Game Informer released a pretty well-detailed post on the upcoming changes to NBA 2K19 The Neighborhood. I didn’t spend a lot of time in NBA 2K18‘s MyCareer mode. There were some initial problems on the Nintendo Switch and those slowdowns and audio miscues ruined the experience for me. Add in stupid things like unskippable cutscenes and B-Fresh and I was out, plain and simple.
NBA 2K19 The Neighborhood
One of the things I did enjoy about MyCareer was The Neighborhood. It seems that a swath of changes are coming to The Neighborhood in NBA 2K19 and that’s a good thing. While The Neighborhood was cool at first, it grew very old, very quickly.
Going from your apartment to grab new sneakers at The Foot Locker and then hit the barbershop seemed to take forever. Visual Concepts is changing that and they’re starting with a more centralized neighborhood.
The idea behind a more centralized neighborhood is to limit the crazy amount of running around you had to do previously. This year you’re able to change clothes right in the menu. You can also go to practice from the post-game locker rooms, if you’d like after, playing a game.
A welcomed addition, that is relatively small in context, is that players won’t show up until they start moving. That means when you’re heading to the practice courts, you won’t have those lifeless mannequins looking back at you with their dead eyes. Secondly, there are more random spawn points so players won’t be clumped together.
Now that everything seems closer and more centralized, you’ll be able to hit up more shopping options. You can preview new styles of haircuts before buying and haircuts won’t cost anything. You’ll also be able to adjust the hair length and preview that adjustment before purchasing.
There are also some new ways to get around The Neighborhood faster. Wheels is new to NBA 2K19. As you level up, you’ll be able to purchase various bikes, skateboards, and scooters. These vehicles, even at their lowest level, will be quicker than walking.
There is also a new MyTeam store that will allow you to create a card of yourself that can be used in NBA 2K19‘s Unlimited mode. It will be a capped card but the cap should be reasonable enough that your MyPlayer will be useful.
There are some new activities in The Neighborhood too. This year you’ll be able to kill some time playing dodgeball or participating in the daily trivia contest. Visual Concepts has said that the dodgeball winner will receive a nice pot of VC. The daily trivia will also split one million VC between any and all players who answer all ten questions.
There’s also trampoline basketball which has been dubbed “Under Armor cages”. There are four trampolines on each side of the court and you can go absolutely bananas. Ben Bishop (not the Stars’ goalie) states that you’ll also be able to play off the walls of the cage as well.
Live events will come to The Neighborhood and some of them will have custom courts to play on. Bishop has said there’s “like 25 or 30” events ready for this season. He name dropped last years events like Ruffles Four Pointer and disclosed a new event.
I mentioned leveling up and Bishop stated that your player will level up much faster early on. This is another welcomed change to MyCareer as it seemed the progression in 2K18 was intentionally slowed down so you had to purchase VC. The difficulty modifier returns, which should help, but you’ll also be able to participate in everything I talked about above to get more VC and move through the ranks quicker.
NBA 2K19 will release on September 11, but pre-ordering the 20th Anniversary Edition will get you the game on September 7 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch or PC.
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