I soon realized The Neighborhood just replaces NBA 2K Coins's core menu. In that way, it's merely a clumsy method to navigate. Desire a haircut? Walk the cube into the barbershop. Want to change clothing? Go home. Need new shoes? Jog down to Foot Locker. Looking to catch a quick pickup game? The courtroom is down the road on the left.

Plodding as this navigation is, there's a bit of character and culture indoors. In the barbershop, DJ is served as a local celebrity while they talk about overall gossip. The friendly (if sleepy) attendant of a food cart contributes to some laughs. These spaces will also be nicely decorated, cramped and flush with old brick buildings circa 1930s New York. It's a powerful representation of this impoverished to lower-middle-class upbringing of NBA stars that got their start in areas like Harlem's Rucker Park.

However, The Neighborhood can be sullied by corporate patrons. A little gentrification from the older neighborhood? Maybe. Nevertheless, it is not just a Foot Locker place sitting on a corner or Gatorade-sponsored gyms. The owners of the barbershop present DJ with a gift, JBL cans, of which DJ chimes in, "Are the new JBLs?" Gatorade is a fundamental piece of the story, called out from the broadcast team during games as far as it is promoted during gym coaching sessions (purchasing virtual bottles of Gatorade for endurance includes a spiel about electrolytes).

Selling a little advertisement space -- even overdone advertisement space -- isn't inherently problematic. It's emblematic of an online-connected era. There is an authenticity in rotating courtside banner ads and between-play chatter from the announcers Buy MT NBA 2K19, changing as the year moves on with new sponsors cycling in. The insistence on using Virtual Currency (VC) for all of compounds the matter, though. NBA 2K19 wants you to drink Gatorade, but it's also interested in getting you to invest more real cash in the game.