved FX animated series, Archer.
With the Archer integration, players can choose Sterling Archer as their main hero, complete with his own set of cards. They compete in PvE battles against Archer bosses Pam Poovey, Cyril Figgis, and Malory Archer. The update will introduce hilarious character content with new taunt phrases from the Archer characters, including, “Sorry, I can’t hear you over the deafening sound of my own awesomeness!” Users will enjoy new missions, quests, and cards inspired by fan-favorite Archer moments from episodes like Honeypot and Placebo Effect, as well as new islands featuring art they’ve never seen before during the month-long anniversary celebration. The recurring event Swole Club will be redesigned as Fort Kickass during Archer’s introduction to the game.
Animation Throwdown: The Quest for Cards is free on the web at Kongregate.com, as well as PC and mobile devices. Additional information about the game can be found on the game’s official Twitter, Facebook, or Discord channels.
About Kongregate
Kongregate is a leading game developer and architect of the gaming portal Kongregate.com. Formed in 2006 as a platform for amplifying indie game developers and building passionate gaming communities, Kongregate has always put players and developers first. Today, the company is focused on bringing fun gaming experiences to players around the world using the latest technologies. Its mobile games have been downloaded hundreds of millions of times and have billions of gameplays. Kongregate is a part of leading international digital entertainment group MTG and has three offices across the United States: San Diego, Portland, and Chicago.
Nintendo Switch players in select countries in North and South America, Europe, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand can now enjoy the award-winning music trivia franchise with Xbox soon to come.
PARIS, FRANCE – September 22, 2022 – Gameloft, a leader in the development and publishing of games, and Gameloft subsidiary FreshPlanet, makers of the multi-awarded SongPop franchise, in partnership with Nintendo, are thrilled to announce that SongPop Party, the fourth installment in the popular mobile music trivia franchise and previous Apple Arcade exclusive, is now available on the Nintendo Switch™ for $19.99 USD with a special 10% launch discount. Players will be able to test their music knowledge in the biggest music trivia game in the world in local and online multiplayer modes that have more than 100,000 carefully curated and exclusive tracks fun for the whole family!
SongPop Party is a fast-paced competitive music trivia game where players must guess songs from some of the world’s best artists past and present as fast as they can. Players can test their music knowledge against opponents online in the Arena mode or against friends and family, locally or online, in the Party mode. Up to eight players can play at once in the Party mode, which supports both Joy-Con™ controllers and mobile phones.
With an incredibly vast catalogue and multiple music categories, everyone will be able to play and recognize songs they love! Players will earn keys during the game, which can be used to unlock new playlists in their favorite categories. There are also over 30 unique characters to discover and tons of challenging achievements to keep players on their toes. All playlists, characters, and events from the 2.2 Apple Arcade version will be present in the game at launch with more content to come!
“We’re incredibly excited to be able to work with Nintendo to bring the SongPop franchise to the Switch,” says Olivier Michon, CTO and VP of Product at FreshPlanet. “This is a huge step for the series—it’s the first time it’s being launched on console, and the Nintendo Switch was the perfect platform due to its inclusive and family-friendly environment. SongPop Party is for everyone, and we hope Nintendo Switch players will enjoy the game as much as we do!”
In addition to the Nintendo Switch, SongPop Party is also coming soon to Xbox. While the Nintendo version is rated G, the Xbox version will include explicit tracks and be rated M for strong language.
Download SongPop Party for the Nintendo Switch here
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About Gameloft
Leader in the development and publishing of games, Gameloft® has established itself as a pioneer in the industry, creating innovative gaming experiences for over 20 years. Gameloft creates games for all digital platforms, from mobile to cross-platform titles for PC and consoles. Gameloft operates its own established franchises such as Asphalt®, Dragon Mania Legends, Modern Combat and Dungeon Hunter and also partners with major rights holders including LEGO®, Universal, Illumination Entertainment, Hasbro®, Fox Digital Entertainment, Mattel®, Lamborghini®, and Ferrari®. Gameloft distributes its games in over 100 countries and employs 3,600 people worldwide. Every month, 58 million unique users can be reached by advertisers in Gameloft games with Gameloft for brands, a leading B2B offering dedicated to brands and agencies. Gameloft is a Vivendi company.
