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NBA 09: The Inside Review
NBA 09 is like the hard-working, highly touted draft pick that never pans out. It spends the entire offseason working on adding new skills everyone told it to adopt (a franchise mode), but in doing so neglected the traits that got it to the Association in the first place (The Life mode) and failed to address fundamentals altogether.
With gliding players prone to stepping out of bounds, animations that lock you out of reactionary movement, and lackluster commentary, the on-court action offers a similar dose of mediocrity as years past. The low post game is a mess, the strategy suffers from simplicity, and the defensive system lacks the sophistication (and usefulness) of its competition.
NBA 08 mysteriously lacked the series' only respectable mode, The Life. This year it returns, but The Life isn't what it used to be. This version offers three stories so short and devoid of drama they completely undermine the spirit of the idea. Speaking of ideas, Sony finally realized sports fans love franchise modes and included one. It's a noble first effort, but this bare bones attempt lags behind the competition with an ugly user interface, nonexistent trade chatter, simplistic contracts, no player scouting, and no personality management. The online modes are equally uninspiring.
Taken as a whole, NBA 09 feels like a last-generation basketball game. Given its poor performance year in and year out, the game should either retire or spend a couple years in training before it steps out on the court again.
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