Sadly, that's one of the biggest follies in NBA 2K9. The immediate change to the mode has to do with the user interface which now incorporates NBA.com into the presentation. The Association, dubbed this year as The Association 2.0, is back with as much depth as you'd expect. Build up some momentum and you'll really see some buckets start to drop. 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. Kobe and Lebron are going to score their points, there's little that you can do to stop that from happening. This season is the first time where 2K Sports seems to have gotten the skills of the players right. This happened all too often on drives to the basket or shots from within ten feet.
NBA 2K9 INFORMATION PRO
One issue that has also been corrected for NBA 2K9 is that of missing shots that pro players should be making. It's these little touches that help push 2K9 beyond what we've seen elsewhere. Run out of bounds and run into the mascot and there's an animation that plays there too. Get knocked down and they'll help each other up. If the refs make a call, a player will get upset. They're realistic, they almost never falter and the little nuanced actions that you see when players interact are great. The animations, like in all NBA 2K games, are great to watch. That's not to say that there aren't annoyances when players won't keep their momentum going down the court when catching a ball, but seeing two players explode down the sidelines and calling for an outlet pass on a rebound is authenticity at its finest. It's not to the level of an arcade basketball title, but there's certainly a stronger propensity to get out on the open floor and run the break. Keeping the conversation on the offensive side of the ball, you'll immediately notice that the speed of this year's game has been ratcheted up. It works very similarly to what you remember in year's past, but it's now more responsive if you get stuck in mid-air with no place to go and need to go for the fancy up-and-under move. The shot stick, a staple of the series, has been modified a bit to allow players to change their shot in mid-air. Running plays is also streamlined so it's a bit easier to hit the open man. Not only that, but your players also make solid cuts off the ball if they notice a defender is overplaying them on one side. Dual player control is a much larger part of the gameplay as you can now tell your guys to screen for you and either pop out for a jumper or cut to the hole and the specialized animations that follow look great. Moreover, AI as a whole has been tuned up during the off-season. Why can't I hold the left stick and, based on my opponent's position, deny him the ball on the right or left side? Still, the lockdown stick is much better than it was and it allows you to pick out the tendencies of an AI player and exploit them easier than before. That leads me to my main complaint with the mechanic, that being that it's only usable when the man you're guarding actually has the ball. The new system still relies on the left trigger for activation, while it uses the right stick to determine how you orient yourself with relation to the person with the ball. Shaq can no longer guard Steve Nash by simply slamming down on the left trigger. Lockdown defense is back again, but it's been changed for the better. 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. It's a welcome switch for a genre that so often rests on its laurels. The biggest changes, surprisingly enough, actually do come on the court.
NBA 2K9 INFORMATION SERIES
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. Luckily NBA 2K9 is here to return the series to its once comfortable perch atop the basketball world. 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. The developers behind the yearly stable of sports games that we all love struggle with a similar problem every season. As any knowledgeable caveman will tell you, it's tough to reinvent the wheel.
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