Nintendo Switch is a trademark of Nintendo. All trademarks referenced above are owned by their respective trademark owners.
The latest update features new student Mimori, a new difficulty setting with raid bosses, in-game items and log-in bonuses
SEOUL – Sept. 22, 2022 – Mobile RPG Blue Archiveis bringing back fan-favorite story event, “Cherry Blossom Festival Commotion,” where Izuna and Shizuko return to help combat the foes who have taken over the streets of the Hyakkiyako Cherry Blossom Festival. The update introduces new student Mimori from Hyakkiyako Alliance Academy for players to pull into their team.
Mimori is a mystic-type supporter who can increase attack speed for up to five allies in a circular range after moving them to a selected location with her EX Skill.
Raid content “Total Assault” adds a new “Insane” difficulty for players who dare to try out. Players can earn new “Total Assault” reward “Advanced Total Assault Coin” through winning battles in “Hardcore,” “Extreme” or “Insane” difficulties. The coin item will allow them to purchase Azusa’s Eleph and growth materials.
In celebration of the event story rerun, publisher Nexon is gifting “10-Recuitment Tickets” to all players who log in until Tuesday, Sept. 27. Players can also earn 120 AP every day through Schale’s Cherry Blossom Viewing event until Monday, Sept. 26.
Details regarding Blue Archive’s new student “Mimori” and the event update can be viewed in the official community forum and social media pages.
Founded in 1994, NEXON Co., Ltd. (Nexon) (3659.TO) is a company engaged in the production, development and operation of online games and Virtual Worlds. First listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in December 2011, Nexon was placed on JPX400 in 2015 and added to the Nikkei Stock Index 300 in 2017. In 2020, Nexon was added to the Nikkei 225. Nexon currently has more than 45 live games on multiple platforms including mobile and available in more than 190 countries. Major game franchises include MapleStory, KartRider and Dungeon&Fighter. In 2021, Nexon completed the acquisition of Embark Studios AB, a company based in Stockholm, Sweden, developing multiple projects for global release.
“We wanted to play with madness, with strangeness” – Ixion Creators Reveal Candid Insight Into The Development Process In New Series
Kasedo Games & Bulwark Studios take fans behind the scenes & discuss award winning sci-fi/city builder in three-part series
Leicester, UK – 22nd September 2022
Kasedo Games & Bulwark Studios have today released the first in a special behind the scenes series of videos in which they discuss the conception and ongoing development of their award winning sci-fi/city builder, IXION.
Over three episodes, members of Bulwark Studios from the different disciplines of narrative/game design, programming, and art discuss IXION’s development with the game’s producer, Christian Woolford (Kasedo Games). The videos give fans a candid look into the decisions behind the creative process of IXION and also give a glimpse of unseen concept art and exclusive gameplay.
Watch the first episode of IXION: Behind The Scenes with Creative Director & Lead Game Designer, Emmanuel Monnereau and Narrative Director & Writer, Julien Audebert here on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/QPhcxg5nV3Q IXION’s journey to release is gaining momentum following its two recent major award wins. Last month, IXION fought off strong competition to be crowned Best Strategy title at the Gamescom awards, and followed that up this week with the Best PC Strategy game triumph at the NYX Awards.
IXION is scheduled for release on PC on November 16th 2022. Join the discussion on Discord and Twitter.
Open Playtest Now Available Ahead of the Full Launch this Fall
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Sept. 21, 2022 — Nitro Kid, a roguelike deck-builder from developer Wildboy Studios and publisher tinyBuild squares up on PC via Steam on Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022. An open playtest with never-before-seen characters and game levels starts on Steam today.
Enter neon 80’s Miami where sleazy megacorporation INFINITY has stepped in to clean up after a crystal meteor devastated the city, killing hundreds of adults due to acute radiation, and displacing even more children–or so it seemed. Later dubbed NITRO KIDs, these missing youths were discovered to have never been missing at all. Instead, they were held in confinement by INFINITY, the subject of experiments in massive underground laboratories in hopes of creating a new breed of military super soldiers.
