NBA 2K9: Online Gone Bad - Pappy Knuckles's Blog

Pappy Knuckles's Blog

NBA 2K9: Online Gone Bad

Posted on December 25, 2008 at 08:30 PM.

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I want to begin by saying that I love NBA 2K9. I've been a fan of the series since the first game, and it's amazing to see the improvements that have been made over the years. From a gameplay perspective, I feel that this is the best edition yet. However, this is where the praise will end.

Competition is what makes sports games so much fun. As much I enjoy playing against the A.I., beating up on a buddy online is what I really love to do. My first online experience was with NBA 2K4, and since then I've played hundreds of games without any major issues. The worst problem that I had up until now was an occasional laggy game. I don't know what they were doing this year, but they really dropped the ball. The following are my two biggest gripes with NBA 2K9 online.

Blind Ranked Matches
For some reason, 2K decided that we should no longer have the option of choosing our opponent in ranked matches. I'm not sure what the reasoning behind this was, but whoever came up with this idea should be fired. We have no way of knowing anything about our opponent until we're actually in the game. When you come across someone who plays like a clown you're either forced to sit through a horrible experience or quit. I suppose I should be happy that we're at least able to play friends through player matches. I just wish there was a way to have those stats recorded somehow.

5-On-5
2K, what the hell is going on? You have a game mode that most people seem to enjoy, but the majority of the time it doesn't work. I can count the number of 5-on-5 games that I've played on one hand. 3-on-3 and occasionally 4-on-4, is typically the best we can do without the game lagging, crashing, or never starting at all. And why did you not give the host any options to kick people? I'm going to start calling you 1K because you guys seem to complete everything halfway.

I've played games with 10+ people, flying vehicles, explosions, and huge maps with less online issues than NBA 2K9. I don't think asking for a game to work like it's supposed to is asking a whole lot.

Final Thoughts
I could've talked about your worthless lobbies(that should've never been changed), how the game occasionally freezes when creating a match, or a host of other issues. The point is that you guys need to improve next year. There's still time for you guys to fix some of the problems that this game has, but I'm not holding my breath.

-PK