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NBA Live 09

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7.4 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 32 critic reviews
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Based on 10 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Developer: EA Canada

Genre(s): Sports, Basketball

Players: 10

ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

Release Date: October 7, 2008

Summary

NBA Live 09 is back with new features like Pick and Roll Control, Defensive Lockdown Control, Signature Playcalling and Quickstrike Ankle-Breakers. For those in need of some extra coaching, NBA Live 09 takes you to training camp with the NBA Academy that gives you a chance to hone your skills. Now featuring 24 authentic FIBA teams with realistic team play styles and rosters, NBA Live 09 features a FIBA World Championship Mode using FIBA tournament structure, rules and court dimensions. Take your game online with 5 vs.5 team play, where 10 people can play together on 10 different consoles around the world. [Electronic Arts]

Also On Metacritic

GAMES: NBA Live 06 NBA Live 07 NBA Live 08

Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Gamervision

NBA Live 09 is a massive step forward for the franchise, and, in some ways, for sports games in general. It looks better than 2K’s excellent hoops game, and plays just as well, too. The massive gap in quality between the Live and 2K series has finally shrunken to the point where either option will give you a solid basketball experience.

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DarkStation

NBA Live 09 is the real deal when it comes to a great video game basketball experience. There isn’t a new mode that takes the game over the top, or a new feature that makes it best out there, but it is the combination of a vision and the hard work to get through some rough years to get to this game which is by far the best NBA Live game I have played in a long, long time.

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PGNx Media

The game builds on the solid fundamentals of NBA Live 08, while making the game play more like an NBA broadcast.

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ZTGameDomain

The inclusion of Dynamic DNA and NBA Live 365 are two of the most important innovations in sports gaming this year. Combined with all of the other enhancements EA Canada has provided and you are looking at the most feature-rich basketball title to come along in some time.

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Team Xbox

Live 09 is leaps-and-bounds above its HD-era predecessors. With that said, it’s hard to imagine anyone but the sturdiest of pro-level B-ball critic not being able to find a clinical dosage of fun on the silvery surface of NBA Live 09’s disc.

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Gaming Age

For me, I chose NBA Live 09. Not only has EA brought legs back to this franchise since struggling its first two years out on next generation platforms, but they have delivered a very strong outing last year and now this year as well.

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Gamer 2.0

Regardless of some of the stumbles in NBA Live 09, this year’s game is definitely worth a purchase for the first time in years.

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Game Chronicles

As for the heads up matchup with the 2K Sports series, NBA Live sinks the buzzer beater as time expires to steal the win this season. Live’s play mechanics and in-depth gameplay features surpass the competition in the heated battle for hoops supremacy in ’09. Without much debate Live ‘09 delivers the best all around NBA game this year.

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3DJuegos

NBA Live 09 for Xbox 360 and PS3 offers a similar experience with respect to its previous version, but with a series of improvements and features, making it more competitive. It's getting better year by year, however, still stands second to its big rival NBA 2K9. Though it´s not the best among the basketball games, yet a nice alternative with great repertoire in terms of dazzling options choices in videogaming.

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GameZone

A solid step up for the franchise, adding a cool new online community element and the great NBA Live 365 element is a pretty revolutionary element not just for the franchise, but for the sports genre as a whole. Unfortunately, there are some shortcomings that hurt the overall experience, like a barebones Be A Pro mode and a few on-court technical issues.

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Games Radar (in-house)

If pro hoops was a one-man video game gang this year, we’d be pretty happy with Live. Luckily for us, though, competition is king and Live falls a couple of free throws short of the superior "NBA 2K9."

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X360 Magazine UK

Big improvement over previous games and the new features add masses of depth. This offers basketball fans the best way of following and playing the game. [Issue#37, p.85]

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Official Xbox Magazine

Like the New Orleans Hornets of the videogame world. It performs surprisingly well this season, and with a little more experience next year, it could be a title contender. [Nov 2008, p.70]

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GameDaily

Unlike NBA 2K9, you don't need to read the game booklet to perform sweet looking ankle breakers or run the reliable pick and roll, but there's more exciting features here than just playing exhibition.

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G4 TV

The new features aren't exactly earth shattering for this year's installment, but the game is fun to play and a noticeable improvement over "NBA Live 08."

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360 Gamer Magazine UK

Things aren’t getting any simpler in EA’s sporting conquest, and new features tapping into resources we’d never dreamed of leave us dribbling. NBA 365 and the Dynamic DNA system are two such additions guaranteed to give you more basket for your buck and you’ll be hard pressed to find a slicker, more accurate representation of the sport anywhere.

