[Pared]

Gameplay

The bread and butter of sports games, IMO. All the modes in the world are completely worthless if the actual gameplay is not deep, balanced and enjoyable. Live ’08 really gave you basic control over your players with basic animations. As a result, the game (’08) felt very stale for me. There was no real differentiation b/w the players aside from the go-to moves. Rebounding had issues; Teams played similar to each other; Passing was average at best with those ridiculous lobs in the post; Defense was non-existent… to put it simply, the game needed a lot of work.

And a lot of work it got. NBA Live ’09 improved upon MANY of the areas they needed to. First and foremost the game is just flat out fun. If a game isn’t fun for me, it isn’t worth tweaking to try and achieve a more realistic simulation. Live ’09 has advanced in many areas like physics, animation, player interaction… I could go on. It almost did not feel like the same game as last year. The inclusion of many varying animations was a much needed addition to the game. Players visually call out plays with their hands, call for the ball, square up for pump fakes… overall they respond to each other very, very well. Animations looked to be re-mo-capped this year with two players as opposed to one last year… the offense and defense work well together when in motion.

First, Rebounds: They are improved but at the build state I played could certainly still use more work. I had issues when going for the ball. Too many times I would jump to rebound and my player would pull his hands back and jump out of the play. I was told I was missing the timing on the rebounds… perhaps they should lessen this poor jump timing window for players. A player (especially in the low post) RARELY jumps out of the play unless they are pushed and a foul is called… they jump straight up and go for the basketball with intent. The way it is now the guys seem a little passive during rebounds. I want to see them go after basketball with determination and ferocity.

Ball Physics were certainly improved. Things didn’t feel “on rails” and passes felt they could be intercepted and deflected well. Players will stick their arms out and deflect passes, but nothing over the top.

Blocks are certainly improved. Now included are block animations that help limit automatic dunks last year. This includes blocks from behind and side blocks. Again, another area that is all contextual. Some control over the straight block or a swipe would be nice with a risk-reward system.
Icon passing now includes queued passes, so you can hit two guys quickly in succession. I didn’t like the basic, “point to a guy and pass” and IMO Icon Passing allows for more control. I didn’t have any issues with icon passing.

Quickstrike anklebreakers is a cute “street” name for Live’s evolution of freestyle. It’s very well done and is not overly powerful like last year. The reason it works so well is the defense…

Lockdown defense really is a welcome addition to basketball games. Almost all basketball games has the player seemingly involved by “locking on” to the offensive player and watching the guy stay in front of him. Live is the first game where I’ve actually felt involved on defense. There are two levels of lockdown D. The first, is a semi-close level, where you can just stay in front of you man to avoid getting beat. This gives them room to shoot though. The other is a close-up, in-your-face defensive stance where the offensive player can take advantage of QSAB. Also, the game ties ratings heavily into when you can beat a man off the dribble. There are instances where you can make one move and beat a big man easily and others where faster, smaller, better defensive guards can recover. This works very well in the post as you can match your offensive player move for move. If they lean in, you can lean and beat them to the spot. It’s much needed in basketball games as defense finally gets the much needed attention it deserves.

Despite the improvements, post play defense seemed week. The %’s of basket’s scored was too high. This was pointed out to the devs and I'm hoping this gets addressed.

Players were being subbed well at a decent rate. I didn’t feel any impact from fatigue though. Again, this could be because the subs were well done… or perhaps it was the fact we only played 5 minute quarters.

Player momentum was improved. This was slightly overdone with the ball handling, as at times you felt locked in to a move. Hopefully this gets addressed prior to release. I hope they address this the most, as the defender can lock you into a backcourt violation due to animation, something that plagued NBA 2k8.

Fouls also certainly need to be increased from default. If they ship the foul levels as they are now, you will rarely see fouls called in head to head play.

I was looking for more in terms of player specific moves. There are variations of go to moves and shots (like Garnett’s one step, side fade-away at the FT line!) but I didn’t see too many. Perhaps they were there and I didn’t see them… but just know I didn’t see ‘em.

Likes:

-Defense is actually involving now for the player; Easily the biggest improvement with the changes to lock-on D
-Post-play
-Improved Animations bring the gameplay to life

Dislikes:

-Still a few rebounding issues. I want tenacity!
-Post play defense needed work on shots
-Quickstrike responsiveness needed improvement