The fact that VC is required for both MyCareer and MyTeam is also incredibly annoying, as it means you essentially have to either choose between the two game modes or part with even more money.
Which is a real shame, because aside from the microtransactions, MyTeam is great fun. It’s easily on-par with other Ultimate Team style formats from rival sports games, and arguably superior to a lot of them.
Creating your squad is fun, the various game types such as triple-threat are very enjoyable, and the ability to upgrade your individual players with collected badges to improve their stats adds a lovely and unexpected element of RPG gaming to the mix.
Much as last year, then, NBA 2K21 is a fantastic sports game wrapped in an unappealing layer of lootboxes and microtransactions.
While this issue is hardly unique to 2K21, the game marks itself out because of the pervasiveness of the problem. With that said, things have started to move in the right direction, albeit at a snail’s pace. And on the court, at least, NBA 2K21 remains one of the best sports sims around.