NBA Playgrounds was an exciting release when it came out. It was a return to the beloved gameplay we had with NBA Jam back in the day, There was some grinding to unlock everything yes, but playing through it felt fun, The announcement of a sequel had many excited….for a time. When it became known that 2K Games had picked up the publishing rights to the sequel, there was some concern. Many worried that the game would be ruined by the publisher, and sadly some of the complaints turned out to be valid.
Before I talk about the major issue with the game, I do want to say some positive things, as there were some improvements made to the overall gameplay. For instance, shooting is much better and more refined than the previous game, and there is an overall feeling of polish here. That is about all I have to say for the positives.
Now for the negatives, Microtransactions have been a major issue within gaming over the last couple of years, and this game does nothing to assuage concerns. The grind in the first game may have annoyed some, but overall it provided a good way to unlock every player and enjoy the game at the same time. In 2K Playgrounds 2, the grind is virtually unachievable. You can play hours worth of matches and still not get a lot of currency to unlock anything. The game clearly wants you to spend real money to unlock everything and has made it almost impossible to unlock content without paying, and this is after spending money to buy the game.
This creates a major imbalance in the game and this shows in the online modes. No matter what refinements to the gameplay were added, the microtransaction policies have created a very uneven playground here. The content that is here without paying, is not all that great on its own. It feels very shallow and that the spirit of the game was removed in favor of a quick cash grab. I urge you all to avoid this, as it would be a waste of money.