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Was nba 2k19 the best game of the year? Yes it is

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Last year, thanks to a flashy trailer and new promises, was again hyped by 2K Sports as the most complete game in its award-winning series. Instead, fans received a disappointing user experience that became stale after only a few months of the game's existence.

The high gameplay expectations were met with overpowered animations and glitches that players could take advantage of. Players felt betrayed by the invasive microtransactions and annoyed by an inescapable story mode. Lacking much post-release support, players got the impression that 2K Sports threw in the towel and let the game die.

This summer, with NBA 2K18 in limbo and on the horizon, the question facing both the game and its fans was, "How will the game bounce back?"

The Story

For NBA 2K19, there was nowhere to go but up.

This year, developer Visual Concepts seems eager to correct some of the problems that befell last year's edition. It makes sense that the title of this year's story mode is "The Way Back." That's what 2K seems to be doing here: taking NBA 2K back to a place where players are neither bored nor betrayed.

In The Way Back, your player left college early for the NBA draft, only to go undrafted. He must play in China to keep his basketball dreams alive.

The Way Back gives players more of a reason to be invested than the lackluster story of NBA 2K18, where their character went from basketball to DJing and back to basketball again. The dynamic between the character's goal of making it to the NBA and changing his mindset makes for a surprisingly good character arc. Your player starts out as a self-centered, entitled brat. Over time, he matures and realizes the world doesn't revolve around him. When you finish The Prelude, the story mode's first chapter, it feels like your player has accomplished something tangible and grown into a better person.

These details make NBA 2K19's story mode feel like a revelation compared to last year's. Some quality-of-life changes help the mode, too. You're able to skip the cutscenes, an option that almost made me cry with happiness as I remembered NBA 2K18 's interminable scenes. Subsequent playthroughs with new characters allow you to skip The Prelude altogether and join an NBA team immediately as a free agent. You then negotiate a deal with the club, and that makes it seem like you have direct control over your NBA destiny - you, the player, not the game.

The Gameplay

NBA 2K19 shines on the court, too. Those who wanted to see more differentiation in player skills should celebrate the new mechanics. In NBA 2K18, games often turned into a battle of who could pull off a scoring move more efficiently. NBA 2K19 prevents you from simply blowing by your opponent thanks to a much-needed buff to defense.

This forces users to be smart with the ball and with dribble moves, as spamming the right thumbstick will decrease your stamina. Cross-court passes are more risky, and defenders shuffle their feet and anticipate your every move. This makes offense seem challenging at first, but getting accustomed to the advanced controls and basketball strategy make every bucket feel like a reward for smart play. NBA 2K19 has one of the highest learning curves in recent memory, making it easier to determine who is good and who relies on exploits to win.

The Neighborhood

But NBA 2K19 's broader off-court content remains a series of works in progress. While the more centralized, interactive Neighborhood (the online mode's hub) has the ingredients to be a huge improvement over last year's environment, wait times still continue to be a nagging inconvenience.

The time spent waiting to play basketball versus playing basketball is nothing new in 2K games, but in NBA 2K19 it seems more pronounced. It's finally a Neighborhood worth exploring, at least. Still, a considerable fraction of your time in NBA 2K19 's MyCareer will be spent watching other players, or waiting for the servers to find enough people for a game.

Frustrations with NBA 2K19's online features go beyond the Neighborhood. Spotty servers have been a problem for years, and NBA 2K19 carries on that tradition. It's still annoying to run around the Neighborhood trying to get into a game, only to see an error code and be forced to try again.

The online Play Now mode may not have the same connectivity errors, but it's still the victim of an update no one wanted. This year's mode requires players to win a certain number of games in each team tier to advance and unlock classic teams. Instead of the user choosing the team they want and the game finding a fair matchup in that tier, users are forced to play in another tier they may not be interested in. This is an unnecessary change to a game mode that didn't need fixing in the first place.

It's true that NBA 2K19 launched just last week, and games with this much online content often need tweaking and troubleshooting early on. How often this happens, and how effective those updates are, will tell the story of NBA 2K19 - just as it did for last year's game. But there seems to be a stronger foundation in place this time around, and for fans, that may be enough to keep their basketball season from ending early.
NBA 2K19 was reviewed using a final "retail" PlayStation 4 download code provided by 2K Sports. You can find additional information about Polygon's ethics policy

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NBA 2K19 recovers from past slips on a thoughtful Way Back

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Last year, thanks to a flashy trailer and new promises, was again hyped by 2K Sports as the most complete game in its award-winning series. Instead, fans received a disappointing user experience that became stale after only a few months of the game's existence.

