Run the Neighborhood
NBA 2K18, developed by Visual Concepts, is the latest title in the NBA 2K series. 2K has provided a accurate simulation of basketball for years on end now and boasts a wide range of different game modes for players to enjoy. At the forefront of those game modes is MyCareer, where players create their own NBA player and slowly develop them through running drills at practice and playing in actual NBA games for a team of their choice. This year I found that MyCareer has taken a turn for the worse.
The first thing I noticed when I started the game was the lack of normal player customization. In previous titles you were able to create your character from scratch. You could change head shape, chin depth, different eyes, ears and mouths or you had the option to scan your face directly into the game using the 2K app. This year, however, those options were missing. You had to choose between a pre created character or scan your face. This wouldn’t be such a big deal if the face scan feature was better. It often makes weird mistakes like giving you two noses or two mouths or giving your character the wrong skin color. You are also limited to just a few different haircuts at the start and zero beard options. To access any of these things you have to spend “VC”, the in game currency. All cosmetic items seem to be extremely highly priced compared to previous installments of the game. “VC” is also used to upgrade different attributes for your player such jump shooting, dunks and dribbling, these upgrades also start to cost 1000 VC plus. Pay outs from NBA games are absolutely terrible this year, even when you play on the hardest difficulty. You end up having to grind for just one shirt or just one upgrade point. It feels like the game is making you choose between grinding hours on end to see any kind of progress with your player or give in and use your own money to buy “VC”. You already have to pay $60 to own the game but when you see this kind of pressure to spend more then you already have, it feels dirty and takes away from how fun the game actually is.
Every other game mode this year doesn’t have this problem. MyTeam, a team building/card collecting mode, has historically felt like a drag trying to collect enough currency to buy new card packs. This year there are even more opportunities to earn packs and currency, which has really increased the satisfaction and fun you can have. So why does MyCareer feel like a big cash grab?
Gameplay has clearly made some great advancements this year and has been called the “the best feeling 2k”. While past instalments forced players into animations that made defending difficult, this year feel a lot looser, leveling the playing field. However I did find that blocking has no feedback, no vibration or sound effect. It makes blocking incredibly unsatisfying. Full court and half court shots now have shot meters, giving players a better chance of making these shots when they need to. Passing also received some attention this year, giving you even more options to make plays. Visuals seem to have been downgraded from last year and I would guess that has something todo with “the neighborhood”. Instead of just navigating menus to find what you needed in MyCareer, you now spawn in a little neighborhood with shops and different courts to play with your friends. While on the outside this sounds really cool, you will quickly find that it’s ridiculously inconvenient. If you want to change your clothes you have to run all the way back to your apartment and wait through a couple loading screens just access your closet, whereas last year all you had to do was press start.
NBA 2K18 has made great strides in a lot of area’s and does live up to the praise of “best feeling 2k” and the most fun 2k i’ve played. Between all the cool and crazy dunks you can do and the celebrations and dances, the game has a lot of heart to it. The only thing that makes me hesitate from recommending the game to people is that feeling that parts of the game feel like one big cash grab. The game becomes unplayable for those who don’t have a lot time on their hands and forces a lot of people to spend even more money. You definitely don’t have to spend any money but there is a pressure to do so. Besides some minor bugs and glitches, thats about the only complaint I have. So if your looking to buy a basketball game and got time on your hands, NBA 2K18 is the game for you.
By: Jace Kepley
Is it truly a Destiny?
How can I possibly start to explain how much I love this video game from the first person shooter game play to the multiple player online experience? Well, it doesn’t really end there because of the other amazing aspects of the video game.
Do you even listen to the music that makes up Destiny 2? Listening to it for the first time seems to be a very sad but enlightening melody to a game that could potentially be very sad. But wait, there's more. The music does feel like it would be more for a game focusing on the gathering and crafting of materials so that you create something more than just that.
Now, the gameplay of the game is very smooth and easy to jump into and spend a long period of time to play through the story and with the destiny franchise there are classes. No, I don't mean math 1 with a side of humanities. I mean the titans, warlocks and the hunters, knowing some the average person who plays 1-3 games might not know what these are let me give a rundown. For each class, they have their own class abilities, super abilities, their own types of mobility, grenades, and passives but depending on the player will impact your decision for a class.
Destiny 2 even with the many things you can do with the game you still need the story quest to make this an actually video game. It’s story mode has been claimed to be longer than first game’s but knowing that it has more the would increase like the patrol missions of Destiny 2 allowing the player to really get into the feel for the large environments of Destiny 2 has to offer. But this does have its limits, once you reach a certain point in the game repeatable activities will stop providing you upgrades forcing players to actually play the game.
In conclusion, Destiny 2 does seem like it can be a good video game to get into if you are looking for a first person online multiplayer shooter game.
By: Effiong Ekpenyong
Do you even listen to the music that makes up Destiny 2? Listening to it for the first time seems to be a very sad but enlightening melody to a game that could potentially be very sad. But wait, there's more. The music does feel like it would be more for a game focusing on the gathering and crafting of materials so that you create something more than just that.
Now, the gameplay of the game is very smooth and easy to jump into and spend a long period of time to play through the story and with the destiny franchise there are classes. No, I don't mean math 1 with a side of humanities. I mean the titans, warlocks and the hunters, knowing some the average person who plays 1-3 games might not know what these are let me give a rundown. For each class, they have their own class abilities, super abilities, their own types of mobility, grenades, and passives but depending on the player will impact your decision for a class.
Destiny 2 even with the many things you can do with the game you still need the story quest to make this an actually video game. It’s story mode has been claimed to be longer than first game’s but knowing that it has more the would increase like the patrol missions of Destiny 2 allowing the player to really get into the feel for the large environments of Destiny 2 has to offer. But this does have its limits, once you reach a certain point in the game repeatable activities will stop providing you upgrades forcing players to actually play the game.
In conclusion, Destiny 2 does seem like it can be a good video game to get into if you are looking for a first person online multiplayer shooter game.
By: Effiong Ekpenyong