A camera pans across a frenzied Boston Garden as Celtics Legend Larry Bird takes the floor to square off against Magic Johnson and The Lakers. Bird is flanked by basketball Demigods Bill Russell and John Havlicek, but Johnson is sharing the court with Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.  

This isn’t a Bill Simmons fever dream or an NBA Championship caught in a time warp. It’s an exhibition game on the new “NBA 2K19.”  

The exhibition is made possible by the “All-Time Teams” feature on “NBA 2K19,” one of the many that makes the game a must-play for basketball fans.  

The game, released on Sept. 7 and featuring Milwaukee Bucks Forward Giannis Antetokounmpo on the cover, packs in plenty of the features that its fans have come to expect from it, plus a handful of new ones to enrich user experience.  

Features like takeover mode, where players can literally take over games, and improved stealing mechanics make the on-court gameplay more realistic than before. The game’s AI has seen some upgrades including a better representation of on-court collisions between players of different sizes and strengths.  

All of the NBA’s 30 teams and their full rosters are including updated to the day of the game’s release, but the aforementioned All-Time Teams and a list of “Classic Teams” – like the Bad Boy Pistons, the Grit-n-Grind Grizzlies or even an iteration of the now-defunct Seattle SuperSonics.  

The popular MyTEAM and MyCAREER modes have seen upgrades as well. MyCAREER has seen additions and changes to help streamline the games primary story mode, while the relatively-new MyTEAM feature saw additions of new features, like a three on three mode.  

“NBA 2K19” will remain a favorite for me and many others throughout the year. With new features on top of the solid history of one of EA’s greatest franchises, there’s something for everyone. For me, there’s the ‘04-05 San Antonio Spurs “Classic Team” and a whole lot of other teams to beat.

Written by Robert Davison, Copy Editor. Gif courtesy of Steam.