Shining, but not as bright as it used to.
What can you expect from 2k sports? Great gameplay. Although it really hasn't changed to much from last year, it's still excellent. This is a real basketball sim, you will need to box out, run plays, etc... to get points, it's not as easy as pressing a button. Free Throws are hard, but you get used to it, and there is a Real FT% mode. The game gets a while to get used to, but once you do you might want to crack the difficulty up to All Star. While we're on the topic of AI, the AI here makes a large bump. Pro mode is really easy, but All Star is challenging. Nothing is guaranteed, which I like, because it's like that in real basketball.
Game Modes:
There is a variety on Game Modes in 2K9, but nothing new. Association is by far the best Franchise sim in the history of video games. The mode is extremely realistic, everything connects. Think about it this way, if you have a superstar playing guard for you, and put your regular starter on the bench as a 6th man, the person in the bench will become upset, and will start playing worse and worse, and fall from 6-20 overall points. Season mode and NBA Blacktop are also back, but the real king here is Association.
Multiplayer:
The co-op multiplayer is solid, unless your friend is a douche and presses the home button anytime you go to shoot free throws. The live multiplayer is solid as well, nothing special, but it does the job. Rosters are automatically updated when a transaction occurs, and users can create their own rosters and upload them online. There is also player DNA, and no it's not the thing you buy for $10 in NBA Live 09, Player DNA is when you create a player, and upload it to live. There are also new highlight reels, where you film yourself doing "G" stuff, then upload that to live.
Overall:
Pros- Great gameplay, updated rosters, deepest franchise ever, and new user generated content.
Cons- Didn't I play this before? Oh yeah, last year, and the year before that, and before that, and before that, and before that, and...
Grade- 8.5/10