The latter 2K21 MT is far too intense at times, but it feels just like a true creation, tells a compelling story without overdoing the melodrama, also provides some satisfying narrative beats. It is a bit too scripted in areas, but that is a little criticism in a sports drama.
Despite how good it is though, the absence of a full range of difficulty needlessly gatekeeps newcomers out of what ought to be a welcoming manner, and it can not shake the feeling of becoming an elaborate maze built to lead you back to MyTeam, together 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 whole, in the basketball is great, but every decision made about it lets down the side.
MyCareer is also home to The Neighborhood, a coming online game mode built around streetball and imagination. Offline, you can recapture a number of the feeling in The Park, however it is not quite the same. The Neighborhood is a decent game mode , but it has too many drawbacks to truly warrant praise. For starters, you may simply access through MyCareer with your pro, which brings in the issue of where to invest VC. It also can not be accessed until you reach the NBA, so either skipping over by far the most interesting and personal portion of this story mode's narrative or playing through more slowly and not having to get arguably the most fun online mode until you are several hours to some story which hardly connects to 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 flawless, especially with the shooting difficulty now smoothed out, and remains high in the sport sim tree. But every other design option is either there to get you to spend more money on MyTeam or even just a Buy NBA 2K21 MT straight-up bad design.