Prepare to fight as secret agents L33, J4X, and K31, some of the few individuals with knowledge of the NITRO KIDs’ whereabouts, as they jab, block, and slide their way through the procedurally generated rooms of the INFINITY tower. Break in, fight off killer robots, formidable INFINITY employees, and abominable mutants, and finally burn the INFINITY tower to the ground and save the NITRO KIDs.
Navigate a grid-based combat system with progressive deck building to shift and slide around enemies to find the most optimal position to execute deadly kung fu combos with more than 250 unique cards to choose from. Lay down a Skill card like Inferno to double a target’s Burn damage before igniting them with a flaming Whirlkick, or apply the Full Metal Jacket card to take up to 10 more points of damage when in a pinch. Unlock and combine lethal new cards, including playable characters and card sets to invent new playstyles.
An open playtest is now live, where players will be randomly assigned one of two new, unrevealed characters–heavy hitter and counter attack master J4X or tech and weaponry expert K31–as well as never-before-seen levels ahead of the full release. To learn more about the playtest and apply for a chance to join, check out the Wildboy Studios community on Discord before its full launch on October 18.
“We’re excited to release our special fusion of ‘80s action movies, a retro cyberpunk aesthetic, and classic kung fu films as our submission to the resurgence in popularity of all of the above,” said Patric Corletto, CEO at Wildboy Studio. “We’re bringing an entirely unorthodox style of gameplay to this 80s inspired style of game, and we can’t wait to see where players take it.”
Nitro Kid will be available on Windows PC via Steam on Tuesday, October 18, 2022. It will support English, French, German, Spanish (Europe), Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Korean, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese languages.
Wildboy Studios is a New Zealand-based game development company formed in 2017 by New Zealanders Sid Bardiya and Ben Costeloe, and Italian Patric Corletto. With a strong desire to focus on narrative-driven design, they began working on a project that would later be named ATONE. Nitro Kid is their second game.
About tinyBuild
tinyBuild is a Seattle-based indie label behind the Hello Neighbor franchise and over 30 renowned titles, including Graveyard Keeper, SpeedRunners, and Party Hard. With additional development offices in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and Riga, Latvia, tinyBuild is rapidly building a portfolio of fun, high-quality games across multiple platforms.
LOS ANGELES – September 21, 2022 – Netmarble, a leading developer and publisher of high-quality mobile games, released a new game update for its massively multiplayer online role-playing anime game Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds. With the update, Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds’ Imprint System can now be used to Imprint Equipment,and it will help players take on the game’s toughest challenges in the newly opened Chaos Field dungeon ‘Aquarius’s Ancient Castle’.
The max level has been expanded as well so players can enjoy the vast world of Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds even further with their newly imprinted equipment.
In addition, players will have the opportunity to participate in limited-time events to receive special rewards:
Find The Imprint Medals – Clearing various missions such as Swift Solutions Errands and the Familiar Arena will grant players Silver Imprint Medals and Gold Imprint Medals. Medals can then be exchanged for rewards like Secret Juice. Exchanging all the available items will grant players access to a 4★ Equipment Selection Chest, which includes Light and Darkness equipment.
Treasure Hunt Event – Players can earn Treasure Hunt Compasses by participating in the Duel Yard and clearing the Power Up Dungeons. With the Treasure Hunt Compasses, players can open each slot of the board where various rewards await including Superior Weapon Enhancement Stones, Familiar Summon Coupons, Equipment Summon Coupons, and more.
Developed based on Level-5 and Studio Ghibli’s original fantasy RPG series ‘Ni no Kuni,’ Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds is now available on mobile platforms and playable on PC using cross-play.
Established in Korea in 2000, Netmarble Corporation is a top developer and publisher pushing the boundaries of the mobile gaming experience with highly innovative games including Marvel Future Revolution, Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds, Lineage 2: Revolution, The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross, Blade & Soul Revolution and Marvel Future Fight. As a parent company of Kabam, and a major shareholder of Jam City and HYBE (formerly Big Hit Entertainment), Netmarble strives to entertain audiences around the world with a variety of mobile games based on its powerful franchises and collaborations with IP holders worldwide. More information can be found athttp://company.netmarble.com
LOS ANGELES – September 21, 2022 – Netmarble, a leading developer and publisher of high-quality mobile games, has released a new game update titled “Symbiote Invasion II” for its blockbuster mobile RPG MARVEL Future Fight. Players can experience newly added characters, uniforms, and tier upgrades among other content.
