Concept: Keep this high-flying basketball franchise at the top of its game and restore its shaky online reputation Graphics: From the accurate player tattoos to the authentic pre-game rituals, Visual Concepts captures the essence of the sport.

With no real competition in the NBA video game arena, 2K Sports could have phoned this one in and still dribbled away with a boat load of cash. Instead, they took a well designed NBA 2K12 and polished it up, threw in a few more needed additions, added some bells and whistles, and finished what could...

Incredible graphics; Past and present superstars; Fluid gameplay

Virtual Currency (VC) can be hard to come by early on

I truly enjoyed NBA 2K12 . So I wasn't surprised that I truly enjoyed NBA 2K13 as well. The gameplay remains flawless, visuals are fairly realistic and MyPlayer mode is the best player sim in the biz. Unfortunately I only liked 2K13 because I felt, at most times, that I was just playing 2K12 .

The new control stick is delightful; My Player mode should be emulated by all other sports sims; The game remains the best basketball simulator ever made

The game fails to innovate on many levels; For the most part; the game is a carbon copy of 2K12; There is a Coldplay song on the soundtrack; No; really; Coldplay

I have plugged hours and hours of my life into "MLB 12 The Show" and was thoroughly convinced that it would be the sports game from 2012 that sucked up the most of my free time. After playing "NBA 2K13" for just an hour, I wasn't so sure any more.

NBA 2K13 is the unrivaled (literally!) champion of NBA action despite some struggles with implementing a user friendly interface. Jump right in with you own player or run the court with any of the dozens of legends included.

I must confess, I have never played much ball, not on the court nor on the screen.

+ Great feel +Presentation top notch + Extensive training options

- Some realistic elements of career boring

The gameplay has changed a little but the experience is just as enjoyable. Multiple great game modes, including an enhanced My Career mode and added NBA Legends teams, make this a worthy sports sim.

+ Challenging but welcomed gameplay changes; + My Career RPG mode is still great; + Added NBA Legends and Olympic Teams; + Jay Z implementation

- Menus are still a mess; - Glitches hurt game post-launch

Enhanced realism and a great new control setup make NBA 2K13 a fantastic recreation of pro hoops.

Excellent game flow emulates the real thing; New right-stick controls make slick moves easy to pull off; Signature skills enhance player depth; TV-realistic graphics and animations; Lively; varied play-by-play

Confusing interface; Overblown Jay-Z production

A noticeable step-up in class from 2K12, especially on court and in the My Career mode. Only poor navigation spoils an otherwise incredible sport sim

Looks; sounds and play exactly like basketball; Beautiful; drop-jaw presentation; Arguably; the best sports game on the market

Navigation could be better

October and November really are great months to be sports fans. Every year around this time the biggest sports franchises release their annual updates to the best games on the roster.