GameSpy
Review
of NBA 2K9
NBA fans can generally be divided into a couple of categories. There are those who want to see stars score tons of points, soar for vicious slams and swat shots into the stands and there are the aficionados who enjoy watching the Triangle offense being run to perfection even more than seeing Kobe Bryant throw down a reverse-360 windmill. The latter group likes to delve deeper into the game than simply enjoying the surface highlights, figuring out how different players' attributes and personalities fit together like a puzzle. With basketball's combination of teamwork and its inherent celebration of individuality and improvisation, true purists look at the game almost as if it were a form of jazz on the hardwood. That's the NBA 2K9 fan. The series from Visual Concepts has had a strong hold on the hardcore fan for years now, thanks to the genre's most realistic gameplay along with nuances that seem to be pulled straight from NBA arenas.
NBA 2K9 still boasts the best basketball gaming experience while the ball is in play, which is no change from previous years. If we had to describe NBA 2K9 in one word, it would be "smooth." The tempo seamlessly moves from a half-court game to quick transitions. Players not only glide -- with or without the ball -- unhindered by clipping or jerky movements, they move like they actually do in real life. In NBA 2K9, Josh Smith roams the court with his familiar loping, effortless gait as he looks to attack the rim on offense and block shots from the weakside on D. Shaq's raw power around the rim is still present for now, along with the funny way he lifts his legs up and bends his knees on two-handed dunks. Individual players' shooting styles are nearly spot-on, as are their idiosyncrasies, like when Steve Nash practices his follow-through several times at the free throw line before accepting the ball from the official.
With an advantage in gameplay already in the bag, VC obviously looked to make only slight tweaks to its on-court features from last year. Lockdown defense is still present, but in a much fairer form. While everybody's complaint in NBA 2K8 was that you could guard Leandro Barbosa with Glenn "Big Baby" Davis, this year's lockdown function doesn't even guarantee you can smother Barbosa with Chris Paul. Lockdown can help, but if you guess incorrectly the man you're guarding can get by you. Trust us, that mistake often leads to a score if you're playing the CPU.
Speaking of defense, we didn't like what happened after our offense scored. Immediately after a made basket, you're stuck controlling the defender closest to the ball, which is usually a big man taking his sweet time getting back where he should be. So your choices are either to try to steal the ball from the point guard with a seven-footer (good luck), use the turbo to make the big guy get back faster, or rotate through all of your players until you get to your own point guard. We'd rather see the game default to your point guard after every made basket and leave constant cycling to those who really enjoy off-ball defense.
A nice change VC did make was adding a touch pass feature, which can get the ball -- and fast breaks -- moving extremely quickly. The Shot Stick (right analog) is still present but with a slight change: You can now move the Shot Stick quickly in mid-air to change your shot in traffic. While for some the Shot Stick seemed much more difficult than simply pressing a button, we found it to be a more satisfying shooting experience, especially when dunking. Depending on which direction you hold the shot stick in the air, the game's highest flyers will come up with different spectacular dunks, which, with the smoothness of NBA 2K9's visuals, are the best-looking around.
Character models haven't always been a cornerstone of NBA 2K's success, but players' faces are markedly better in this year's iteration. Some renderings are lacking (Kevin Durant looks a lot older than he really is and some lesser-known players still aren't quite right), but most are pretty close to the real thing.
While the game doesn't totally set itself apart from the competition in terms of facial features, NBA 2K9 absolutely knocks it out of the park (or arena, if we're sticking to basketball metaphors) when it comes to crowds. The fans are raucous and proactive, and they'll even wave a foam finger or two. While it may be far-fetched to see Atlanta fans going crazy for a home game against the Grizzlies in real life, nobody wants to play in front of a half-empty arena full of apathetic fans in a videogame. When the home team goes on a run, the crowd fuels the excitement by getting louder and louder, which made NBA 2K9 feel surprisingly like watching the NBA Playoffs at times, just without the five-minute commercial breaks. The players' reactions enhance the experience as well; players complain to refs after foul calls and celebrate after great plays and victories. There does still seems to be the standard force field surrounding the court to keep balls and players from going too far out of bounds, but perhaps designers are afraid of a Grand Theft Auto-type scene with gamers recreating the infamous "malice at the Palace" brawl in Auburn Hills.
