Xbox 360
Games should always follow a number of simple rules including easy to understand game-play, a good tutorial and the possibility to progress. NBA Live lacks two of those criteria and merely depends on game play to see it through. This is coupled with the fact that EA Sports know that with official licenses they will receive purchases so they merely have to equal any rivals and not exceed them in any way leaving a lackluster game.
Starting with the tutorial area. Good guidance is given in the manual as with any other EA Sports game, but having created a tutorial area, the developers failto utilise it to any great degree.
Yet again it is dependant on knowing a good deal about basketball to be able to run the plays and so a casual player will be immediately put off by the lack of any visual impetus into how to achieve them. It doesn’t require much merely an example on the screen of the AI achieving what is required or a reminder of the button presses required without digging through the manual. It’s hard to use the controller with the manual firmly placed in one hand. To its benefit training provides numerous scenarios to aid the characters development and dogged work produces results … eventually.
Getting onto the actual in game play and NBA 09 has a simple system of controls to master. In fact having played other EA Sports simulations the lack of duplicate controls on buttons was fairly pleasing with simplicity definitely in mind although some may find it difficult to master using the right joystick for some moves (but this is merely a learning curve issue rather than a problem with the game). This control system makes you feel in control of the player(s), in attack at least, and gave free flowing movement on the screen. Baskets are easy to come by with the better teams and at times the game is as fast and furious an end to end battle as any you might see in real life. And graphically the game is attractive with action easy to keep a bead on and various camera angles that can be picked although on a very few occasions the game engine seemed to pick the most obstructive.
The game is intuitive enough that your team mates react around you well when attacking the opponent’s basket. Unfortunately they only seem to track back in defense and then stand around doing little to stop the opposing team. Defense indeed feels woeful and leads to frustration with the game. Even when you are in control of the characters they don’t appear to do what you want. Team AI, called DNA in game terms is therefore lacking with the opposing team seeming far more in tune with the rest of its players than the player can easily achieve and this can leave the player feeling cold.
As with a number of products from this company NBA 09 is an acceptable sports simulation but fails to do anything to attract new players. Menu systems are unattractive and complex enough to put people off at the start and the game seems to have been developed precisely for the experienced NBA player who has been with the series for a long time and therefore has bought this simulation because it does what it says on the tin. It does, but with just a little effort it could do more and attract new people into both the game and the sport.
