Release: Oct 7 2008 (US), Oct 10 2008 (UK)
Developer: EA Canada
Publisher: EA Sports
Genre: Sports
To quote a certain muscle bound member of GTA4′s supporting cast, “I’m genetically different, baby” – and that’s just what NBA Live 09 has set out to achieve, both in relation to other basketball titles and in your day-to-day experience with the game itself.
It’s all in the ‘Dynamic DNA’, a service that updates player tendencies (whether they like to drive left or right, take jump shots or drive to the basket etc), trades and injuries on a daily basis. This means that if Yao Ming started to regularly drop shots from the beyond the arc, or if Marbury actually started to have an impact in Knick’s games then it would all be represented in the player’s attributes.
It’s probably not an over-reaction to say that Dynamic DNA, as an idea, has the potential to change how we think about sports games in the future, bringing us closer than ever before to the current abilities of the athletes themselves.
While its true potential won’t be unveiled until the NBA season is fully up-and-running, it works well enough to label it a success up to this point. The implementation could hardly be described as subtle though, as every statistics screen and sub-menu seems pre-occupied with letting you know the feature exists rather than providing you with the info you’re actually looking for. When you’ve got it flaunt it, as someone once said…
A flawed revolution
Sadly, and despite being an improvement over Live 08, the gameplay is distinctly less revolutionary, feeling tired and inaccurate compared in NBA 2K9. Defensive A.I. is particularly bad, especially when it comes to defending the paint. It’s much too easy to secure an open shot or lay-up, which can lead to some pretty impressive scoring percentages. This might sound great, but just remember that the same A.I. has been applied to your teammates, leaving you with a lot of work if you want to keep the opposing team’s score within reasonable margins.
The new offensive ‘Quickstrike Ankle Breaker’ skills are not particularly well implemented. Performed by holding the right trigger (R2 on PS3) and flicking the right stick, the ankle breakers allow you to fly past defenders with an impressive display of ball handling. The move itself works well if you do it right, the problem is that defenders seem to have the ability to recover from being caught wrong footed with inhuman speed, rendering a successful ankle breaker useless unless you pass (or shot) the ball immediately.
Thankfully it’s not all bad, the pick and roll system has been updated and is significantly improved as a result. By holding the left trigger (L2 for PS3) you can control both the ball handler and the player setting pick. Depending on how long you hold the button determines what whether the player will move towards the hoop or take a shot. If used correctly you’ll be rewarded with a wide open dunk and lay-up, or feel the satisfaction of successfully drawing away the defender for the open shot.
Sense of grandeur
As ever the bulk of the single player experience is found in Dynasty Mode, which has seen some improvements over last year’s outing. Upon starting your dynasty you’ll be asked to select a team direction for the upcoming season, your options are ‘rebuilding’ (for teams that need a complete overhaul of talent), ‘up and coming’ (teams that consists of young players with potential) and ‘contending’ (teams out to win now). Based on which direction you choose you’ll be given a set of objectives to hit for that season, ranging from freeing up a large chunk of salary cap space (for rebuilding teams) to winning your division (for contending teams). Each objective earns you a number of points that can be spent on improving your backroom staff come the end of season; for example you can improve the quality of your offensive/defensive coaches or your scouting department, or both.
These points cannot be earned by simulating matches, so the emphasis is on playing games yourself if you want to fully immerse yourself in the managerial aspects. Managerial pressures are different depending on your chosen direction – if you select ‘contending’ you had better make sure you do contend if you want to keep your job. It makes for a very complete experience that should keep your attention for a good while.
This increased level of immersion is carried over to the scouting of potential draft picks. You can now take control of a select number of the upcoming rookie class in a training camp situation to personally judge how well they’ll fit into your current set-up. Again, while not exactly groundbreaking, it all adds to the sense of being in charge of your own destiny.
Also included in this year’s game is, what seems to be fast becoming EA Sports’ signature mode, ‘Be A Pro’; in which you control just one player on the team for the entire game. Unfortunately, unlike NHL 09 and FIFA 09, Live’s Be A Pro is horribly lacking in any sort of depth, only allowing you to play one-off exhibition matches as opposed to whole seasons. The on court action works well but it’s hard to justify spending much time with the mode, due to the lack of player development or team achievements available.
Online team play (Be A Pro’s online equivalent) in which each user controls an individual player works brilliantly, and is possibly the finest experience the whole game has to offer. Gone are the inadequacies of the defensive A.I. as now you’ve only yourself (or your team-mates) to blame when things go wrong. Completely lag free and perfectly balanced ‘online team play’ is where serious players will spend the bulk of their time. Combine this with the club system – in which you complete against other teams in a league system – and you’ve got a fantastic online mode, very similar to the superb version found in NHL 09.
Eye of the beholder
Graphically it’s good but not great. Animations are fluid, and players move realistically, but the visuals of the player’s faces wildly vary in their quality. For example, Tony Parker and Kobe Bryant are recognizable but Chris Paul looks as though his face as been through a meat grinder and Dirk Nowitzki resembles a potato more than he does a man. There are also a disturbing number of graphical glitches, with the ball (and
sometimes a whole body) often passing straight through an opposing team member and magically appearing out of their back; it’s all very disconcerting.
On the other hand the commentary, provided by Marv Albert and Steve Kerr, is excellent. Rather than calling every play the commentary takes a conversational style, often talking about a single player for a couple minutes, giving you some good insight into the superstars you’re controlling. If the rest of the game could match the quality displayed here then it would be getting on for perfect.
The fully fleshed out dynasty and online team play modes, and innovative Dynamic DNA system, are let down by some disappointing gameplay elements. While still an enjoyable experience NBA Live 09 falls short of truely impressing, and still finds itself in the NBA 2K series’ shadow. Genetically different it might be, genetically superior it isn’t.
No comments