Re: NBA Live 09 Demo Released, Impressions Here
Damn, I absolutely love Live's moving jumpshots. Just flew off a pick from Odom, full-speed around Turiaf and sank a fading jumper along the left baseline with Kobe... naaaaasty. Looked just like some real Kobe is down to the way he kicked his right leg out.
I like the ball-handling -- it's not so goofy fast like 08 and once you get used to the anklebreaker timing, you can do some really nice stuff. I haven't had any real complaints about playing defense -- most of the shots that I challenged well (guy didn't pull his arms back to avoid foul, etc.) didn't go in.
Only funky shot so far was a 3 by Rondo as the clock wound down... nothing too bad, but it was kinda challenged. I'm very happy with it after playing a lot of Live 08 the past month or so. The speed feels much better to me, the rebounding is WAY WAY better, and I'm loving the new gameplay features. The lockon doesn't even need the L-trigger, by the way -- just stand in front of your man and it'll engage. The L-trigger is just for Team Play and whatnot and will pull you towards the man you're supposed to be guarding -- helps if you get caught on a bad switch or you just can't tell who you're guarding.
Also, in case you didn't notice, they have the 'What's New' menu and it has a full run-down of the controls (complete quickstrike/anklebreaker command list) as well as explanation of how to use the new gameplay features. Very helpful -- I'm really surprised at how deep this demo is... lots of options, adjustable rules/camera, the tutorials. Great job, EA.
Yeah, some funky transitional animations are definitely still there, but compared to Live 08, this is a world of improvement. And who knows how much is just early demo build issues and what will be in the final retail... I imagine that they've smoothed things out a bit since this demo build was made.
As a 2K head who has been enjoying Live 08 offline (and OTP) for the past month and a half, I'm definitely walking into the store on the 7th with $120 in hand to get both games.
Damn, I absolutely love Live's moving jumpshots. Just flew off a pick from Odom, full-speed around Turiaf and sank a fading jumper along the left baseline with Kobe... naaaaasty. Looked just like some real Kobe is down to the way he kicked his right leg out.
I like the ball-handling -- it's not so goofy fast like 08 and once you get used to the anklebreaker timing, you can do some really nice stuff. I haven't had any real complaints about playing defense -- most of the shots that I challenged well (guy didn't pull his arms back to avoid foul, etc.) didn't go in.
Only funky shot so far was a 3 by Rondo as the clock wound down... nothing too bad, but it was kinda challenged. I'm very happy with it after playing a lot of Live 08 the past month or so. The speed feels much better to me, the rebounding is WAY WAY better, and I'm loving the new gameplay features. The lockon doesn't even need the L-trigger, by the way -- just stand in front of your man and it'll engage. The L-trigger is just for Team Play and whatnot and will pull you towards the man you're supposed to be guarding -- helps if you get caught on a bad switch or you just can't tell who you're guarding.
Also, in case you didn't notice, they have the 'What's New' menu and it has a full run-down of the controls (complete quickstrike/anklebreaker command list) as well as explanation of how to use the new gameplay features. Very helpful -- I'm really surprised at how deep this demo is... lots of options, adjustable rules/camera, the tutorials. Great job, EA.
Yeah, some funky transitional animations are definitely still there, but compared to Live 08, this is a world of improvement. And who knows how much is just early demo build issues and what will be in the final retail... I imagine that they've smoothed things out a bit since this demo build was made.
As a 2K head who has been enjoying Live 08 offline (and OTP) for the past month and a half, I'm definitely walking into the store on the 7th with $120 in hand to get both games.
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