Wayback Wednesday: NBA 09: The Inside Retrospective
This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! From retrospectives of basketball games and their interesting features, to republished articles and looking at NBA history through the lens of the virtual hardwood, Wednesdays at the NLSC are for going back in time. This week, I’m taking a look back at NBA 09: The Inside for PlayStation 3.
The 2008 season lineup of basketball video games is arguably one of the weakest in the history of the genre. Outside of College Hoops 2K8, its titles aren’t popular picks for all-time favourites, or widely considered to be among the best in their series. NBA Live 08 was significantly better than NBA Live 07, but that was a low bar to clear, with plenty of room left for improvement. NBA 2K8 was a strange misstep following NBA 2K7. NBA 08 was at least on par with NBA 07, but to that point, there was no major leap in quality.
Fortunately, the genre bounced back for the 2009 season, providing basketball gamers with a couple of solid titles, and one fantastic release. Was NBA 09: The Inside one of those games? Well, not to spoil the entire retrospective, but unfortunately it wasn’t. In fact, in the spirit of the season, I’d suggest that anyone who was unlucky enough to receive NBA 09: The Inside for Christmas in 2008 may as well have been gifted a lump of coal in their stocking! So, why the harsh words for San Diego Studio’s final NBA game on PlayStation 3? Let’s take a look back…way back…
Although NBA 08 wasn’t necessarily an improvement on NBA 07, the games were at least comparable in terms of their quality and how enjoyable they were. Even if the changes and additions didn’t make NBA 08 better, you could argue that some of them had merit, or at the very least didn’t make anything worse. Conversely, NBA 09: The Inside doesn’t just fail to demonstrate any improvement over its predecessor, but is somehow far worse despite featuring the same basic controls and mechanics. While NBA Live 09 showed further improvement and NBA 2K9 turned out to be one of the best games of its generation, NBA 09: The Inside took around 50 steps backwards.
Alright, that may sound rather hyperbolic, but it’s not entirely unfair or inaccurate, either! The gameplay in NBA 07 and NBA 08 was definitely lacking in depth and authenticity, but it could be fun if you weren’t taking things too seriously. The on-court experience in NBA 09: The Inside, on the other hand, is just miserable. As is often the case, this begins with player movement. It’s not heavy or clunky as in NBA Live 07 or some of the NBA 2K titles where you feel like you’re running in mud, but between your players moving laterally in a hunched over dribbling animation, facing the wrong way on defense, and being a few steps slower than the CPU, it feels off.
Even if you can adjust to the movement, it won’t be long before the game begins to thwart you at every turn. It’s another title that I’d describe as an unbalanced mess. Not only is the CPU a few steps quicker, but it can also brush off contact and calmly drill contested jumpers all night long. It’s impossible to play consistently good defense, even on the lowest difficulty. CPU players will seemingly knock down everything in your face, or leave you in the dust to waltz into the paint and finish in traffic. It’s not that you can’t get any stops or force missed shots, but the poor mechanics and tuning don’t reward good defensive play, thus making the best defense a powerful offense.
To that point though, the lack of balance impedes you at that end of the floor, too. While the CPU can slip by your defenders with ease, it’ll suck your players in and stick to them like glue. There’s a shot meter with Green Releases being guaranteed buckets, but the CPU’s defense is far too adept at reducing the Green window and impacting all other shots. Also, while it can score at will inside, you’ll find yourself blowing easy layups, getting swatted, or ending up behind the backboard thanks to poor animation selection. This leaves you without a reliable method of answering the CPU’s baskets, which puts you in a tough spot as far as winning the wild shootouts.
It doesn’t help that the right stick’s dribbling moves are virtually useless. They don’t feel anywhere near as reliable as Quick Strike Ballhandling in NBA Live 09, and I’d say even NBA 2K9’s primitive Isomotion is more reliable in allowing you to pull off moves! Far too often, the move won’t trigger on cue, and will be totally ineffective even if it does. Even if you do pull off some savvy moves and start stringing together some good possessions, it won’t be long before the CPU evens the score and takes control of the game, bringing the fun to a rapid halt. The lack of balance, and outright cheating by the CPU in order to be competitive, is painfully apparent on every play.
