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IGN Review of NBA 2K9
News flash: the PlayStation 2 is on its last leg. If you're still playing all your games on Sony's aging system, it's probably time for an upgrade because this time next year the release list is likely to be totally vacant. Thankfully, at least for the owners of the beleaguered system, this year has plenty to offer. The latest from the perennial 2K basketball series is among these releases and NBA 2K9 is pretty much exactly what you'd expect. It's a fast and reasonably fun basketball title with little to offer to differentiate itself from past years.
NBA 2K9 on the PlayStation 2 takes a slightly different slant to its gameplay than on other systems. For whatever reason the game plays more like an arcade game, even with the settings flipped to simulation. Players move faster, jump higher and dunks are ridiculously easy from far out distances with players like Ray Allen who's not exactly known for his above the rim game. Even when ratcheting up the difficulty I found it very easy, even on non-break situations, to throw one down on the back-pedaling defense. I'm not saying that it wasn't fun at first, but after awhile I found myself having to turn to the myriad of sliders to adjust the experience to my liking. This wasn't the case on Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3.
None of that stopped NBA 2K9 from moving quite well, even on the older hardware. Animations were nice and varied, as is standard for the series and I was impressed with the complexities that I saw on some of the interactions. Players do up and under moves, realistically collide with each other (though frequently clip through the basket), and pull off some other impressive animations that seem like they were ripped straight from the current-gen renditions which is a good thing.
The feature set that accompanies NBA 2K9 on PlayStation 2 is fairly barebones, but that's to be expected (though not excused) this late in a console's life cycle. You'll still find the terribly designed Association 2.0 and the NBA.com integration that makes finding games to play a bit too much of a headache. In fact, the whole off-the-court presentation in NBA 2K9 is lacking. The menu systems look very outdated and even the color scheme will remind you more of a rainy day than a fun time on the court. When in an arena things do look a bit better, but not by much. Cheerleaders, when on the court, have a horrific blurry filter pasted over them that detracts from the curvaceously jaggy bodies. The only other gameplay detractor when it comes to presentation is the camera which has a real issue with keeping with the action on the break, sometimes leaving your point man dribbling off the edge of the screen.
Other features include the standard online and Street modes that don't differentiate from what we're used to seeing from the series. All in all the features – from Association to Street, right down to the online – haven't seen enough improvements or refinements. That means that if you picked up NBA 2K8, chances are you're going to want to skip 2K9, despite it being a solid basketball title.
Graphically NBA 2K9 is a solid looking PS2 title. The player models are recognizable for the big name guys and the aforementioned animations are impressive. That said, there's aliasing that runs rampant on the court and it only gets worse when you take the game online. The presentation doesn't help either with the fudged out look on some of the characters. The crowd won't impress anyone, but it's important to remember that you're looking at what has become ancient hardware and, overall, NBA 2K9 doesn't look half-bad.
The audio also performs well with Kevin Harlan and Kenny Smith hopping into the booth and delivering insightful quips that stand up well against what I heard from the current-gen console versions. Crowd noise could be a bit louder to bring out the excitement of a given moment but what's there works. I would have liked to hear some more chatter on the court, especially when setting screens and calling out shots. As it is the on-court audio is a bit vacant.
©2008-11-12, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
NBA 2K9 on the PlayStation 2 takes a slightly different slant to its gameplay than on other systems. For whatever reason the game plays more like an arcade game, even with the settings flipped to simulation. Players move faster, jump higher and dunks are ridiculously easy from far out distances with players like Ray Allen who's not exactly known for his above the rim game. Even when ratcheting up the difficulty I found it very easy, even on non-break situations, to throw one down on the back-pedaling defense. I'm not saying that it wasn't fun at first, but after awhile I found myself having to turn to the myriad of sliders to adjust the experience to my liking. This wasn't the case on Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3.
None of that stopped NBA 2K9 from moving quite well, even on the older hardware. Animations were nice and varied, as is standard for the series and I was impressed with the complexities that I saw on some of the interactions. Players do up and under moves, realistically collide with each other (though frequently clip through the basket), and pull off some other impressive animations that seem like they were ripped straight from the current-gen renditions which is a good thing.
The feature set that accompanies NBA 2K9 on PlayStation 2 is fairly barebones, but that's to be expected (though not excused) this late in a console's life cycle. You'll still find the terribly designed Association 2.0 and the NBA.com integration that makes finding games to play a bit too much of a headache. In fact, the whole off-the-court presentation in NBA 2K9 is lacking. The menu systems look very outdated and even the color scheme will remind you more of a rainy day than a fun time on the court. When in an arena things do look a bit better, but not by much. Cheerleaders, when on the court, have a horrific blurry filter pasted over them that detracts from the curvaceously jaggy bodies. The only other gameplay detractor when it comes to presentation is the camera which has a real issue with keeping with the action on the break, sometimes leaving your point man dribbling off the edge of the screen.
Other features include the standard online and Street modes that don't differentiate from what we're used to seeing from the series. All in all the features – from Association to Street, right down to the online – haven't seen enough improvements or refinements. That means that if you picked up NBA 2K8, chances are you're going to want to skip 2K9, despite it being a solid basketball title.
Graphically NBA 2K9 is a solid looking PS2 title. The player models are recognizable for the big name guys and the aforementioned animations are impressive. That said, there's aliasing that runs rampant on the court and it only gets worse when you take the game online. The presentation doesn't help either with the fudged out look on some of the characters. The crowd won't impress anyone, but it's important to remember that you're looking at what has become ancient hardware and, overall, NBA 2K9 doesn't look half-bad.
The audio also performs well with Kevin Harlan and Kenny Smith hopping into the booth and delivering insightful quips that stand up well against what I heard from the current-gen console versions. Crowd noise could be a bit louder to bring out the excitement of a given moment but what's there works. I would have liked to hear some more chatter on the court, especially when setting screens and calling out shots. As it is the on-court audio is a bit vacant.
©2008-11-12, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved