NBA Live 09 [DEMO/Xbox 360]

[jimtendo]

Well, just given the small demo a whirl.
The game lasts for 2 quarters, each being 2 minutes in length.
You take control of either the LA Lakers or the Boston Celtics.

Having not really played Live 08 that much, bar the demo, i couldn't really tell that much difference in terms of actual gameplay (demo wise) apart from 09 having better animations, and smoother transitions from animation to animation.

One thing that did stand out for me (from having played a lot of NBA 2K8) was that, the players really didn't have too many signature shots that i could recognise. Plus the release seems quite quick on the main.
Ray Allen does have his quick release, with Kobe having pretty much the same shot and release as Odoms one.
Also, i wasn't quite sure if it was the same as Live 08 where you don't really have to release the shoot button, since you just hold the shoot button down all the way, and the CPU releases the shot for you. And depending on where you are (according to the 'Hot Spots' in Live 08) the shot would be money from that range, regardless of whether you had two men putting hands in your face as you made the shot.
Another thing, was that most of the layups seem to do a 'high rainbow' into the hoop, which seemed a little off. Though, that's just me basing it from my experience from 2K8

It's quite hard for me to get the play calling, since it's based on each individual players play book, compared to say 2K8 where it was mainly team play books, not focusing on individual players.

What i am looking forward to is the implementation of the 'Live DNA 365' where the previous nights stats would count towards the stats of your players the next day. A similar thing to what FIFA 09 is doing with it's 'live leagues' so you get constant roster updates, without having to wait for roster updates every odd months.

On the whole, it's a nice enough demo. It just more run n' gun compared to 2K8
I'm really holding out for 2K's effort this year, as more than likely, it would play a better game of B-ball.

[jimtendo]

Now having played the full game...

I?ve never really got into the ?Live? series of games, for the reason that they are too arcadey, where 1 ball quarterback style passes from coast to coast leads to dunk fests. Just like a 5 on 5 NBA Jam.

However, having played the ?Live 09? demo, It perked my interest, since it played better than previous iterations. Along with last years ?quickstrike? maneuvers (which are performed with the right analog stick) there?s ?ankle? breaker moves where you hold the turbo button in co-junction with using the right analog stick. This will hopefully help you beat the last man, though it hasn?t worked as well as I thought it would in practice, as the AI will seemingly catch you up.

In general, the game looks very good.
The players look more caricatured than 2K?s realistic style, though I prefer the latter in style.
People obsessed with what the players accessorize themselves with will be pleased, as they wear pretty much the right sneakers and armbands, with T-mac wearing his own branded wear, along with Paul Pierce amongst numerous others.

While I feel that ?2K9? has more situational animations, for example when going for a layup and a defending player bumps into you, the offensive player?s animation will change to accommodate this. Likewise, if two defenders jostle you while making a shot it will cater for this as well.
The animation in ?Live 09? is pretty good, and transist?s well enough from sprinting to then moving for a jump shot. I feel there isn?t as many variations in animation. Though in some ways it looks smoother than 2K9

Before I mentioned that I felt the gameplay in ?Live? was more arcadey.
I put the game settings to be similar to ?NBA 2K9? in terms of putting the time for each quarter is 8 minutes, upping the difficulty in ?Live 09? to ?All-star?, since the default ?Starter? difficulty is quite easy compared to ?pro? difficulty in ?2K9?
I didn?t mess about with any of the game sliders.
During game, i tend to run my plays and not play too run-and-gun all the time, and the scores I got when these games finished were pretty similar, and in most cases I scored more in ?2K9?
Ok, so this isn?t conclusive evidence. However if I left the difficulty on ?Live 09? on default, I would?ve scored more, but since I?m going for like for like it seems pretty even steven.

Set plays are easier to perform on ?Live 09? and with the ?pick and roll? being assigned to the left trigger, making it easy to pull off one of the most effective plays within basketball.
General plays are used by holding the ?left bumper? which gives you 8 options, depending on the ball handler. But most plays, will require you to hand the ball back to the point guard to initiate the play.

One of the quirks within the shooting (well compared to say ?2K9? and from a realism aspect) is that when shooting 3?s on ?2K9? you will get some that clank off the rim and in, or clank off the rim then off the backboard then in again.
However, in ?Live 09? every single (successful) 3 pointer becomes ?nothing but net!? and just swishes the net all the time, which quite frankly seems ungainly.
The shot making just feels more organic in 2K9 where you will never know if the ball will take a really bad bounce off the rim or backboard.

For a while, I was playing ?Live 09? a lot more than ?2K9? mainly because the flow of the game is faster, and you can play the quick breaks more often than not.
However, nearly a week and a half has gone since both their respective releases, I?m tending to go back to ?2K9? mainly because, I feel there?s a lot more to the gameplay, and that there has been a lot more love, in terms of detailing/ aesthetics that have been applied to the players uniqueness. Also each stadium has it?s own crowd chants. Just simple ones like when you?re playing the Cleveland Cavaliers at home, when you pass the ball to Zydrunas Ilgauskas, the crowd will shout ?Zee!?, and the same when Daniel Gibson shoots a bucket, they?ll shout ?boobie!?

In short, a good alternative to ?2K9? if you?re looking for an easy access basketball game that hits the right switches in most places.
But for myself, I?ll stick with ?2K9? for the time being.