- Title: NBA Live 09
- Platform: Xbox 360
- Publisher: EA
- Developer: EA Canada
- ESRB Rating: “E” for Everyone
- Genre: Basketball
- Pros: Great presentation; plenty of modes; fun gameplay; Live 365 features
- Cons: Long load times; dumb A.I.; be a pro not well implemented
For the most part, the features list is much the same as previous games. Quick play, dynasty, create modes, and FIBA international games are all standard faire. Online modes are included, of course, and this year allows 10 players on 10 systems to all play at once. Very cool. NBA Live 09 also has a few new tricks up its sleeve, however, that could potentially change sports games forever. NBA Live 365 is a feature that updates your game every day to mimic exactly what is happening in the real NBA. This also includes dynamic DNA, which gives the players in the videogame the same tendencies and hot/cold shooting positions as their real world counterparts. It is a fascinating feature that really does have the potential to make the game play differently from one day to the next. The only downside is that Live 365 is a free feature for the original purchaser of the game, but if you buy it used (and assuming the previous owner used the included code to activate Live 365) you have to pay an additional 800MS points ($10) to use it.
Gameplay
The gameplay foundation laid down in last year’s game has been strengthened by a few key additions. The fundamentals are all still very solid, but now you can do things like call for screens and do pick and rolls. This opens of the game and gives you an amazing number of options on how to score every time you go down the floor. We also really like the Lockdown Defense system where you can hold the left trigger to ensure your player is in the correct defensive position and then choose how tight their one-on-one defense is by flicking the left stick up or down.
One complaint I have is that the A.I. isn’t very good. In Be A Pro, your teammate’s apparent lack of skill is pretty annoying. In standard games, even on Superstar difficulty, the A.I. has a sort of rubber band effect. If you are playing well, the A.I. plays well. If you play poorly, the A.I. plays poorly to keep it close. I would rather have a more consistent A.I., personally.
Presentation
Graphically, NBA Live 09 is a great looking game. The players all look very close to their real life counterparts and the arenas all look very nice. The animation of the players is also very good.The sound is fine for the most part, other than the commentary which just repeats the same lines over and over. Maybe I just play boring and predictable basketball or something, but I heard the same jokes and lines in pretty much every game.
One additional aspect of the presentation I want to touch on is the load times in the game. It takes forever and a day for the game to load. The practice court thing where you can run around with a player and “practice” while the game loads isn’t nearly as impressive now as it was back in 2005 and I would rather the game just loaded faster because Live 09 is slow.
Bottom Line
