The best sports game I´ve ever played. That´s how I summarize my point of view.
First, the music. The songs it has (mainly from Jay-Z) give armony between the menu screens and the actual gameplay. It fits in armony with the type of sports game we have here. And the detail of adding videos that follow the soundtrack at the beginning of any basketball game, really makes you want to play that thing for hours.
Secondly, the graphics and game-play. It certainly is a unique quality game, the movements are so natural that sometimes you might even think your watching a real basketball game. The halftime report and the in-game comments are so fluid that gives a feeling of been in a live comment basketball game too.
And finally, the game-modes. The game offers the chance to play up to 6 players locally which gives an opportunity to piss off your friends if you are good enough already.
The best mode for me, is the career mode. The milestones to can achieve take you to almost retire in one of the NBA teams, starting as a rookie from the 2013 NBA draft.
The many abilities you can improve take as much time as it takes to retire from one of the teams. So, basically "it takes time".
This is a must have game and I am sure the ones that bought already think like this as well. Enjoy your NBA2K13.