Now, in some games you can swallow your pride, turn down the difficulty level, and find a way to make the best of unbalanced gameplay. Unfortunately, Rookie difficulty ends up being way too easy, while the next setting up – Veteran – jumps straight into being unfair. It’s where you’ll encounter brutal comeback logic that doesn’t let up even when the scores are close again. You’ll be playing well, and then the CPU will flip a switch and tilt everything in its favour for the rest of the game. I had an infuriating loss to the Miami Heat with the Los Angeles Lakers, in which Kobe Bryant suddenly couldn’t make a shot or a layup, whereas Daequan Cook dominated like…well, Kobe!
Your teammates aren’t much help, either. They don’t move particularly intelligently on offense, even when calling plays. Poor directional passing logic and the CPU’s tendency to intercept passes with psychic precision adds to the artificial difficulty. On defense, they’ll let their man blow by them, or flat out run away from them, giving up open looks all over the floor. It’s not uncommon for games of this vintage to place too much responsibility on the user thanks to their weak AI, but in the best case scenario, strong stick skills can get the job done. With the mechanics at our disposal in NBA 09: The Inside however, we really need our CPU teammates to step up and play well!
Steals and blocks still feel canned, though at least it’s not “press steal to foul”. You will be whistled for cheap, phantom fouls on block and rebound attempts, though. Meanwhile, the CPU can get away with a lot of contact down low, blatantly knocking you out of the air. It also has magnetic hands when it comes to rebounds, resulting in too many offensive boards and second chance buckets. Cleaning the glass in general feels like too much of a dice roll with its timing, frequently punishing you for jumping and favouring flat-footed rebounds. Throw in the uneven ability to consistently score inside, and it feels like you and the CPU are playing two different games in the paint.
Because the gameplay is so unbalanced and the mechanics are so wonky, neither can compensate for the other, as is sometimes possible. Offensive-oriented gameplay that devolves into a shootout can be fun – even if it’s not ideal in a sim title – but it doesn’t work if the CPU can still play lockdown defense, and the user can’t score effectively. You can weather rebounding that’s somewhat unreliable or has an inaccurate ratio of offensive to defensive boards, but not if the ability to score inside is unbalanced and favours the CPU. When the virtual officials make it 8-on-5 with unfair calls, the tiny margin for error that comes with clunky controls and mechanics grows even smaller.
Honestly, there isn’t really anything that the gameplay in NBA 09: The Inside does very well. It’s puzzling, because the same controls and mechanics worked so much better in NBA 07 and NBA 08. Their gameplay was flawed and not quite as realistic as one might hope for sim titles, but it could still be fun. Unfortunately, on top of not having any new mechanics of significance, NBA 09: The Inside is completely devoid of polish and fine tuning. And so, familiarity isn’t enough to overcome poor AI and balance, or mechanical shortcomings. Again, it doesn’t just fail to improve upon its predecessors, but somehow managed to take so many steps backwards from them.
And then, there are the legacy issues. It doesn’t seem as though any new animations have been added since NBA 07, which leaves a number of stiff and awkward ones. Granted, NBA Live 09 was also notably behind NBA 2K9 in this regard, and Sony’s game does have some moves that look good, particularly dunks (poor rim interactions not withstanding). However, at least NBA Live was trying to improve in that area, adding and replacing animations throughout the eighth generation. NBA 09: The Inside looks almost identical to NBA 07 and NBA 08, while feeling notably inferior on the sticks. They would’ve been better off just updating and re-releasing NBA 08!
Like its predecessors, some of the staples are needlessly different and awkward in their design. Adjusting lineups and making substitutions is easier than before, taking cues from other games by allowing you to select players and move them around on a vertical list. The lineup is still in a weird order though: Point Guard, Small Forward, Centre, Shooting Guard, and then Power Forward. You can adjust to it, but as most games order the lineup Centre, Power Forward, Small Forward, Shooting Guard, and then Point Guard, it’s easy to forget. Otherwise, the frontend looks nice, but retains weird quirks such as having to back out of every step during the game setup flow.
The motion controls from NBA 07 and NBA 08 also return, though since I don’t have a Sixaxis controller, I can’t comment on their quality. However, I believe that motion controls are too imprecise and gimmicky for sim basketball games, and in the case of Sony’s NBA series, possibly detracted from developing better right stick mechanics. It’s that combination of getting the basics wrong, failing to improve or innovate, and somehow regressing, which makes NBA 09: The Inside such a disappointment. Very few good decisions were made with multiple aspects of the design, and gameplay is an inferior version of an on-court experience that was already growing rather stale.