Meristation

The new season of the NBA has started, and EA Sports offers us a great way of having the best basketball of the world in our homes. After several years of improving, NBA Live 09 achieves what we wanted to see in a next-gen basketball game. Great visuals, good gameplay (arcade-driven) and a lot of game modes, including the NBA Live 365, which updates constantly in the game.

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GameFocus

It’s hard to understand what happened this year. While the developers have been able to successfully incorporate so many new features into Madden 09 and NHL 09, the same winning recipe can’t be found on NBA Live 09. Nonetheless, fans of the franchise will find fit to their shoe on what we can label as a good NBA Live game but not the best we’ve seen.

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Da Gameboyz

As far as NBA Live 09 on the Xbox 360 is concerned it continues to fall short of being considered an elite basketball game.

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Game Over Online

NBA Live 09 is not a bad game. In fact, it's a relatively good game, if a bit incomplete.

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Game Informer

NBA Live 09’s gameplay improvements make this the best game in the series. If more care would have been taken to the new modes, it might have unseated the 2K franchise.

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MEGamers

Live 09 is fun to play with friends. But some annoying animations and controls stop if from reaching its potential. Maybe next year?

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Worth Playing

If you're looking for just one NBA title to satisfy your sports itch this year, I'd honestly have to suggest NBA 2K9 over NBA Live '09 this time out. While the latter has the better presentation and better roster update system, 2K9 was just more fun to play.

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Maxi Consolas (Portugal)

Despite being a fantastic game, we can't say we are totally satisfied with NBA Live 09. We are sure that the EA team has the talent to make a better game and taking the series to a really groundbreaking level, as they show with the NBA Live 365 functionality. [Oct 2008]

1UP

Live 09's made significant strides, particularly in terms of innovation, but like the Houston Rockets exiting in the first round of the NBA Playoffs, it's the same old story here. NBA 2K9 continues to be the dominant basketball title, hands down.

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GameSpot

NBA Live 09's gameplay has again seen some improvement, but there are still a few rough edges.

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GamerNode

Some elements seem to finally be "complete" for the Live series, but for everything the game does right, four things are in obvious need of more work. On paper Live 09 sounds great; in execution it's the same story as usual.

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Planet Xbox 360

At least the presentation is fantastic.

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Cheat Code Central

Though EA is doing all they can to create a realistic basketball sim, there are far too many blatant errors in their formula that make it far from perfect. The inclusion of new online features may not be enough to make up for repetitively frustrating mechanics.

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GameSpy

Sadly, even if the fans at Arco were banging authentic Sacramento cowbells like crazy, it wouldn't be quite enough to land NBA Live 09 on top of the basketball heap.

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Xbox360Achievements

While NBA Live 09 made great strides in the right direction, it seems like EA enjoys taking two steps forward and one step back. The addition of DNA brings a new aspect to the game, but is it really enough to set it apart? No. Even though NBA 2K9 might be a better choice this season, NBA Live isn’t a bad option if you don’t want to go the 2K route.

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IGN

The low post play and pick and roll features work great, but they're countered by a lackluster lockdown defense and odd tempo issues that hamper gameplay. The Dynamic DNA, which can't fully be engaged for another few weeks, still has a number of issues with displaying useful info or elements that fully aid the player.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 7.4 (out of 10) based on 10 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Roger M. gave it a9:
Compared to retail (full) version of 2K9, the graphics IMO are sub par. The player models have an awkard build and the faces are off 95% of the time? i.e: Dirk Nowitzki looks like a Norse comic book character, Kobe and other players, well lets just say, "who is that!?" Presentation and commentary leave 2K9 standing still. 2K9 re-used almost all of Kenny Smiths commentary with the "new guy" repeating the same script. Controls/ gameplay are fluid, although it can get "glitchy" at times, ball physics get too speedy, i.e: shooting a buzzer beater can cause the ball to zip up and over to the hoop not to mention the super fast & funny looking release. Or getting fouled can cause you to rise awkardly high in the air along with your opponent. (bleh). If you've never played the 2K series all of what i just stated is irrelevant to you. In other words, You WILL like this game. Good stuff.

mokn n gave it a5:
A joke compared to nba 2k games. Still no shooting stick, poor graphics resulting in blurred players i can hardly tell who's who. In nba 2k it's clear as the player models have the best graphics and the surrounds a bit less.

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Summary

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What The Critics Said

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