NBA 2K21’s G League career pick is the one to face on PS5, Series X

In the locker room tunnel of an unremarkable minor league arena, the expanded tale of NBA 2K21 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X makes you think you made the wrong choice, turning pro immediately after high school.

Your world-weary coach is mumbling in the trash left by hockey players the night before. You might be starting out, but he expects you to win your playing time from the next game. Then you meet your teammates: the Tracy Morgan-esque Sheldon “ATM” Middleton; Shammy Wells, who would shoot a four point if they had a line for it; a Nosferatu-looking dude called Vlad the Impaler; and, of course, Jackson Ellis, a hype-man to himself.

All of these names are familiar to longtime NBA 2K players. They’ve been the antagonists of the career story ever since NBA 2K14, with Ellis as a motor-mouth measuring stick for the player’s original ascent to glory. Visual Concepts brought the group together in the best way for the opening of MyCareer on new consoles, but since they kept it a secret during the game’s launch on November 10, highlighting other improvements until then, I was unsure. not really how much better the mode was. that is until I took it for a ride on my Thanksgiving weekend.

Being introduced to these yo-yos was enough for me to know that I did the right choice by taking a “select contract”, bus rides and G League taco promotions. I played all 10 games with a big smile, even the first one where I think the game puts all of your attributes down in order to create a bad start which is key to the player’s personal journey.

Ellis jumped NBA 2K20 last year, but has been in every MyCareer story since 2013, even making an appearance as an Arena Security Guard in NBA 2K18. He teamed up with ATM the last time the series went to the G League, in NBA 2K19, where the two presented themselves as the combination of “Smoke and Mirrors” players. Hagi appeared in this game as well, as a gameplay opponent only, with no cutscenes or talking lines. He was a formidable Eastern European post player whose shot blocking pushes you to find open teammates instead. And Shammy Wells comes from NBA 2K18, where he performed alongside the player character “DJ”, increasing an unreasonable amount of contested three-point shots and entering DJ’s face if he didn’t pass the ball enough to him.

All of these guys are back with their original actors on the mic. As one fan said on Reddit, it feels like Visual Concepts was writing a sentimental goodbye note to NBA 2K on the latest gen consoles.

Love letter or victory trick, Visual Concepts deserved it. 2K Sports’ in-house studio turned to these fictional enemies after their attempts to mentor real NBA stars as the player’s mentor turned into embarrassing voice work (looking at you, Eric Gordon) for NBA 2K14 and 2K15. Spike Lee made a story without a mentor for NBA 2K16; Michael B. Jordan also starred solo as the Justice Young player character in NBA 2K17; and the teammates returned to the cinematic dialogue in NBA 2K18 with actor Cameron Bedford as Shammy Wells.

Around this time, the history of MyCareer became much more interesting. Plus, the show’s writers have discovered a winning formula: take an antagonist, give him a face spin, and now you’ve got a character that players will go to mattresses for. In NBA 2K20, it was the training partner Axel Walden (Blondy Baruti); he ends up making league with the player character in an honestly heartwarming final on the court. In NBA 2K21, Hendrixx Cobb (Vince Washington) is the alleged No.1 pick and the player’s rival, but after going to college the two develop a very close friendship, culminating in light antics before the draft.

Of course, you miss that arc with Cobb a lot if you hit the G League route in the NBA 2K21. (Cobb and the player always part ways on a happy, supportive note.) But it’s worth skipping college to take the bus as Vlad freestyle; to celebrate that ATM and Jackson return to the NBA on 10-day contracts and then come back together for a two-game final that I just can’t afford to spoil the opposing team. Long-time players should be able to figure out the roster, however.

NBA 2K21, like the three games that precede it, has intelligently written dialogue and well-acted scenes that are head and shoulders above the story modes attempted (and abandoned) by other sports video games. I feel Visual Concepts has stuck with storytelling because its authors understand an absolute truth about sports video game career patterns: You to have to give the player a character they can admire, someone they want to be, or someone they will care about if not themselves onscreen.

Visual concepts and NBA 2K21 does more than that; they also give players friends that interest you.

List file is Polygon’s current affairs and opinion column on the intersection of sports and video games.