Some players found the defense overly aggressive, with guards occasionally displaying unrealistic shot-blocking capabilities. Modes & Content

A common community criticism was the heavy reliance on microtransactions, leading some to describe it as a "gambling simulator" with a basketball mini-game.

Features like the Hall of Fame Posterizer significantly changed high-level play, allowing players with a 99 Driving Dunk to trigger contact dunks almost at will.

The mode evolved into an RPG-lite "Second Life" experience, though some critics at Metacritic felt the open-world "City" became overly cluttered with sponsored advertisements.