Arnold-KatayevSony has been making strides with their NBA games over the past couple of years. We found ourselves enjoying last year's NBA 08, as the franchise's shot-meter is still our favorite b-ball mechanic. As expected, NBA 09 made an appearance at this year's E3 and we had a chance to go at it.
The build presented felt extremely early as, occassionally, it wouldn't make calls. In one example, the opponent's basketball bounced on the top-frame of the background, and no call was made. Where as the same thing happened to me and an out was called. For the most part, NBA 09 feels like last year's game, which isn't bad, but the formula last year wasn't perfect.
Ultimately it'll come down to the game's offerings in order to determine if NBA 09 can stand up to EA's NBA Live 09 and 2k'S NBA 2K9. Visually, NBA 09 doesn't look bad. It animates pretty well, and the player models look decent, overall. There are some quirky player details, for example Pau Gasol doesn't look like his counterpart at all, and he's just one out of a number of examples.
Look for NBA 09 to hit this October.
