

Granted, all of this is more or less negated when you start to call more plays, but it would be nice, especially for newer players, if some of this were a bit more automatic. This is particularly aggravating, since your opponent's defense seems incredibly adept at staying close and keeping you confined, which sometimes makes it difficult to scoot your way back into the paint without passing outside as you try to draw away defenders to open someone up. Likewise, offense has the same issues, so if you're not calling plays on a constant basis, they tend to underperform and never make any solid movement toward the basket or get open on the outside to make them viable for a great and unexpected play.

Otherwise, you should prepare to have some of the better-ranked teams walk all over you unless you constantly switch control from man to man and follow the ball around the court. If you don't start using the play-making ability, which you can bring up at anytime, then more often than not, your team won't go up for rebounds. My biggest gripe comes from the lack of AI movement when playing both offense and defense, with the game seeming to rely on your ability to call plays more than it chooses to make any plays on its own. Since gameplay is obviously where it's at, all of the shiny bells and whistles that NBA Live '09 does so well don't end up meaning much in the long run. While Live '09's presentation beats out that of NBA 2K9, it's the gameplay that really takes a hit. The presentation in NBA Live '09 is top-notch, and the menus are really easy to navigate so you can easily find the desired play mode, unlike the menus in NBA 2K9. The integration with ESPN this year is also impressive, with not only a ticker of current scores and news, but also some voiced announcements and other tidbits of information, as long as you're online. Toss in the once-again solid commentary work from Marv Albert and Steve Kerr, and it'd be easy to fool the unsuspecting eye into thinking that there's an actual game on TV. In particular, the animations really underscore this from the regular gameplay movements to the solid replay shots, the graphics really do their best to drive home the sensation that you're watching an actual game.
Nba live 09 vs nba 2k9 review how to#
This is going to be more useful for the veteran players out there, and probably not something that newcomers will appreciate as much, but it's still an excellent feature if you know how to use it.Īdditionally, NBA Live '09 is probably the best-looking NBA title on the market. You can also use the information in the dynamic DNA system to set up defense or offense based on your opposing teams, by keeping track of their tendencies and trying to plan ahead. Thanks to the dynamic DNA system, game updates aren't strictly limited to what the real-life players are doing, and it's nice to see that changes can occur within the game itself, especially for those who may not be able to take their systems online. If you have a tendency to approach from the left instead of the right, that'll be reflected, along with your accuracy - as well as the AI's - in shots, steals, rebounds, etc. NBA Live '09 also introduces a dynamic DNA system, which reflects changes that occur in-game, particularly with the players you control. These updates are meant to occur on a much more frequent basis than previous Live titles, so if you're a stickler for accurate rosters, then this feature will definitely appeal to you. If a player is injured or traded, or if he's seen some changes to his current percentages, those changes will be reflected in game. Similar to its rival title from 2K Sports, NBA Live '09 introduces the idea that rosters will get constant updates to reflect the current NBA season, as long as you're online with Xbox Live. Some of that comes from the questionable AI in both the player- and CPU-controlled teams, and I also felt the control scheme was a bit unwieldy, which made the time spent on the court a bit more of a chore.įirst, let's talk about what NBA Live '09 gets right.
Nba live 09 vs nba 2k9 review update#
There are some really slick presentation and roster update changes available in EA's NBA Live '09, but I found the actual gameplay to be a bit lacking. Having played both NBA titles this year, with NBA 2K9 and now NBA Live '09, I've got to say that both of the games introduce some excellent changes, but I'm not entirely in love with either one.