With that being said, I didn’t hate every second I spent with the game. When you pull off a move and everything goes to plan with a play, it can feel satisfying. There’ll be moments where CPU teammates and opponents show some flashes of brilliance and court awareness. These are the fun moments that hint at what the game could’ve been with better balance and design. Unfortunately, it won’t be long before you encounter some incredibly frustrating sequences, especially when the comeback logic kicks in. The loose approach to the sim style fails to be enjoyable in lieu of more authenticity. As a result, truly joyful moments are few and far between in NBA 09: The Inside.
In a way, the potential shown by those all-too-infrequent enjoyable moments is more frustrating than a game that’s consistently terrible, like NBA Live 07 for Xbox 360. Don’t get me wrong. NBA Live 07 feels much worse on the sticks, but it at least has the excuse of being a rebuild that went awry. NBA 09: The Inside shares so much of its tech and design principles with NBA 07 and NBA 08 that even though it has some underlying mechanical issues, it should still be capable of being just as good as them. Instead, it’s significantly worse. And so, big dunks, CPU players showing a glimmer of intelligence, and basically any time things go right, just feels like a massive tease.
As in previous games, the NBA on TNT presentation is one of the strongest points. Unfortunately, it also took a step backwards. Kevin Calabro and Kenny Smith are on the call this time, and while they have some decent lines and deliver them well, there’s a surprising amount of dead air. The commentary logic also leaves something to be desired. The most egregious example I’ve encountered involved CPU Baron Davis answering my clutch play with a game-winning three. A rather bored Kevin Calabro absurdly referred to this big and necessary shot as stat-stuffing! That’s an eternal issue with sports video game commentary, but it’s very conspicuous in NBA 09: The Inside.
Apart from that, the overlays and wipes are authentic, and do a great job of replicating NBA on TNT presentation. Unfortunately, the automatic replays have been removed, making it tougher to enjoy spectacular plays. The manual instant replay function is still available of course, but it utilises some annoyingly cumbersome camera controls, so getting a good angle isn’t easy. It also loses track of the selected target at regular and faster playback speeds. These are more examples of basic staples that NBA 09: The Inside either completely neglected, or somehow managed to mess up. It goes back to my earlier point that so much is poorly-designed or just not working properly.
Graphically, the game definitely holds its own, with detailed environments and fairly good player models. Many of the faces are accurate, but it’s still hit-and-miss with some players looking rather goofy. Like NBA 07 and NBA 08, NBA 09: The Inside is full HD with a resolution of 1080p, rather than the 720p of most PS3 games. Both gameplay and instant replay mode run at 60 FPS, though the frame rate drops in some of the cutscenes. The graphics are the only noticeable and commendable improvement that NBA 09: The Inside made on the court, though I highly doubt even the biggest, snobbiest stickler for cutting edge visuals would argue that it made it a better game.
After only including a barebones single season mode in NBA 08, San Diego Studio added franchise play to NBA 09: The Inside. As in NBA Live 09’s Dynasty, and in contrast to NBA 2K9’s Association, gamers can only control one team. Each team’s salary cap situation and marquee player is displayed on the team selection screen, which is a nice touch. Original, custom, and downloaded rosters can be used to begin a new Franchise game, and you can customise the length of the regular season and each round of the Playoffs. The quarter length can also be changed as desired, and you can choose whether or not players that you release still count against the cap.
The mode runs for 20 seasons, which is certainly more than adequate. During the season, you can sign, trade, and release players as in any other franchise mode. You can trade up to eight players in a deal between two teams, up to four a side. The Trade Players screen displays the players’ Overall Rating, age, and salary, along with the total value of the included contracts and whether the deal is valid under the cap. When signing free agents, you can set the size and length of the contract, with the players’ interest in your offer indicated by a bar. Releasing players obviously frees up a spot on the roster, and also sheds their salary if you chose the aforementioned setting.
There are the usual stats and information screens, including standings, league leaders, player and team statistics, award races (specifically the MVP and Rookie of the Year), and All-Star voting. There’s also a year-by-year History section logging your progress over the 20 seasons. In addition to customising your starting five and standard lineup, you can also modify the other lineup presets, namely Crunch Time, Three-Point, Free Throw, Garbage Time, Defensive, and Rebounding. You can also set your Offensive and Defensive strategies, from pace and style to defensive pressure and the approach to transition. These settings apply to both gameplay and any games that you simulate.
Speaking of simulation options, when advancing to a later date in the calendar, you can choose to interrupt the sim and play a game, simulate the next game in its entirety, simulate the next game by quarter, or simulate all of the games up until the selected date. The “simulate by quarter” option is similar to NBA Live’s sim intervention, as it includes the ability to jump in and play from the beginning of the current period. Sim intervention was deeper in eighth gen NBA Live, with play-by-play simulation and scenarios that prompted you to join in the action, but the “by quarter” option is still sufficient. It provides some welcome depth in the NBA series’ first franchise mode.
