![]() ![]() ![]() These players have always been better at steals and such in these games, but their ability to essentially shut down others this year stands out to me more than ever before. I also appreciate that those in the league who are elite defensively–Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Victor Oladipo–have seen drastic improvements when it comes to how they defend others in an on-ball situation. You have to pick and choose far more in NBA 2K19 when you want to utilize that stamina that you have stored up whether it be in a defensive situation or on a fast break. ![]() To play great D now, you have to exert your player’s stamina more than usual which is how it should be. This is a change that was made last year that I really appreciated because it used to be far too easy to lockdown nearly any player in a one-on-one situation. Speaking of defense, it continues to be much more challenging to play than in past years, especially when you’re an on-ball defender. These players are so good at what they do that they can often still get buckets even when they shouldn’t. I’ve made more “bad” shots this year than I can remember making from older NBA 2K games and that’s just how the NBA is sometimes. By the same measure, if you’re driving to the basket as LeBron and have been hounded hard defensively, you aren’t going to automatically miss the layup just because you had a hand in your face. If Steph Curry is wide open in the corner for a three, he’s likely to hit the shot, but it’s not a foregone conclusion. NBA 2K19 reflects the real-life product even more by making these situations seem less guaranteed than before. Some games in the series would see you hitting practically every wide-open shot that you ever launched while others would have you throwing up bricks if your player even barely had a hand in his face. This is something that Visual Concepts have struggled to find a good balance in as well within the past couple installments of NBA 2K. I’ve also noticed that shots are dropping in a much more realistic manner this year. ![]() It’s a very subtle difference, but it’s one that I recognize after having played this series for years. At the same time, things generally feel a bit looser compared to last season. Players once again have weight to them, and their movement reflects that of a real person. In NBA 2K19, I think they’ve finally found that balance. Past installments in the series have leaned more heavily in one direction or another, but it has been clear for years that Visual Concepts has been looking for a good balance of the two. While each installment has more or less had fun basketball gameplay in its own right, the series has always been trying to find a good balance between remaining realistic with player movement and physics while still remembering that it is a video game after all and as such should be somewhat arcadey. For the past decade or so, the NBA 2K series has tried to create as realistic of a basketball sim as possible. On the other hand, microtransactions are still an overwhelming problem that have become far too central to nearly every aspect of the game, and their inclusion has been handled in the least-subtle of ways.īefore I get too in the weeds with the problems surrounding VC though, let’s talk about what’s good in NBA 2K19: the gameplay. On the one hand, many of the smaller problems that I had with NBA 2K18 have been fixed, and the gameplay has once again improved. For me to feel so put off by last year’s iteration said a lot.Ĭoming into NBA 2K19, the franchise’s twentieth installment, it’s safe to say that I had a lot of complaints that I wanted to see rectified by 2K Sports and Visual Concepts. I arguably play NBA 2K more than any other game besides MLB The Show, annually. Microtransactions became even more prominent throughout the game than they already were to the point that it felt like 2K Sports had curtailed previous elements from the series to encourage players to consider spending more money on Virtual Currency, or VC.Īfter I finished reviewing the game, I honestly didn’t go back to it too often over the course of the past year which if you know me, isn’t normal at all. Even though the basketball itself continued to improve–like it usually does–I felt gross at times while playing it. Last year’s installment of NBA 2K18 was the most divided I had been on the series in years. ![]()
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