Review: NBA 2K9 Review, The Only Way To Slam Dunk

By: Oren Nathan
Posted: Feb 4, 2009

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The game of basketball is very similar to life itself, the key to success is to combine both luck and sophistication. The psychological affect on the game is more intense than other types of sports. Portland’s ability to foul Shaquille O’Neal and for Dennis Rodman to play mind games with Karl Malone tends to tell that the dynamic of the game.

In the latest installment in the NBA 2k series, it’s noticeable from the get go that the designers of the game wanted to teach the core elements of basketball. The engine of the game requires the player to play on both ends of the court. Like the real game, the emphasis is to move the ball around and work as a team, there is some space for individual plays but it’s limited.

The control interface in the game combines both the d-pad and the analog sticks, the player can easily adjust the types the types of defense (man to man, 2-3 zone, traps) and offensive plays (pick n’ roll, isolation, backdoor). As an outcome from the different difficulty levels, the artificial intelligence in the game manages to work around the flaws in the player style of play. For example, in the defensive end of the court the A.I of the opposite team will detect holes immediately and drive straight to the basket. The A.I in the game has an effect on the user controlled team as the off ball players will move and set picks (unless a play is called). What I really liked about the engine, was the dual player control. While pressing L1, the player calls for screens, posting up and more. In my opinion, NBA 2K9, has one of the best A.I systems I’ve ever seen in a sports videogame. Even though, the high efficiency of the pick n’ roll and not being able to draw up a play, hurts the game in the long run.

The shot mechanism in the game is based on the right analog stick. Even though players can still use the conventional way, the ability to use the shot stick and adjusting the shots is far more enjoyable. Free throws on the other hand, are solely based on the analog stick and it takes a while to score regularly. The game also features the Isomotion engine that enables the player to perform tricks such as crossovers. Isomotion comes to play mostly in the fast break opportunities.

NBA 2K9 features a variety of modes. The main mode is the association mode which let the player take control over one of the 30 teams of the NBA. As with similar modes in the past, the player controls the team budget, trades, rotation, prospect scouting and more. The interaction between the player and the team lets him watch the team chemistry and even set individual training. The individual training consists of many mini games that suppose to improve the skills of different players on the team. The mini games concept is really nice as it’s definitely fun to practice free throws, dribbles and much more. I’m a little bit disappointed by the fact that it’s impossible to train the whole team and especially work on plays (it’s possible via the practice mode).

The design of the association mode is based on the official website of the NBA. Like the real website, the player can read results from around the league, know about possible trades, read about new records and more. The whole design comes off really nice however the information is mostly presented through headlines thus making the option pretty useless (viewing statistics is available through the menus).

Besides the Association mode, the game features the regular season and playoff modes plus the practice and the blacktop mode. The practice mode is really useful for starters as it covers up all the gameplay elements. Although there is a little bar that explains the different drills, I think that adding a visual example plus feedback on the player performance would have been much better.
The blacktop mode is basically a street mode which features the 3 point challenge (shooting via analog stick), street games (3-3, 21) and the famous slam dunk contest.

The slam dunk contest is one of the popular modes among players, as it gives them the chance to create some breathtaking dunks. Personally I didn’t really like the mode. The whole concept and presentation is really good, however the dunk mechanism isn’t user friendly. I found it difficult to dunk, even when I practiced through the training mode.

The general presentation of the game is combining elements from both the graphics and audio departments. Ever since the closure on the NFL 2K series, fans wanted to see the same level of presentation that was featured in it. The development team at 2K worked really hard in order to improve the whole atmosphere of the game, although it’s not perfect, it really improves the game. NBA 2K9, features a good combination between animations and camera views. Watching the expressions on and off the court while the camera cuts away from the action, shows that improved presentation is really important to a sports videogame.

Graphic wise, the whole atmosphere of the game feels like an NBA game (mascots, cheerleaders, MVP chants). Most of the player models look like their real life counterparts (even players like Roger Mason). The coaches however still need an improvement as some like George Karl don’t look right at all.

In the audio department, the game features the commentary team of Clark Kellogg, Kevin Harlan and Cheryl Miller. The team is making a good job by analyzing the game with cool remarks including interesting comparisons. The amount of lines recorded is totally fine, however it might turn to be repetitive at some levels (mostly during the final stretches). The aspect that disappointed me in the commentary was during the association mode. The commentary team didn’t acknowledge the status of the team and rarely mentioned their record. The soundtrack in the game, features songs from artists like the Beastie Boys, The Cool Kids and the Brand New Heavies. Sadly it’s impossible to import tracks form the Hard disk of the console.

In Addition to the different game modes, the game features a full online support. The game automatically downloads all the latest roster changes included with new animations and different ratings. For example, the roster update adds the whole All-star 2009 experience to the game completed with rosters, jerseys and the design of the court. Besides the official updates, the game also features user created content such as classic teams, players and even sliders, all tagged with an online ranking system.

The Online game modes, features the ability to play in both Ranked and Unranked games. The major addition to the online experience is the ability to play a complete 5-5 game. At start I was really skeptical about the mode since I thought that the gameplay will be much different. Luckily I was wrong. The online 5-5 experience is really cool. The coordination between players evolves as game progress. Even though point guards have more control over the game, the balance between playing defense and offence is completely intact.

In conclusion, NBA 2k9 is a great basketball game, even though it features an engine that will be intimidating for starters, the core elements of basketball are well presented in the game. Working on both ends of the court and especially on the little things (rebounds, double teams) makes a good combination between luck and sophistication and that’s the key to success.