In a similar vein, I also appreciate the little touches such as representing the All-Star voting. It’s something that NBA 2K and NBA Inside Drive had done, but it’s a detail that NBA Live’s Dynasty continued to lack. The selection logic is quite good, too. Obviously, user performance can skew the results, but when simulating with default rosters, the selections are realistic, right down to a couple of fringe All-Stars making the cut in a career year. As for playing the All-Star Game, you can only control the squad from your own conference. It features the 2009 court in Phoenix, but even if you unlock the 2009 jerseys, the 2008 uniforms continue to be used in Franchise.
Little shortcomings like that stand out because Franchise in NBA 09: The Inside does have some cool features and details, and nails many of the basics. To that point, the simulated results and statistics are generally good. Some teams fare a little better or worse than they really should given how the real 2009 season went down, but I don’t think it ruins the mode. Certain statistics are slightly inflated, and a few players rank a bit higher than they should in the league leaders, but for the most part the numbers are in the ballpark. Like the All-Star selections, the end-of-season award winners tend to be logical and realistic. In short, there’s a pleasing amount of accuracy in the mode.
Once again though, getting those details mostly right does make the shortcomings all the more apparent. It’s nice that we see all of the awards and that they’re realistic, but we can only view the MVP and Rookie of the Year races. After all the awards are displayed, we can’t go back and view a listing of them. It’s a noteworthy omission from an interface that’s not only aesthetically appealing, but also does a good job of making stats and information readily available. Also, while the simulated stats are mostly on point, a lack of injuries means that almost everyone will play 82 games; or more, if they’re traded at the right time. Of course, that has happened in real life.
It’s still a rarity though, whereas in a simulation that I ran, a handful of players ended up playing more than 82 games. However, the bigger issue is that few of those trades made sense. Obviously, we do see lopsided and otherwise baffling trades occur, but the deals in NBA 09: The Inside’s Franchise mode feel very illogical and unnecessary. It’s an issue that we often encountered in early franchise modes: random trades and signings to ensure that there’s some player movement. Some of the odd swaps that I experienced – such as the Bulls trading Ben Gordon and Larry Hughes to the Suns for Shaquille O’Neal – undoubtedly contributed to the aforementioned unusual standings.
When it comes to trading with CPU teams, the game is a bit choosier in which deals it accepts. It’s not just a matter of matching salaries and Overall Ratings, and offers that unfairly favour the CPU team aren’t always readily accepted. On one hand, this can be frustrating, especially with the weird trades that CPU teams make with each other. On the other hand, not all teams should be interested in blockbuster deals that break up their core, so I appreciate that teams need to have adequate interest and motivation to agree to a trade offer. You can also trade draft picks, and the CPU’s trade offers will include picks from time to time, so there’s some respectable depth to the trading logic.
Similar to Dynasty in NBA Live, the offseason begins with a list of retiring players, and the opportunity to re-sign your own free agents. This is followed by prospect scouting, which provides a list of all the draftees along with a letter grade for their current abilities and potential, and their primary strength (athleticism, playmaking, rebounding, scoring, etc). There are no workouts, but it’s still a satisfactory way of scouting the new rookie crop. As usual, the generated names result in some amusing combinations, which I do kind of enjoy. Draftees must then be manually signed; a nice, realistic touch in theory, but since it’s mandatory, a somewhat pointless step.
Following the Draft, the offseason is slightly less linear and segmented than NBA Live’s Dynasty mode. It’s comprised of 20 days in which you can release and sign players, make trades, and entertain trade offers from the CPU. Free agency can be underwhelming compared to franchise play in NBA Live and NBA 2K, as it appears that many big names automatically choose to re-sign with their current teams. There is a decent selection of journeymen in the Free Agents though, along with any undrafted rookies, so you may still be able to freshen up and bolster your roster. Overall, the basic functions of player movement are done well, but the logic can be a letdown.
Finally, there’s the player development stage, which has two parts. The first part is the offseason workouts, which is basically the automatic improvement and decline that takes place according to the players’ ages and potential ratings. The second part is the training camp, wherein you select a player and one of nine development packages to attempt to further improve their ratings. There are 20 training sessions to assign, and you can have players train in multiple areas, albeit only once in each. It’s a simplified approach compared to NBA Live 09’s Academy, but it’s functional. Because players won’t always improve, there’s an element of risk and reward to your selections here.