The Symbiote Invasion II game update adds two new characters: Gorr from Marvel Studios’ Thor: Love and Thunder and Toxin (Modern). In addition, players can customize their characters further with new uniforms for Venom (King in Black), Agent Venom (Classic) and Scream (Silence).
In Alliance Battle mode, Squad Battle has been replaced with the new higher difficulty level: Legend. Players wanting to test their skills are required to pick a combination of heroes before going into battle. New character tier upgrades are now available for Gorr (Natural Tier-3) and Venom (Tier-4 with new Striker skill). Additionally, Agent Venom, Toxin and Scream will receive Awakened Skills and Transcended Potential.
Other updates to further elevate the overall gameplay experience include improvements with Skill Tooltip, Skill Preview, and Combat Ready (hero setup function has been added at combat start).
MARVEL Future Fight has over 120 million players across the world with the game currently available worldwide in theApp Store® and Google Play™.
Established in Korea in 2000, Netmarble Corporation is a top developer and publisher pushing the boundaries of the mobile gaming experience with highly innovative games including Seven Knights 2, Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds, MARVEL Future Revolution, Lineage 2: Revolution, The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross, Blade & Soul Revolution and MARVEL Future Fight. As a parent company of Kabam and SpinX Games, and a major shareholder of Jam City and HYBE (formerly Big Hit Entertainment), Netmarble strives to entertain audiences around the world with a variety of mobile games based on its powerful franchises and collaborations with IP holders worldwide. More information can be found athttp://company.netmarble.com
About Marvel Entertainment
Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of more than 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media for over eighty years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing, publishing, games, and digital media.
App Store is a trademark of Apple Inc., registered in the US and other countries. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc. Google Play is a trademark of Google Inc.
In this full playthrough of Broken Pieces, we take the role of Elyze, the only person left in the town of Saint-Exil. Dangerous entities roam the streets during the night, so Elyze must make good use of her daytime to explore and uncover Saint-Exil’s secrets.
Broken Pieces is fundamentally a narrative-focused, action-adventure game with emphasis on puzzles and story. The game also throws some combat into the mix to make things less monotone. These encounters with what appears to be ethereal beings aren’t frequent enough and, most importantly, not as fleshed out enough to be engaging. Despite the constant walking back and forth, the story is interesting, and the suspense ramps up gradually, even if the conclusion leaves a lot to be desired.
Broken Pieces is a psychological thriller taking place in a french coastal village somehow outside the flow of time. Solve the mysteries by putting the pieces of the story back together by figuring out the enigma behind this mystical place.
Recommended – “Broken Pieces takes some inspiration from old classics to deliver an action-adventure thriller that just falls short of realizing its potential.”
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As someone who grew up in the Chicago suburbs while Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls were dominating the NBA, the return of the Jordan Challenges to NBA 2K23 twelve years after it was previously showcased already makes 2K and Visual Concepts’ latest yearly iteration of basketball an appealing item. That being said, after last year’s microtransactions pervaded nearly every aspect of the game, will the various additions and on-court improvements help this release shine past these darker aspects?
Story
As usual with a NBA 2K release, the MyCareer mode that functions as both one of the core online aspects and primary option for those looking to build their own star comes with its own storyline. This time around in NBA 2K23 players’ MyCareer will be drafted to the team of their choosing but unfortunately, their selection in the draft wasn’t a popular one with the fans as nearly everyone wanted them to recruit Shep, who was drafted immediately after the player by a separate team. This ignites a rivalry between Shep and MP (the player’s name… get it?) as they try to prove that they deserved to be drafted first.
Now while this tale does avoid plenty of random drama and does allow the player to immediately jump into the NBA, it is also incredibly bland. As players play through games and complete various objectives, they will talk to stand-in characters that replace the actual coaches and managers of the team they selected to be drafted by all while the rivalry is played out in a useless manner to the point that it detracts from the actual effort of becoming a rising star for the team.
