Saber Interactive, the New Jersey developer best known for remastering Halo as well as creating the upcoming Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn, is getting back into the basketball business. NBA Playgrounds 2, a sequel to its 2017 cartoon dunk-a-thon, is due later this year for PS4, Xbox One, Switch and PC.
There'll be a new 4v4 multiplayer option, new game modes for solo and team play, and a single player Season mode that will see you leading your team through regular matches, play-offs and finally the NBA Championship. New power-ups and moves are also promised, along with improved AI and a wider variety of novelty courts.
Over 200 NBA stars will also feature in the game, including Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Shaquille O'Neal, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. They'll be unlocked using (grits teeth) some kind of loot box system.
The first game hardly set the world on fire, with a Metacritic score hovering around the mid-60s for all platforms. There's definitely room in our hearts for an arcade-style multiplayer basketball game, though, and if we can't have NBA Jam back then this had better live up to expectations.