On the whole, Franchise mode in NBA 09: The Inside is quite solid for the time. It’d be fun to get into if the gameplay were better, though if you do enjoy the on-court experience, it’s something to keep you hooked. Franchise is also integrated with The Life, the story-driven mode from the PlayStation 2 version that finally made it to the seventh generation with NBA 09: The Inside. Players from The Life can be imported into Franchise, though only at the beginning of a new game. Considering that NBA 2K26 finally added the option to import a MyPLAYER into MyNBA Eras, it’s fair to say that NBA 09: The Inside was ahead of its time when it comes to this functionality!
That brings us to The Life in NBA 09: The Inside. As in previous games, it’s actually not a fully-fledged career mode, but rather more of an interactive movie divided into chapters consisting of story cutscenes and gameplay scenarios. It still stars a created player that you can level up, but you’re not locked to that avatar as in MyCAREER or The One. There are three different stories in The Life: one for point guards, one for shooting guards and small forwards, and one for power forwards and centres. Each tale begins with your player in the D-League, but the scenario and story beats vary, and the goals and gameplay scenarios are tailored to suit the different positions.
The production values are quite impressive, and while the writing and acting isn’t exactly Oscar-worthy, it’s competent with some late 2000s cheesy video game charm. These cutscenes lead into the various gameplay scenarios, which range from regular D-League and NBA games, to scrimmages and drills, to streetball pickup games. The pickup games are full contests, but the D-League and NBA games give us around three minutes to achieve a set list of goals. Essentially, you could consider them to be action scenes from a basketball movie. Scenarios involving drills are used for story beats such as working out with a team, or in one of the tales, shooting a commercial.
In some respects, it’s similar to 24/7 mode in NBA 2K7, albeit with an emphasis on scenarios rather than full games. It’s an interesting approach to a campaign mode, one that undoubtedly inspired the inclusion of a narrative in NBA 2K and later NBA Live. Unfortunately, the fun soon stops after you’ve hit the court. Most of the goals aren’t too difficult – or at least, they shouldn’t be – but it isn’t too long before the total lack of balance and clunky controls cause you to fail a challenge. In every story, I hit a wall with a chapter where the gameplay made the scenario an absolute chore. I’ll probably attempt them again sometime, but the on-court experience is extremely off-putting.
Completing in-game tasks earns XP, which is then used to upgrade your attributes and unlock gear. There’s also a level system though, so not everything is unlockable right away. I don’t think you should have to grind to Level 5 just to equip a headband, but since the game predates predatory microtransactions, at least it wasn’t designed to push you towards paying! Once again, I appreciate the story-driven approach, and scenes such as revisiting your old neighbourhood to play pickup, or being challenged to a 1-on-1 game by your father – an unspecified former ABA player – set up some enjoyable scenarios. Tailoring goals to your chosen position is a great idea as well.
Sadly, the gameplay quality just doesn’t match the creativity. That’s pretty much the theme of NBA 09: The Inside! In addition to a solid Franchise mode and the stories in The Life, the game brings back NBA Replay: a mode in which we’re challenged to replicate results and feats from real games. It has two sub modes, the first of which is The Season. Spotlighting memorable games from the 2008 season, it features two challenges for each team; one that’s team-oriented, and one that focuses on their star player. Both contain “Meet the Challenge” goals which are mandatory, and “Extra Mile” goals which earn more XP and higher scores for the now-defunct leaderboards.
The other mode in NBA Replay is Games of the Week. During the 2009 season, challenges were pushed through following notable performances and landmark games. As it’s a live service content mode, it’s sadly no longer playable since the servers are offline and no data will come through. Its challenges functioned much the same as in The Season though, with set goals and a score for the leaderboards. The concept is a forerunner to the live service content we’ve seen in newer games – NBA Live’s BIG Moments is a very similar idea – again underscoring the creativity in the NBA series. Not to belabour a point, but poor gameplay really lets these modes down!
There are also mini-games: 1-on-1, 2-on-2, and 3-on-3 pickup games, a three-point shootout, Own the Court, Rabbit (similar to the Own the Court, only you’re shooting from moving rabbit icons to “bags” them), Blacktop Golf (a golf-themed shooting game in which you advance through the course by shooting into garbage cans, then at the basket, lowest score wins), and the exclusive PlayStation Skills Challenge. As mentioned, these mini-games are also incorporated into the scenarios in The Life. All things considered, they’re probably more fun than regular gameplay – especially the Skills Challenge as it’s unique – but they still suffer from the same janky mechanics.