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NBA 2K19 is a basketball video game developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2K Sports, based on the National Basketball Association. It is the 20th installment in the NBA 2K franchise and the successor to NBA 2K18. Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks is the cover athlete for the standard edition, while LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers is the cover athlete for the 20th Anniversary Edition. Antetokounmpo and James grace the cover in North America, while current NBA Rookie of the Year Award winner Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers, an Australian native, is featured on the cover in Australia and New Zealand

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NBA 2K19 is the well-rounded player returning to the hardwood after the offseason break and leaning on a few new, not-so-noticable quirks to his game.

Granted, LeBron James is the type of player who would notice these finer details and offer praise for the refinement. Take, for example, another wrinkle in the Eurostep from the game's cover star, Giannis Antetokounmpo.

In 2K19's case, the refinements come in the droves of content already available, ranging from the gameplay itself to the borderline intimidating amount of modes fans can immerse themselves in for long stretches.

Tasked with one-upping itself again, the 2K series stays grounded with this latest release, knowing a young, ever-resourceful core fanbase will dig for the details and prop up the game-as they should-for the love and care found in these enhancements.
Gameplay
The 2K series had few glaring weaknesses in the gameplay department before this release.

A year ago, the team at 2K Sports worked hard to refine common complaint areas. Fast breaks and rebounding received plenty of love and, to their credit, it feels even smoother this time out. Players continue to realistically travel in the proper lanes before funneling out to the wings on a break, and rebounding feels more timing-based and makes sense regarding who is going up for what.

But some of the tweaking a year ago created imbalances, which 2K19 addresses. Slashing has been de-powered. It's not as easy to blow by defenders. And when the sneakers are reversed, it finally feels like timing a steal attempt properly is rewarding. This hasn't been overcorrected to place all the power in the hands of the defender; it simply feels balanced-as it should.

Still, this comes with a catch: pulling down a left trigger and hardly paying attention doesn't work anymore. Lockdown defense isn't the one-stop solution for a user like it has been in past years. Again, there is a stronger sense of balance, which longtime fans will respect.

Painting in broad strokes, those same LeBron-esque users who notice the fine details will see the improvements to the A.I. as well, mainly in how they navigate screens and rolls, making for a more cohesive experience.

But far and away more important than anything else in the gameplay department is the addition of the Takeover system. A natural evolution of 2K's hot-cold streaks and badge system, the Takeover meter fills as users help a certain player get on a roll through consistent smart contributions in all facets of the game.

Once the meter is filled, a Stephen Curry takes over, draining his shots from deep and swinging the tide of a game. These Takeover bonuses apply to a player's archetype, so a sharpshooter like Curry gets the obvious bonuses, as does a lockdown defender or slasher, and so on.

At face value, one of the other prominent shake-ups users will notice is the shot meter. There is now a meter tied to the post game, including layups. It's hard to get the hang of at first, but it makes enough sense and works well once a user gets to know it.

LeBron going behind the backboard and switching hands midair is going to require a longer meter hold than a typical fast-break layup, and the game offers meter accuracy and how open a player was during the attempt in a helpful feedback section.

Like the franchise itself, 2K's gameplay feels like the obvious culmination of the series' trajectory. Archetypes help each individual player feel like themselves and the more passionate the fan, the bigger advantage users will have in areas such as rebounding, stealing and the superb Takeover mechanics. It's a rewarding timesink to improve on the controller, which isn't something many games can say and a nice feather in the cap for a team tasked with dropping annual releases.
Graphics and Presentation
To be blunt, 2K Sports didn't have to do much in this area.

Like the past few years, 2K19 offers an immersive experience regardless of venue thanks to a cohesive package.

The players themselves look great, down to the minutia like what leg a player happens to keep wrapped. But this is more about the surrounding pieces. Crowds in arenas look great, with individual fans moving around realistically and reacting to the action well.

Ambiance plays a big role in this immersion. Something as silly as the squeak of sneakers on the hardwood and players calling out screens as they unfold is an important touch. Games in other locales like parks feature onlookers yelling out screens, calling out players who are open, calling for the check ball and keeping users updated on the score of the pickup game.

On the presentation side, there is an incredible in-studio feel to the pre- and post-game antics with Shaquille O'Neal and Kenny Smith. The announcers continue to offer a realistic product, and guest spots from guys like Bill Simmons during key games provide deep analysis. At one point, listening to a Simmons clip well into the second quarter of a game was like listening to one of his podcasts and was enough to keep on playing even if it was time to back out and make changes.

It's the little things like this that add up in a total package. Before gaming hardware had realized its potential, fans of sports games had to make do with the understanding there were limitations. Now it feels like the restraints have been forever removed, and 2K19 is the latest in a line of products that truly take advantage of this horsepower to recreate something passionate fans of the sport-not just national-game viewers-can appreciate.
MyCareer, Features and More
Again, the feature list is intimidating.

