Underrated fun blends with some nice innovation for a big step in the right direction.
First Impressions (Running diary, Skip down for actual Review):
The splash screen is pretty cool with real video pouring in and some snazzy tunes. Really like the image of Ginoblis bald spot, good times. Alright first thing I do in every basketball game going back to college hoops 2k2 is go to the check rosters feature and check out a certain someones rating. Once again the game fails and refuses to rank Chuck Hayes at least a 95. Strike one. Good load times, and I'm in there the Rockets versus the Heat. Yao Ming is gloriously tall. T Mac is unstoppable, as is Dwayne Wade. Beasley looks real good, gotta love it when they get the rookies right. I wish Joey Dorsey was in the game, hopefully he'll be in there at the update. Alright first half ends I'm up 44-39. The game is smooth so far, some rebounding issues especially considering I have chuck hayes out there and their is no way he would let the corpse that is Mark Blount get an O bound over him but no matter. Really like the shot meter and really cool ball to rim physics, they are completely independant (i.e. no ball is pulled magically to the rim at the last possible second) Alright second half is starting. Dwayne Wade gets falls down and does not get up. He's hurt, good realism factor off that bat. Chris Quinn just dunked...yeah. Last play of the game coming up, I'm down 2, 3 seconds to go ball at half court. T Mac time...no, Yao? not a chance. Mr. Hayes comes barreling off a screen from Ron Ron, and just misses a jumper in the corner to tie it. Alas victory is the Heats. The game runs incredibly smooth, I'm loving the way the players move, a little unrealistic in the way they jump, heads near the rim and such. Computer AI seems on point, lots of off ball screens and the help defense is good. Hard to stop scoring in the paint. And of course loses points for having Chuck Hayes miss a game winning shot, that would never happen. Ever.
Features (9.5):
The Life mode - Really great, a little short but awesome cut scenes. I made a 7'3 Ukrainian swingman, who is a dead ringer for Dolph Lundgren. Love that they brought the D League into this, and the three stories with position specific stories is wonderful. Best feature I've touched in a basketball game this year.
Mini Games- Some are real fun, some are real annoying, kind of what you expect from mini games. Play trashcan golf, once you get the hang of it quite the fun. Also can make a decent drinking game.
Franchise - its nice they did this and its actually decent. Not too much detail and no fantasy draft hold it back from being great but it does everything that you expect a franchise mode to do.
Progression Players - this allows you to take created players(either from the life or not) and build up their stats throughout the game. you can play exhibitions or the life mode to do this. Really cool feature, I've spent countless hours building up my guys, then bringing them into the franchise mode together as a squad. I rebuilt my high school varsity team, oh reminiscing about the glory days better move on before it gets dusty over my laptop...
Weekly Updates - Apparently once the season starts we are going to able to upload updated rosters which is nice. Also big games from the week we can download and then play the situations.
Graphics and Presentation (9)
The player models are very good, the faces aren't perfect but they look okay. Only basketball game this year that is shown in 1080p and that comes up big for it. Almost smooth to a fault sometimes, as it appears the players are gliding instead of running. The arenas look awesome, very good atmosphere. The TNT display is awesome, looks like a real basketball game. Excellent overall.
Audio (8)
The announcing in the game comes from Kevin Calabro and Kenny the Jet Smith, they are pretty good. Sometimes too repetitive and often annoying they life up to the standard that is video game sports announcers. The music has a pretty cool feature called the Jukebox which allows you to upload music to the game and then play them in situations. Very interactive, a little tough to navigate but when you figure it out its sweet.
Gameplay (7.5)
Very smooth and sleak but lacks some actual basketball elements which hurts it. The computer AI is great but its so hard to stop people in the post makes you feel like every player is as inept as Zack Randolph. The players move very well, and the right stick for the freestyle moves is nice. Shooting is great, as is anything around the hoop. I don't love the separate button for dunk thing, but that is more of a personal preference. The off-ball movement looks goofy, either they are running with too much of a purpose(a dead straight line) or they are just standing there. Really great animations around the hoop, when you see Ray Allen lay it in, its amazing how much it looks like the actual Ray Allen.
Overall (8.5)
This game is remarkably different to NBA 08, to the point where the game play and the AI are almost unrecognizable to last years version. That's a good thing. It really is just a blast to play, and the features make it well worth it even if you own this years other basketball titles. It has its faults but the fun factor overpowers it.
For more info on the game check out www.stepinsidethelife.com