NBA 2K9

Check it out – it’s the other sports franchise. You know – the one not owned by EA. Impressively, they’ve kept several series trucking along, including NBA 2K. So how does this yearly update fare? We went hands on with the title to find out.

The idea behind this latest version seems to be ‘take what was good about last year and add a whole heap more’. 2K Sports seems to have firmly grasped the capabilities of the next gen consoles, and is taking advantage of their superior processing power. They also seem to have added in a slew of content, from players to new modes.

Unfortunately, the game doesn’t feel as smooth and polished as some of EA’s better offerings – at least with the preview code we had. The graphics, while great in some places (particularly the well-packed crowd), tended to fall down when it came to the actual character models. They looked fairly rough around the edges, and the animations were a bit jerky. Hopefully this will be improved in the finished game, but I’m dubious. They’re at least an improvement on 2K8.

The good news is that you’ll probably stop noticing soon after you start playing. The gameplay continues to get more refined with each iteration, and the result is a game that flows well, is easy to pick up (generally), and deep enough to provide pros with a lot to master.

Presentation-wise, the game is top notch. You’ll be treated to some flashy menus, pumping music, and a brand new commentary team that do a good job of not getting terribly repetitive all that quickly, which is all you can ask for in sports titles.

The franchise mode has had a makeover this time round. Starting with a bunch of tutorials to ease new players into the rules of the game, The Association sports brand new trading AI that looks to provide a more realistic and immersive franchise guiding experience.

We didn’t get to try it out, but you can also look forward to a new online five-on-five mode, which combine with new off-ball controls to provide an experience that should be a lot of fun. In theory, anyway – wait till our full review for the final word on this mode.

Despite a few niggling problems, NBA 2K9 looks set to continue improving on its predecessors in almost every way, and – importantly – provide enough new content to warrant the upgrade. Look out for this one in October.