NBA 2K9

GAME INFO:

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/sports/nba2k9/index.html

October 6, 2008 - As any knowledgeable caveman will tell you, it's tough to reinvent the wheel. Some might say impossible. The developers behind the yearly stable of sports games that we all love struggle with a similar problem every season. How do you change a videogame enough to make it worth sixty bucks while still staying in the confines of the given sport? It's a lesson that 2K Sports learned the hard way last year with NBA 2K8, a game that underperformed in the eyes of most critics.

Luckily NBA 2K9 is here to return the series to its once comfortable perch atop the basketball world. While no one will argue that it's a massive overhaul from what we've seen from the series in the past, the additions that have been made advance the gameplay enough to conquer the competition.

The biggest changes, surprisingly enough, actually do come on the court. It's a welcome switch for a genre that so often rests on its laurels. NBA 2K8 was home to plenty of issues including gameplay that felt a step too slow and a newly adapted defensive mechanic that nearly broke the game. Lockdown defense is back again, but it's been changed for the better. Shaq can no longer guard Steve Nash by simply slamming down on the left trigger.

One issue that has also been corrected for NBA 2K9 is that of missing shots that pro players should be making. This happened all too often on drives to the basket or shots from within ten feet. This season is the first time where 2K Sports seems to have gotten the skills of the players right. Kobe and Lebron are going to score their points, there's little that you can do to stop that from happening. This game realizes that and, while it doesn't take defense out of the equation entirely, there's much more leeway on hitting some of those tough jumpers. Build up some momentum and you'll really see some buckets start to drop.

The Association, dubbed this year as The Association 2.0, is back with as much depth as you'd expect. The immediate change to the mode has to do with the user interface which now incorporates NBA.com into the presentation. Sadly, that's one of the biggest follies in NBA 2K9. The system does provide some cool updates as to what's going on around the league (updates to actual career milestones) but it's incredibly hard to navigate. It's made worse by the 2K Nav feature, something that I've never been a fan of. All in all the off-the-court presentation is easily the weakest part of 2K9.

The other "under the hood" additions to Association 2.0 are where the mode sees its main improvements. First, you can now scout players to get a needed edge for an upcoming game. Gone are the specific number ratings for every player and they've been replaced by more generic letter grades. To get a precise number you'll need to invest in some of those crucial scouting reports.

2K Sports has also tweaked the financial and trading systems a bit to be more authentic. There are now Bird Years and Bird Rights that flesh out NBA 2K9's CBA to mirror the genuine article a bit closer. There are also clauses within contracts and the ability to construct trades between three teams that offer more than the typical one-to-one offers. This all ties into the new player ambitions that help you to better gauge the mindset of the athletes on your team. For instance, while playing as the Celtics I was offered a straight up trade: Ray Allen for Michael Redd. I accepted, but Ray Allen refused to waive his no-trade clause because being on a winning team was part of his set of ambitions. It's a cool system that's made all the better by the fact that it actually works.

A staple of 2K Sports games has been impressive multiplayer experiences and 2K9 is absolutely no different thanks to the new five-on-five gameplay. It's not all that dissimilar to what other games have done this year in that every player on the court is controlled by a human player. During my several games it was clear that the fluidity of the game breaks down a bit when every play has to succumb to a different user, but the gameplay was still fast and fun. Defense has been ratcheted down a bit, or so it seems, to keep things as fun as possible. It should be interesting to see how this affects the stats of the online world once the community gets their hands on the game.

While I've already called the off-the-court presentation values the worst part of 2K9 (and they are), when you're on the court, you're going to be treated to a great looking game. The player faces are still hit and miss, though they're now more hit than miss, but the crowd has been pumped up considerably and does a great job of adding life to the scene. Then there's the new duo of Cheryl Miller and Clark Kellogg who join Kevin Harlan for commentary duties. The trio does a good job but doesn't pack as much excitement as other virtual commentators are able to. Finally there's the new highlight reel generator that essentially takes every scoring play for a star player and compiles them into a clip show. It's cool and you can skip it if you want; what's not to like?

Minimum Requirements:

OS: Windows Vista, XP, or 2000 CPU | CPU: Pentium 4 2.4 Ghz Single Core
processor or equivalent (2.8 Ghz for Vista) RAM: 512 MB or more (1 GB for Vista) Disc Drive: 8x or
faster DVD drive | Hard Drive: 10.5 GB or more free space | Video: DirectX 9.0c compatible * | Sound:
DirectX 9.0c compatible | Input: Keyboard or dual-analog gamepad
* Video card with 128 MB or more memory and one of the following chipsets is required: ATI x1300
or greater | NVIDIA 6600 or greater | DirectX 9.0c compatible card with Shader Model 3.0 support.

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