[Pared]

What’s up OS? Recently I was lucky enough to get a chance to see NBA Live ’09 early at EA Canada. If you’ve been around the forums, you would know that I wasn’t the biggest fan of NBA Live ’08 but could see the potential in the game engine. Still, potential doesn’t make a fun game. With the foundation finally set, I was excited to see if the series could reclaim its lost glory. If you’re interested in finding that answer, read on…

Before I begin, you should know I took many questions that were asked in the forums as well as my own and presented it directly to the game developers. I did not accept any run-around answer; they responded with straight, to the point answers. Overall, I was pleased with the responses. In one instance, a developer told me he would get me the answer to my question later and he did, via email. They were forthright when responding to my questions and that was great to experience. Also know we were each given a game of our choice at the event. I picked up UEFA Euro 2008. Why am I telling you this? Because it’s important to be open with the same community I’m representing. No propaganda, no excuses… It’s all right there in front of you to either take as face value or not. Others may not feel this is important to share with you but I do. Take that for what it is worth.

I took the 4 major categories of items I would like to know about and grouped all our questions into one of the four categories. They are:
1) Animations, Physics and Presentation
2) Game Modes and Features
(and last but certainly never least)
3) Gameplay.
I will give you a run down on what I experienced, what I liked and what I didn’t.

Feel free to ask me any questions regarding anything I write here. EA has one major announcement that will be done at E3. I cannot speak on anything regarding that topic and online play. Once EA has revealed the feature, I have information I will share with you.

All my information is in regards to 2-player, head to head gaming. I did not have time to test the AI as there were too many of us and we all wanted to play (rightfully).

Remember, every single thing I’m going to share with you is from an unfinished build. Things may change for the better (or even for the worse) but nothing I tell you in how a certain area of the game “feels” is set in stone. Please keep that in mind when reading my impressions. Also, I am NOT trying to sell you on the game. If you’re going to take my comments that way, just stop reading now. These are simply my impressions. If you’ve been around OS for a while, you would know I give games a fair shake before shooting them down (no pun intended!). So hopefully, this information will give those who are interested in just playing the best basketball game out a better idea when the try all games upon release (yes, even Sony’s NBA 09).