The Basketball Game Circus - elTodd's Blog

elTodd's Blog

The Basketball Game Circus

Posted on December 17, 2008 at 01:30 PM.

So I'm usually not into the NBA that much, but this year something has happened to me. For the past year or so I have been really into college basketball, in large part due to me being on a college campus and our team being pretty good, but I've never really gotten into pro basketball except for the occasional 2k game every so often.

I have also always played the college basketball games for the last 5 or 6 years. Mainly College Hoops seeing as how I wasn't really fond of the March Madness series. But this year I decided to pick up NCAA Basketball for my PS3 (my 360 died and I haven't received my replacement yet). I had decided to skip the NBA games this year after hearing some things I didn't like about 2K9 and not really being interested in Live after the disappointments I've had with the series since the jump to next-gen.

Anyways, I was really enjoying the game and loved the engine. I knew it was the Live 09 engine and became intrigued. After reading countless impressions on the Live forum, I decided to take the plung. I was very interested in the Live 365 aspect and knew that I would love the engine. Well, after about 3 weeks with the game, I can honestly say that I love Live this year. Yeah there are a few problems with it(CPU fastbreaks, etc.), but the fun that I'm having with this game exceeds any basketball game I have played in quite a while.

Well, after picking up Live, I was in full NBA mode and decided to pick up 2K9 (When I become caught up in excitement for a sport, I tend to go a little overboard). I had played 2K8 and many other installments of the series over the years so I was quite familiar with the game engine.

While 2K9 plays a great game of basketball on the court, it is so frustrating for me. If I miss another 1 footer with a 6'10" big man, I think I'm going to throw my controller through the television (Why can't you just dunk the ball!?). I've tried countless slider sets and while it plays a good game, I can never win. Its almost as if the CPU won't let me win. I don't know if I just suck, but the game just isn't fun for me. That said, I will probably continue playing it because it does so many things right in terms of realism.

I never thought that I would get so caught up in the NBA, but this year it has happened. I don't know how long it will last, but I never thought I would find myself searching the channels every night and being disappointed when there's no game on TNT or ESPN.