NBA Live 09 – Review

	Available On: PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, PSP Format Reviewed: PS3 Publisher: EA Sports Developer: EA Sports Players: 1-4 Online: 1-4

Although the NBA Live series has generally proved to be a decent one for Basketball fans, there were many flaws that have held it back from being a top quality title. The last iteration, NBA Live 08 impressed quite a few players, but was restricted by the fact that player animations were absolutely horrific and unrealistic. So the question is, can the new game, NBA Live 09, finally get it right and provide an overall fun Basketball experience? Read on to find out.

Firstly, and most importantly, NBA Live is a massive improvement over its predecessor, and is overall, a very authentic Basketball experience.

This is largely down to the much improved player animations. NBA Live 08 felt very unrealistic in this area, and felt very arcadey. Where 09 improves is that players move as you would expect them to in real life. The number of different animations has been upped greatly, so you’ll find a great number of different spins and shot techniques coming from across a variety of situations, each of which feels true to the sport.

This is helped by the fluid and responsive controls. Where it could have fallen into the trap where the player moves like he’s got stuck in treacle that we’ve come to see all to often in sports games trying to be realistic, rest assured that when you move your control stick, the player will move immediately in a believable manner, and shifts body weight accurately.

A large amount of thought needs to go into the way you want to approach the opponents net. For example, on occasions you might want to draw in an opposing player in to open up space for a team mate, on other occasions you might want to simply try and pass it around, it really does vary of the situation and team you’re playing, giving most matches a unique feel.

While the sheer number of offensive and defensive tactics may seem daunting at first to those unfamiliar with the sport, The Academy will cover every aspect you need to know. It’s here where you speak to coaches who give you a variety of different challenges, or let you practice certain moves with your team mates in a non competitive environment. Each challenge comes with three levels, which (in most cases) get progressively tougher. This is a really great feature, and no doubt those who don’t watch NBA or haven’t played a previous game in the series would have great trouble with the amount of B-ball jargon used if this wasn’t included, it’s a nice touch from EA.

However, the meat of the game comes from the new Dynasty mode. It’s here where you choose the NBA team you wish and aim to take them to glory. You have the ability to draft players into your chosen team, essentially allowing you to create your dream squad. Visits to the Academy allow you to practice drills here too, and affects the statistics of your players. NBA fans will no doubt spend hours upon hours in this mode, working through the realistic calendar year.

Although there are several other modes to choose from too. The FIBA World Championship allows you to choose an International team and take them to the top. Then there’s the inclusion of the Be a Pro mode, borrowed directly from EA’s FIFA series, which allows you to play as a single player on a team, with a rating depending on how well you perform in your position. You also have the NBA All-Star Weekend to get through, which includes in different events such as a three point competition and a slam dunk challenge, before tackling the big All-Star game itself. Finally there’s the scenario mode, where you can select any circumstance you want before starting a game. You can choose to start a set number of points ahead or behind, which will allow NBA obsessives to recreate some classic moments that the sport has offered in the past.

Visually, the game looks great. There’s a consistently smooth frame rate, and players look realistic and polished, and looks almost as good as the real thing. The commentary is overall pretty good, although it can get a bit annoying at times when particular lines are repeated again and again.

Although the game does have a few issues stopping it from becoming a top quality title. The passing can sometimes feel a little awkward, as they seem to either go to an undesired player, or go straight to the opposition. This doesn’t happen often, but it’s just frustrating when it does. There’s also various times when the opposition just seem to get everything going their way. Heading toward the end of the game, you can find yourself a fair way ahead only for the other team to get a resurgence, and somehow turn it around. Although it’s not impossible for this to happen in real life, and credit to EA for attempting to skew from keeping the team playing the same way through, it’s just feels like you’re being cheated at times, and you can do hardly anything about it.

Online, the game is great. It plays pretty much as well as it does offline, with minimal lag, and a variety of game modes. The ‘Clubs’ feature that we saw in FIFA09 makes an appearance, which allows you to assemble gamers into a team to attempt to fill the trophy cabinet. NBA Live 365 also makes it’s debut, which updates player stats in accordance to their form in real life, so you can expect current hot-shots to have super inflated stats.

Overall, NBA Live 09 is a very good Basketball title. Although it does have a few small flaws, NBA fans will get a lot of enjoyment out of it, and non-fans may find it good fun for a while too. The amount on offer will certainly keep you occupied for a while.

A great game well worth buying.