NBA 2K19 tries to offer a solution by providing an offline-only experience with no virtual currency, but that version of the campaign features no cutscenes. It’s beyond aggravating that the same functionality doesn’t extend to the Switch version. Or you paused to swap apps and somehow shut the game down.

The mobile version of NBA 2K19 has worked this problem out, using a series of autosaves mid-game and recovery saves that kick in if, for instance, you accidentally restarted your phone in the middle of a match. It also makes NBA 2K19 basically the only game with the Switch that doesn’t play nicely with its suspend function. You can quit and save progress during the middle of a match, but that involves lengthy load screens. In other words: if you put the Switch into sleep mode because you’ve just gotten to school or work and you happened to be in the middle of, say, building your character? The final minute of the fourth quarter in the MyPrelude? Seconds away from shutting out the NBA All-Star team with your crappy 60 OVR player? Moments away from your first triple-double on the court? Switch go to sleep halfway through a cutscene?īad luck.

There’s just a small problem: because the M圜areer campaign has the same online-only nature as the rest of NBA 2K19, you have to main a constant internet connection otherwise you risk losing your save. It’s not so bad if you want to play at the 1 or 2, the smallest players on the court and the ones that shoot the most three pointers, have the most ball handling duties, and so on. The mobile experience is limited in just enough ways that made me want the fuller experience. I’d been playing NBA on the phone, which is a fun enough casual experience. So after shelling out for what is the most I’ve paid for the normal edition of a video game since buying CDs from Harvey Norman in the ’90s, I put the Switch to sleep and waited the weekend for all the requisite data to download. I was going to pick up NBA 2K18 instead, until I saw that it was the same price as NBA 2K19. Unless you’re trying to play NBA 2K19, in which case that process becomes extraordinarily difficult.īecause I have an unfortunate disposition where I actually enjoy a) sports games and b) grinding out the singleplayer modes within, I bit the bullet recently and shelled out for the full version of NBA 2K19 on the Switch. And for the most part, it does this very well.

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