Rounding out the top features of NBA 2K9 is the second version of the deep and successful Association mode, this year called The Association 2.0. The Association 2.0's interface is NBA.com, from which a wide variety of information will be updated daily for players going online. The amount of information is huge, but navigating the interface isn't the easiest thing to do. It's nice to have all that information available while the NBA is on the brain, but at this point it seems easier to use our trusty laptops to check out the latest news and rumors. However, the new statistical engine means you can geek out to all of the newest basketball stats you or may or may not have heard of yet, such as Pure Point Rating or Effective Field Goal %. In addition to last year's Player Roles and Personalities, the Association 2.0 adds Player Ambitions and Bird rights, both of which come into play during trades and contract negotiations.
While building our Atlanta Hawks franchise we tried to trade for Nash but he invoked his no-trade clause due to his ambitions to "play for a winner." Apparently Nash didn't become a believer when the Hawks took the Celtics to seven games in the first round of last season's NBA Playoffs. Bird rights give teams greater flexibility in re-signing their own free agents. Both new features make running a team more realistic. One nice thing is that the Association 2.0 can be as deep or shallow as you want to. The casual gamer can automate all the behind-the-scenes stuff, while the hardcore fan has a plethora of front-office work to do to go along with playing the schedule and trying to memorize NBA 2K9's enormous selection of set plays.
The most publicized addition to NBA 2K9, Living Rosters, seems to be an answer to NBA Live 09's Dynamic DNA. Instead of daily updates, we're promised weekly updates on everything from player skills and team tendencies to new animation packages, all based on recent performances in the NBA. While developers will be a part of programming these updates, the content will ultimately be left up to a mysterious person named the 2K Insider. He's supposed to interact with the fans throughout the season and listen to user suggestions, which will probably be dominated by fans complaining that their favorite team or player doesn't get enough respect. Since the NBA season hasn't started we don't know much yet about Living Rosters, besides the fact that the 2K Insider's avatar looks a whole lot like Stephen A. Smith.
Those who play NBA 2K9 will notice unparalleled attention to detail while playing the actual games, but that attention to detail hasn't quite made it to the off-court features. NBA Blacktop is relatively unchanged, complete with its extremely difficult Slam Dunk Contest. It's fortunate the franchise mode has so much going for it, because Blacktop is mostly forgettable. Also underwhelming is the "television" presentation of NBA 2K9. Kevin Harlan's okay but would be better if they would take his muzzle off. The reason announcers like Harlan and Gus Johnson are popular is because they regularly sound like they're going to bust a blood vessel due to excitement, but Harlan's play-by-play in the game is fairly measured. Clark Kellogg replaces Kenny Smith as the color commentator, which means an NBA studio host was replaced by a college basketball studio host. The only way one would remember sideline reporter Cheryl Miller is that she occasionally talks over the action, but we can't remember anything she said. VC had a great idea with the highlight packages at the end of quarters, but the execution still needs some work. During the slow-motion highlights the framerate slowed down frequently, causing the action to lose the smooth look that has made the game so successful.
Don't get us wrong though, as the most passionate NBA purists should hardly be scared by those quibbles. This game delivers where it needs to, offering the most realistic NBA experience to date. Heck, even free-throw shooting means memorizing the shooting styles of different NBA players (a feature we really like, by the way). Playing a quick game isn't so difficult that a casual fan would be turned off, and the people who eat, sleep and live hoops can go as deep into the game as they desire. We'll be interested in seeing whether or not Living Rosters is a worthy update to the NBA 2K series, but even if it needs work, the look, feel and knowledge of the sport that NBA 2K9 displays will be more than enough to help it repeat as champion.
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