Despite how good MT 2K21 is though, the lack of a full range of difficulty needlessly gatekeeps newcomers from what ought to be a welcoming mode, and it can't shake the feeling of being an elaborate maze built to direct you back to MyTeam, with this Playoffs winning 3-pointer worth nothing more than a couple coins towards another pack. The Neighborhood is representative of NBA 2K21 as a complete, in that the basketball is great, but every decision made around it lets the side down.

MyCareer can also be home to The Neighborhood, a coming online sport mode constructed around streetball and imagination. Offline, you are able to recreate a number of this feeling in The Park, but it isn't quite the same. The Neighborhood is a good game mode , but it has too many downsides to truly warrant praise. For starters, you may only access through MyCareer with your pro, which brings in the problem of where to invest VC. It also can not be accessed until you get to the NBA, which means skipping over by far the most interesting and private portion of the narrative mode's story or playing more gradually and not getting to get possibly the most enjoyable online manner until you are several hours into a story which barely connects into The Neighborhood at the first place.

NBA 2K21 is not a three and a half star match. It is a five-star game and a two-star game crammed together. The basketball is near perfect, particularly with the shooting problem now poking out, and remains high in the sport sim tree. But every other design choice is there to get you to spend more cash on MyTeam or even only a straight-up bad design.

There is a good basketball game here, with nearly flawless gameplay and a compelling story. But it's bogged down by its own obsession with VC, odd implementation of its creative manners, and - once you dismiss matters you have to pay extra for to truly appreciate - lacking in some key features. Even with the shooting difficulty peeking out, although this is a fantastic accumulation of the Cheap NBA 2K21 MT series for long time fans, newcomers are blocked out of too many game styles, making the game too unwelcoming to become good.