Outside of the poorly handled plot of the MyCareer mode, the main storyline told through NBA 2K23 are the Jordan Challenges. These fifteen matches begin with Jordan’s North Carolina game playing for the 1982 NCAA Championship and run all the way through to his final championship match against the Jazz in 1998 that culminates in winning his sixth Championship with the Bulls. These games all provide players with three challenges that mimic the feats that Jordan did during the match, such as scoring 63 points by himself against the Celtics, accompanied by great in-game commentary that try to match the feel of the era.
Every match also features an interview or discussion with NBA greats or coaches that were part of the game players will be challenging and many offer halftime video packages that make these Jordan Challenges feel like a truly great gathering of Jordan’s biggest moments and a real special highlight of this package.
Gameplay
When players first launch NBA 2K23 they will likely find themselves astonished at the fact that the game has an outstanding amount of content on offer and surprisingly most of it can be enjoyed entirely in single player. Players can take advantage of the aforementioned Jordan Challenges to try and master every aspect of his career all while refreshing themselves and growing accustomed to the various on-the-court mechanic changes that have been made to NBA 2K23.
The historical references to the NBA greats doesn’t stop there as MyNBA has now been given a number of new options that take full advantage of what the expanded roster has to offer. Players will now find that instead of only having the current roster to work with, they will now be able to select from one on four “Eras” to begin playing through. This includes starting all the way in the 1980s during the Magic Johnson vs Larry Byrd Era, the 90s through the Jordan Era, the ’00s and the Kobe Era, and finally the modern era.
Players can still choose to heavily modify things as they wish and create their own thing using the modern era but by taking advantage of these historical NBA eras players can choose to rewrite history or play things out similar to how they happened if they so wish. The entire rosters of these times are there for players to take advantage of and as they progress through the years various NBA legends will appear as parts of the draft just like they did in real life, giving players a chance to really shake things up. Along those same lines players will have options to vote yay or nay on various rule changes proposed by other owners such as extended shot clocks, the moving of some teams to other cities just like they historically did, and more. Those looking for nostalgia or happen to be fans of the greats will easily be able to sink countless hours into this mode alone.
Also on offer as a single player option, with optional online matches, is The W mode that has returned in a mostly similar fashion as the original. Players will find that the WNBA mode still is rather small compared to what is offered elsewhere as their created player will not be nearly as customizable stat wise nor is there any real story. Instead players will select from the twelve teams available and play through games, increasing various ranks and eventually unlocking the ability to create a team of their very own. While a fairly solid mode it still feels as if The W is being treated as a side addition instead of something that could truly shine.
Now MyTeam has also been given various improvements despite its core aspects remaining the same. Players will find that the “contracts” for certain cards that would then vanish from the player’s deck after some time have been removed entirely, allowing everyone to keep cards that they have earned or bought and there are even some cards that can be given various upgrades before starting over for better rewards. This mode also offers the inclusion of a triple threat co-op mode that allows three friends to team up against three others in what can potentially make for some fun matches. That being said, while MyTeam does have these improvements it remains an absolutely ridiculous pay-to-win scheme. Virtual Currency remains a prominent issue throughout every aspect of NBA 2K23’s online game modes and MyTeam can be where it is at its worst with players coming across those who have sunk hundreds of dollars into creating monstrous teams compared to those who stick to free-to-play and need to grind out currency through matches.
Before we delve into the microtransaction issues with MyCareer, there are a few nice improvements made to the mode. First and foremost The First and foremost The City has finally been shrunken down a little bit to be more reasonable in size. This eliminates the long distance travel that players used to have to make to access various parts of the MyCareer mode. Of course, skateboards and other modes of transportation still exist but they continue to control awfully. Thankfully for those that really want to cut down on travel time, Visual Concepts has included a fast travel system via subway platforms in various parts of the city making it even faster for long distance locations.
Here players will still find various NPCs offering side-quests that generally involve either completing various feats on the court or taking part in drills but mostly involve simply traveling from place to place on the map talking to other NPCs or participating in basic races. This is also where players will find various shops to customize the look of their character while in The City as they will always wear their team jersey when playing actual NBA matches. Here begins the issue with microtransactions and virtual currency as not only is it used for MyTeam, players will also be using it in MyCareer for nearly everything.
