he anticipation for the release of 2K Sports’ most successful videogame and most popular basketball game, “NBA 2K18”, was like waiting to see if a buzzer beater goes in or not.

The headlined new feature of “NBA 2K18” is the “open world atmosphere” that allows players to roam freely in a town with blacktops, a training facility, an arcade, a barbershop, stores to purchase gear for your player, and of course your high rise home. This is an outstanding addition because it makes the game more interactive and makes players feel like they are really in the game living the life the character is living. Unlike the previous 2k’s, now every game mode and activity are easily accessible because participants can just walk to the courts to play MyPark rather than wait forever for it to load.

Although these new possibilities for MyPlayer are exciting, the career mode was a disappointment. Instead of having your player get drafted into the NBA like every other 2K, they are scouted during a game on the blacktop and signed by a team of your choice.

MyTeam delivers this year, giving limitless options on building your super-team. Over 900 solo challenges are available to play from the start, seemingly giving you no chance to get bored. The new draft mode in MyTeam called “Pack and Playoffs” is also quite enjoyable, although the rewards are a bit disappointing compared to recent years.

The gameplay which was a huge concern has improved immensely in NBA 2K18. Too often players were getting caught in animations not allowing them to play freely but 2K Sports dimmed that down and made movements much smoother.

Another major change was the movement of the shooting bar to the side of the player’s head rather than at his feet. The shot making difficulty has drastically increased which is beyond frustrating because near perfect wide open shots do not go in as often as they should.

For some reason, in 2K18, player customization was eliminated almost completely so players must rely on limited head/face presets. There were also other features that were randomly removed for no reason such as the ability to play the game’s soundtrack while playing rather than hearing the commentators. This is especially frustrating due to 2K18’s loaded soundtrack.

Overall, the game is a slight success, but if 2K continues this trend of removing features people love, they are going to notice a colossal decrease in future sales.

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