NBA 2K9

"Best basketball game available but that's not saying much."

GRAPHICS 7/10

2K9's graphics aren't horrible, but they aren't exactly stunning either. The players' faces are all pretty accurate to their real-life counterparts for the most part, but the body textures look a little sloppy. The uniforms look really good in my opinion, despite the fact that they still ‘float' above the players shoulders, and sometimes glitch off the player entirely. The court itself looks about as good as a simulated court is going to look in the near future. The crowd, as with most games that include one, is a joke. There are only like six or seven fan models that have been copied and pasted all over the arena, and the models themselves could barely pass on a Sega Genesis, graphically.

SOUND 9/10

In-game sound is truly vibrant. The shoe-squeaks, player banter, dribbling sound, the drone of the crowd, etc. all really help immerse the player in the NBA environment. And if you're a rap fan, you will most likely enjoy the soundtrack.

GAMEPLAY 8/10

Compared to the other basketball games on the market, 2K9's gameplay is extraordinary, though it has some flaws. Most glaringly, I feel that the game has much too many animations which take control away from the player and do nothing but detract from the experience. For instance, if you're dribbling up the court and a defender attempts to block your path, more often than not an animation will be triggered that sends your player in an entirely different direction, sometimes even directly out of bounds. There are countless animations that occur in the paint, most of which are incredibly frustrating, for the defense and offense. I hope one day that we will have a sports sim that has no pre-set animations, but is based solely on a physics engine or something. I also feel that the game puts too much emphasis on jump shot timing. There are several star players, including Paul Pierce and Ray Allen of my hometown Boston Celtics, and even the great Kobe Bryant, that I just cannot play with due to my inability to correctly time their jump shots. The CPU can be very cheap, downright unfair at times, when playing on the higher difficulties of the game. It's not like the CPU plays awesome basketball and simply outplays you. Let me put it this way: if I was playing an opponent online and he played like a Hall of Fame difficulty CPU, I'd think he was modding or hacking. Seriously. The computer controlled team rarely misses jumpers even with several hands in their faces, and the player controlled team struggles to even hit rim despite the lack of defenders in the vicinity. You can't make a shot to save your life, and the CPU hits fade-aways in your mouth like it's nothing. The CPU point guard also throws ridiculous passes into the post, that often travel right through the defenders' arms, for an easy, undefendable basket. Overall, the gameplay is fun and enjoyable but it has several flaws that I hope are addressed in the next 2K game.

OVERALL 8/10

Best basketball game on the market, easily. If you're looking for a fun, immersive basketball simulation, NBA 2K9 is definitely your best bet at the moment.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/22/09

Game Release: NBA 2K9 (US, 10/07/08)