When starting their character will have a baseline start of 60 and even with the $100 edition of the game offering a nice advantage to start with however it is shockingly obvious walking around The City and seeing other players already near max that a lot of people have already opted into paying to win and purchasing as much VC is needed to boost their character. While this isn’t a universal thing, it is an incredibly discouraging one especially when players witness how little VC they earn from completing basketball matches. After sinking hours into the MyCareer mode it is entirely possible to come away with only enough points to slightly improve your character or… buy a pair of shoes.
Not only is VC used for everything, the price of character upgrades and clothing has been increased over last year’s entry making the grind even harder as it constantly entices players with VC and pop ups every time players start the game. There are little activities that can potentially award players extra VC but these either fall to chance with Daily Rewards or other competitive modes. As such, unless players wish to drop money themselves they will find themselves simply outclassed even if they outplay their opponents simply because their attribute scores cannot surpass those who’ve paid to win. Thankfully the single player aspects of MyCareer can still be enjoyed even though players may still struggle a bit against some top athletes from the league from time to time if their own character isn’t built quite up to snuff.
Now that that is all out of the way, the actual on-the-court controls remain a phenomenal aspect of the game and is part of the reason why, even with the excessive amount of microtransactions and advertising, NBA 2k23 continues to offer the best technical gameplay a basketball fan could be looking for. Various on-court improvements include some refinement to the returning shot meter that players will use for making jump shots and three pointers, adjustments to how players can drive into the paint and finish the play either with a lay-up or other shot depending on the way they hold the shot stick or simply press the shoot button, and even a number of fancy dunks to style on opponents. All of these improvements to shooting and driving the ball up the court are helped by the fact that players now appear to move far more realistically than in the past allowing for better ankle-breaking moves and the ability to create solid passing lanes for the team.
On the defensive side of things players will also find that it is easier to box out an opponent or hold them from rushing the basket as well as trying to block shots as well. Unfortunately it appears that any attempt at stealing the ball will almost always result in a foul so be prepared for this when on defense. Alongside these enhancements is the addition of adrenaline boosts. Every player has three boosts per possession of the ball and one is consumed every time players make a difficult maneuver. These boosts work quite well as they limit players to having to make proper use of various skills instead of spamming them all over the court and playing as a team rather than trying to force things with one player
As far as the AI of the players on the court, things have seen a little bit of improvement in NBA 2K23 as players on the team will actively make attempts to clear up passing lanes and create spacing for potential drives for the basket while also doing their best to cover the opponents players. That being said, the AI still struggles with aspects such as the shot clock forcing them to either freeze in place or take wild shots instead of passing the ball, an aspect that continues even into the MyCareer mode as players on your own team may ignore clear opportunities for a pass that would result in an easy basket in favor of a bricked three pointer.
Visuals & Audio
NBA 2K23 delivers the near life-like details to the characters that fans of the series have come to expect over the years. Nearly every player in the modern era is designed to look as close to their real life counterpart as possible but it is worth noting that some characters in the retro modes have been designed from the ground up instead and, while they still are quite impressive looking, do have some rather odd looking features compared to how they did while playing in the NBA. It must be said that Visual Concepts has also made an effort to provide various filters to help make games set in older eras mimic the television and broadcast quality of the time to a great degree though players can choose to turn them off if they wish.
As far as the audio goes Visual Concepts has managed to provide separate commentary teams for older games as well as the current modern games with plenty of strings of dialogue to keep games feeling fresh for quite some time. The voice work throughout the game’s story modes are handled well enough but don’t really stand out in any special way while the soundtrack features quite a lot of music to enjoy though be prepared for only one music genre to take most of the focus.
Overall
NBA 2K23 is the type of game that has nearly everything that a basketball fan could want, if only it wasn’t mired down by pay-to-win mechanics and microtransactions at nearly every turn when it comes to online play. The on-the-court gameplay is as tight as ever and with so many different single player modes, the Jordan Challenge and Eras being the major offerings, available players will easily be able to sink hundreds of hours into NBA 2K23‘s various single player modes even if they choose to avoid the grind or pay up element that is the online experience.
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