NBA 2K19 review

The NBA 2K series is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a new release. Did the players get an extremely valuable gift or just a gigantic new dance floor in the sneakers?

The new iteration of the best 20th-edition basketball simulation is itself an opponent, a competitor and a model in all segments. The question is to look like a basketball simulation that EA Sports from the NBA Live series is doing more than trying to compete with the 2K basketball simulation and whether the NBA 2K would glorify it as we lift it into the heavens for every new game. Every year we see how much the current title has improved compared to the last year's edition and based on that, we mainly make the same conclusion - progress is present. But do we have the 20 th year for a reason to get into the wallet and spend the money again to play the evolution of last year's game with minor changes? Or is NBA 2K19 still a product that offers far more than mentioned?

Immediately to go to what is important: paid progress is the biggest problem of NBA 2K games. 2K and Visual Concepts do not give up on micro-transactions, as by ejecting them, they lose the crows of good-natured fans who want to have characters with maximum attributes on the first day of the game's release. Of course, it does not suit everyone else, because it takes a lot of grinding for progress without payment to get honest players.



My Court or the whole area with basketball courts, shops and various other side activities is full of players who have thrown big money so that their characters have the maximum level. I have no chance here with less than a hundred hours of grinding, i.e. I have nothing to do with them. Artificial boosting of players is simply not fair and creates two extremes and dissatisfaction among those who want to pay only the full price of the game and nothing more than that.
Paying for promotion with real money creates two extremes and causes envy among the players.
The quagmire of virtual coins (VC) we earn in virtually all game modes is slightly underdeveloped since last year. The only thing that slightly accelerates the process itself is the endorsements system in MyCareer. The sponsor's investment in basketball is made in a sympathetic way. As we advance and increase the attributes of our character, sponsors also come up with different tasks, such as advertisements and events that they need to advertise, and we get a fair amount of VCs in accordance with the tasks we've done. This is the only news where we have some kind of acceleration in grinding compared to the standard way of collecting points.



MyCareer mode is again the central point of the game. We should praise Visual Concepts for the story that leads us to spend far less hours in this mode. Otherwise I'm not a fan of My Career mode just because of micro-transactions and slowness of progress, but the presentation of the story this year has come as a popular series! This year, you've made a lot of effort in the presentation, the story and, in general, all of this "my career" entitled "The Way Back Story" looks convincingly and interesting.

MyCareer mode will take you from China to USA in an extremely rich and interesting story.

Like any young basketball player in the United States, the goal is to play the NBA league after college. But sometimes there's nothing going on in your life, so your basketball player finds you in Chinese Shanghai instead of American parquet. The first professional minute I played in the Chinese BEARS, the potential conqueror of the Chinese first league. I think we're keeping this "Chinese" introduction for two to three hours depending on how we're going, and although NBA 2K19 does not have a Chinese basketball license, they've pretty convincingly presented the entire episode in Shanghai. Halls, jerseys, fans are the equivalent of the atmosphere that is waiting for us in the introductions of the NBA match.



I was really surprised how well they guessed with this introduction, which moved away from a somewhat boring "college" story. After the Shanghai episode, just ahead of the NBA draft and the start of the season, I'm coming to a new life's disappointment where I have not been chosen by any NBA team and I have to find my way to the NBA through the NBA G League. The second episode lasts almost the same as the Chinese one and further prepares us for everything that is waiting for us in the strongest league of the world.

The story itself is complex and extensive, so besides the various activities like interviews, conversations with trainers and teammates, we will be on a pile of irrelevant and free activities like socializing, going to cafes, clowns and cuffs and to many places that are far from basketball terrain. For those players that do not represent the essence of a basketball simulation, it is good to know that all animations can be interrupted or not seen. But in my court, MyCareer mode is that part of the game that justifies buying NBA 2K19 because it brings something new that you can not experience in previous releases.



Like every year, the gameplay in the NBA 2K is somewhat evolving, but it seems to me that this year's progress is the least so far. Existing gameplay is overwhelmed by its perfection, which will be more appreciated by players familiar with it than those with the NBA 2K series encounter for the first time. The biggest breakthrough is that they have solved the last year's problem by passing one player over another collision course, so it does not disturb the immersion.

The biggest moves in the gameplay this year are the corrections of what was wrong in the previous release.

From some changes in the gameplay, it would only emphasize a more dynamic and redefined defense that works even closer to real human reactions, a more aggressive defense of a computer rival, and the use of a sling for our attack. If you want to wait for the last seconds of the attack, stand by the playmaker in the trice - forget it because you will surely lose the ball. However, the argument is that the presing is ubiquitous for each attack and gives a frustration if we want to have a more peaceful attack.



There are no new ways, so there is no news. MyLeague mode, which I play the most from year to year, has also not experienced any changes and is clearly not in the focus of 2K, since it recycles year after year. Neighborhood iliti quart in which we reside has been slightly redesigned compared to last year, but apart from a few new mini games still offers nothing new worth mentioning. I still have a problem with designing these terrains and how we will approach the games. I like the classical lobby style in the games and with a bunch of options we define the rules, but run to the field, find an empty field and wait for the team to gather or wait for the match to start and wait for the defeated to leave.

All in all, the NBA 2K19 is again the only basketball simulation that is worth playing. It may not be worth the asking price if you do not plan to play MyCareer mode (and you would still be able to refuse a micro transaction), but if you want a spell on parquet, and that with the actual rosters, you do not have a fair alternative. So this is a bit of a recycled product, but when it recycles what's already good - this can not be a very bad offer.