The objective of 2K Sports is obvious and could not be more comprehensive: with NBA 2K, the publisher has pocketed all basketball aficionados by reaching the high heavens of simulation. Only here, the firm may have all the licenses that make sport the media steamroller that it is today, the games are not easy to access... even worse, they put off the most ordinary gamers in imposing on them an overly complex range of combinations and, more generally, an experience that is difficult to penetrate. This is precisely where NBA 2K Playgrounds comes in: here, we put away the excessive realism that frightens novices in favor of all-terrain accessibility, simple gameplay and refined artistic direction in support, while supporting all brands and contracts accumulated over time. A cleverly orchestrated calculation, ultra-seductive and unique in 2019.
"BOBBY, I DON'T KNOW BUT WHAT'S IT EVER I PLAY, ITS GOT TO BE FUNKY"
The first point, undeniable, is that the American firm knows how to operate in visual seduction. NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 isn't particularly pretty, strictly speaking: its sets and 3D models are far from jaw-dropping in themselves, and the animations sometimes suffer from a certain rigidity and occasional jerks. The title is technically not ambitious for 2018 consoles (that said, it runs at 60FPS and fortunately) but that's not the point: it's deliciously funky. To die for. The adopted cartoon tone, which marries shimmering colors and auras straight out of a comic book, is a great hit. The first contacts with Playgrounds 2 are enjoyable: the Hip-Hop soundtrack hits the mark, the menus ring the bell of nostalgia and we like to recognize under deliberately caricatured facets all of our favorite basketball players. 2K Sports has succeeded in its first bet: that of installing us in a mega-comfortable armchair which announces only a fun gaming session, without the fuss.
Like its predecessor, you will tell me, but the effect is still as impactful. Without reaching the sonic and visual paroxysm of an NBA Street Homecourt, NBA 2K Playgrounds surpasses in any case, and by far, the last NBA JAM released in 2010 on PS3 and Xbox 360. The atmosphere is explicitly fun, some songs are exquisite (others much less, surprisingly) and the pleasure quickly points the tip of his nose. To qualify these first successful games, the game however quickly sins by a certain repetitiveness. Visual, precisely, since the ten pitches are only rarely exploited at their fair value and it is impossible, during a classic off-line match, to choose your stage, ending up again and again on the Pier de Santa Monica. If you don't try to try out all the modes on offer (not very varied, that said, but we'll come back to this later), you can quickly get tired of these graphic aspects. It's a shame, especially since the generally successful soundtrack also quickly loops on its side... An attractive facade, therefore, but which will have to rely on updates to renew itself with dignity.
YOU'RE GETTING BIG HEAD JIMMY
Very far from the depth of an NBA 2K, Playgrounds 2 takes the assumed 100% bias of the immediate and powerful arcade. All of the moves are accessible from the start of the game and, apart from the signature moves of a few legendary players, the gameplay is similar for all basketball players. From the dunk to the three-point shot through the single or double alley-oop, the game is again based on the QTE of a needle to stop in the appropriate gauge. There follows a success index which varies according to the statistics of the chosen player: without forgetting all the classic offensive gestures, the playability of NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 is understood after only a few games, effectively offering foolproof accessibility. However, some more complex gestures can be apprehended more gently, especially when you have to agree with your teammate during multiplayer matches, but nothing very deep that could put off a newcomer intimately.
In reality, it is both a strength and an obvious weakness since the redundancy shows up after a few hours of play. No combo or technique is to be acquired afterwards and the title offers very its full potential quickly, consolidating its ultra-arcade character to the detriment of a gameplay that we would surely have liked to be more scalable. Given the long days required to progress, to improve your players and, above all, to unlock many others, it would have been relevant to offer a way to densify your game as you go along. Unfortunately, this is not the case and the weariness is effective: fortunately, the matches often take other turns thanks to multiple in-game effects allowing situations to be reversed for good use. Temporary bonus effects activate regularly, as well as strategic locations doubling, tripling or even quadrupling the points. In general, you can't take away from the software its brilliant intensity, sometimes infuriating but often very satisfying and putting on the ground a damn effective user-friendliness.
ROCKIT
Several game modes come to make up this nice NBA 2K Playgrounds 2: first of all, the classic exhibition match, necessarily a little disappointing since it only allows you to play in a single stage but ideal for an unexpected game. Nor is it in the entertaining but truly succinct three-point shots section that will catch the eye for more than ten minutes. No, really, the heart of the game resides in two clans: the first, NBA Season, retraces a real season in the National Basketball Association. After the choice of a particular team from the west or east coast, we can play all stages of the championship in multiple games, playoffs in support. Basically, a kind of Tournament mode modeled on reality, lightening the whole thing for a watered down and easy to understand result. Nice, even if the concept turns quickly in circles.
For the Playgrounds Championship, another predominant mode, these are classic online matches: depending on our ratio of victories and defeats, we acquire fame points which will increase our level. of player. Once again, innovation is not required: it is nevertheless there that the sensations are the strongest, facing a very human player and eager to crush you on the court. For the rest, the hunger is felt. No practice mode is available and we would have liked more concepts, even crazy ones, to vary the pleasure of the game. The problem being that the game design, a point discussed just after, is essentially based on pay-to mechanics -win which prevent the modes from having a real interest, if only to have one more victory counted on the counter…
"THE MAC DAC WILL MAKE YOU JUMP"
If there's one thing that NBA 2K Playgrounds boasts about, it's its breathtaking roster of some 300 basketball players, not counting the 200 that will arrive later in updates. From the most discreet to true legends, passing by a few originals, the cast is really impressive, not to mention that all the official American clubs give pride of place. A tribute to the sport of football, certainly, but access to which unfortunately relies on abominable pay-to-win mechanisms. As you know, loot boxes are all the rage and these don't spare Playgrounds 2 by being deployed in the form of collectible card packs. Classified by categories (Gold, Silver, Bronze), they give access to random players but also to customization elements to dress with more or less style all his men. Rest assured, however: you will need to acquire a virtual currency to dispose of it, which it will not be possible to buy with real money. No, for that, the developers have reserved a much more valuable insert there, requiring "gold coins" and allowing, among other things, to unlock all the players... The problem is that this is almost essential for fully and wisely enjoy the game.
Because to unlock new players, you will either have to win an entire NBA season (which can be quite long, not to mention the probability that you simply won't win), or accumulate enough "basic" points to buy, difficulty, the packs of cards one by one. It is also possible to unlock a desired player individually, but the amount requested is often very excessive: understand by this that after many hours of play, we still only have very few characters and that unlocking the complete roster seems almost necessary to benefit from the arcade aspect put forward. The problem is that it requires no less than ten euros: at already thirty euros the game sold in stores, the bill looks salty. It is of course possible to strive to save as much as possible via the "normal" ways offered, but count on whole weeks to achieve an interesting collection of players, especially since, we recall, the depth of the game and of its fashions came fairly quickly. It is therefore quickly discouraging and, we will not hide it from you, a little dishonest even if we are starting to be used to this kind of commercial structure. Fortunately, NBA Playgrounds 2 manages to bring real sensations despite everything, which clearly saves it from the rest, still a little too light.
