NBA 2K19 review

My Career Mode

My career is perhaps the way people most want to reckon when they buy an NBA 2K game. The general narrative in these titles can vary greatly. Sometimes they’re great and other times they’re just plain unrealistic with the kind of writing you wouldn’t expect to see in a high school play. This is better than most. He sees a character named Al heading to China after not being drafted in hopes that he can find another path to the NBA. The story isn’t exactly high-quality, but it does the job of him to keep you entertained between matches.

The handling of MyCareer is better than its predecessor. The overworld hub is much more accessible and the user interface is cleaner, with the end goal of making it easier to find what you want to do. Overall, this game mode has seen a significant improvement even if it’s not exactly groundbreaking.

Other modalities

Rounding out the rest of the game modes are Franchise, Blacktop, 2KU and MyGM. All of these have appeared previously, so players are likely to know them, especially considering that nothing has really changed. It’s sort of a missed opportunity in the case of MyGM, which still plays a lot like it’s an added afterthought at the last minute.

Microtransactions

Microtransactions have a very bad reputation in modern games and even when done right, their inclusion has the ability to completely divide a fan base. The NBA 2K series has been slowly introducing microtransactions into the series over the past couple of years, and the 2018 installment caused some controversy. In this latest entry of the franchise, the developers have done little to limit these paid extras and now they’re as important as ever.

These microtransactions are the most pervasive in My Career mode. Using the in-game currency known as VC it ​​is possible to purchase upgrades for your player. While the usual excuse has been pulled out, that these paid updates are only meant to allow eager gamers to access the content first, it doesn’t wash here.

NBA 2K19 seems to have been deliberately designed in such a way that you are pretty much pushed to buy more VCs for your player to spend. Not doing so will mean playing in a state that isn’t fun. At the low level where Al starts, playing basketball is a chore. Even the most basic actions end in failure more often than not, something that simply wouldn’t happen with an athlete of this level.