MyCareer, this year dubbed "The Way Back," is the crown jewel as always, with the individual-focused mode this time leaning on acting heavyweights and solid production values to tell the tale of a user's created character as he gets rejected by the NBA and heads overseas.

The break-into-the-Association schtick is tired, but this is a fresh angle that keeps things interesting and even examines a few barriers fans wouldn't normally think about, like how a language gap can have a huge impact on a player's timeout-to-timeout involvement and productivity. This is a fun journey and good place to start, and the new take on the story is a solid effort for annual release.

Progression didn't feel as bogged down this year either, which last year led to some understandable conversations about microtransactions. It was a little weird to see a dunk in a random overseas game with the player's team down big earn him 295 fans on the spot via a handy little pop-up, but hey, it's easy to appreciate what they're trying to do. Drip-feeding progression items indeed helps some of the mundane grind easier.

Neighborhood is probably the next biggest item on the list, and users won't be upset with the tweaks here.

A central hub of sorts was a great idea on paper, and it made too much sense given how communities spring up around courts across the globe. Thankfully, improvements in 2K19 mean navigating it is no longer a chore, and it isn't as bare, with fun mini-games such as dodgeball there to keep things interesting. It's not just small items, either, as it indeed serves as a social hub for friends and others and happens to offer a springboard to the MyTeam mode, which was a nice touch.

MyLeague and MyGM return as expected, the latter featuring an online option and all the customization spreadsheet-crunchers and advanced-metric lovers could ask for over 80-year epics. MyGM is a bit more hit-or-miss.

MyGM is split into two options, with traditional being as great as ever. It's "My GM: The Saga Continues" that is an oddball.

The story-based MyGM offering picks up where last year's left off and doesn't change much while players navigate seemingly endless text conversations. There's a lane for something like this, and 2K's competitors have started jumping into the deep end, so the storytelling effort makes sense.

Still, it was jarring to go from Madden's cinematic experience in Longshot to MyGM, where you have to read what characters say to one another while the game's soundtrack plays in the background and those characters endlessly cycle through random mouth and hand patterns. If the 2K series is going after a major facelift for a future annual release, this feels like the one.

Luckily, the straightforward MyGM mode is still here, as are the options to simply play one season or postseason. And complaints about the story-based mode aside, it's a different take offering a more in-depth look at what goes on behind the scenes, and there will certainly be users out there who want that sort of experience. If this was a game with only that mode as a story option, it would be a much bigger problem.

Outside of these options, something like 2KTV is worth a salute. These videos during loading screens, featuring tutorials and otherwise, are a great touch more games should borrow from if it fits the material. And we'd be remiss not to mention microtransactions after the uproar a year ago-which 2K has even poked fun at itself over during a neighborhood cutscene. Microtransactions still cast a shadow over the proceedings in many areas, but it doesn't feel exploitative, and everything down to the mentioned dodgeball minigames reward VC this year. But even then, this too falls into the user-choice umbrella for the most part.

The theme here is providing as many options as possible, even if they don't all hit on the same stroke of quality. Booting up the game and getting to choose between some laid-back pickup games on blacktop (equipped with their own unique dunk modifiers and tricks) or busting out the spreadsheets to run an organization or even pursue an individual legacy around the globe is a welcome place to find oneself in.
Conclusion
NBA 2K19 @NBA2K
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NBA 2K19 is an improvement in that it takes another step forward in key areas of the game itself, from something simple like navigating an ever-expanding Neighborhood to how players funnel down a court on a break.

But it is very much a cerebral improvement over anything else. The details on the court matter, which is important for those seeking out the truest simulation possible. Everything about what an individual player excels at matters, down to a rebounding battle on the boards to more overarching themes like strategically plotting out offensive attacks or defensive swipes. Users who are passionate about the sport itself have an advantage, and for those who don't like what could be an uneven playing hardwood, fun blacktop alternatives with various player counts await.

While the phrase is overused in most instances, there is truly something here for everyone. Every angle of basketball itself gets some sort of attention, and 2K even slightly dips its toes into other genres at times in certain modes.

Maybe the game's covers tell the story. Antetokounmpo is the possible generational talent with a unique set of skills capable of completely shifting the league as fans know it, which alludes to 2K's original arrival on the scene.

It's James on the cover of the 20th Anniversary Edition who serves as a better representation of where the series has gone, culminating in 2K19. The "best ever" debate is there for those who want it, but it sure is fun to sit back and watch all the moving parts acquired along the way work in a cohesive manner.

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NBA 2K19 Review: Gameplay Videos, Features and Impressions

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NBA 2K19 is the well-rounded player returning to the hardwood after the offseason break and leaning on a few new, not-so-noticable quirks to his game. Granted, LeBron James is the type of player who would notice these finer details and offer praise for the refinement.