Not much has changed from NBA 08 in terms of roster management. We can’t edit or create any new players, aside from the five slots for players that are used in The Life. Players can be traded, though it’s the same awkward interface wherein you choose the two teams, make sure the two players you want to swap are highlighted, and then hit X. It works, but it’s confusing when you’re used to confirming a selection on each team and then completing the deal. The trade interface in Franchise mode is actually better, with traditional functionality and the ability to swap multiple players. I assume this superior interface is exclusive to the mode due to picks being available to trade.
You can also sign and release players, as well as modify each NBA team’s standard and situational lineups. Changing the starting lineup and bench order uses the same list approach as in-game substitutions, making it far more user-friendly than in NBA 08. Unfortunately the lack of regular Create-a-Player and the inability to edit original players limits the feasibility of a comprehensive roster update, but a minimalist update is doable. It also helps that there’s a selection of free agents, particularly since several of the teams have fewer than 12 players in the default rosters. You can’t save multiple custom rosters though, and any changes will be lost forever if you reset to the default.
It wouldn’t be one of my retrospectives if I didn’t touch on some roster trivia! NBA 09: The Inside captures a handful of phantom stints, including Jason Williams on the Clippers, Antoine Walker on the Grizzlies, Keith MacLeod on the Mavericks, and D.J. Strawberry on the Rockets. As a 2009 season release, it also represents a few extremely brief stints, such as Jermaine O’Neal on the Raptors, Shawn Marion on the Suns, Ben Wallace on the Cavaliers, Larry Hughes and Drew Gooden on the Bulls, Richard Jefferson on the Bucks, and Jason Richardson on the Bobcats. Oddities like Steve Francis’ return to Houston and Eddie Jones’ Mavericks stint are also preserved.
Thanks to the D-League playing a prominent role in The Life’s three stories, all of its teams are playable in NBA 09: The Inside. You can’t edit them in any way, and they aren’t playable outside of exhibition games or The Life’s chapters. They’re also filled with fictional players, so they wouldn’t exactly have been useful as far as providing additional real players for roster customisation. Of course, it would’ve been fun to place a couple of veterans in D-League jerseys to represent their comeback attempts! Nevertheless, D-League teams had only made a couple of official appearances in video games at that point, so it’s definitely still a novelty having them in any form.
NBA 09: The Inside also has a respectable array of unlockable bonus content. This includes a good selection of retro jerseys, some of which haven’t been commonly found in NBA Live or NBA 2K. It’s cool to see the original Indiana Pacers jerseys, a few other ABA throwbacks, and very appropriately, the Rockets’ San Diego uniform, alongside some 80s and 90s favourites. There are also retro floors from the 90s and early 2000s, as well as classic All-Star courts going back to 2001. Seven fantasy arenas are also available to unlock including an aircraft hangar and a cruise ship, predating NBA Live 10’s Hangar, and NBA 2K’s Cancha Del Mar and GOAT Boat.
Basically, there’s plenty to unlock with the XP you earn in exhibition games and the main modes. There are some drawbacks here, though. On top of the requisite XP, you also need to progress to the necessary level to be able to purchase unlockables. It feels like a chore to have to reach Level 6 to unlock retro jerseys that are usually available right out of the gate in other games. A few current alternate jerseys, such as the St. Patrick’s Day uniforms, also require some levelling up to unlock. Much like VC in modern NBA 2K games, the XP to unlock content is also used to upgrade players in The Life, forcing you to budget it. On the bright side, at least it can’t be purchased!
Additionally, there are a few jerseys that are unlocked with codes that were originally released on NBA.com during the course of the 2009 season. Quibbles about the XP and level system aside, I can’t fault the selection of bonus content in NBA 09: The Inside. To that point though, it ticks another box on the Bad Basketball Video Games Checklist: cool content and features that you really wish were in a better title! That really is NBA 09: The Inside in a nutshell. Franchise mode is solid, NBA Replay and The Life were innovative and ahead of their time, the mini-games are a nice touch, and the bonus content is pretty good. However, that’s all negated by the gameplay.
All in all, NBA 09: The Inside is one of the worst Triple-A basketball video games that I’ve played. I don’t like to throw that assessment around too readily, especially when games such as NBA Live 07, NBA Elite 11, and NBA Live 14 are the yardstick for virtual hardwood blunders. However, just as I placed ESPN NBA 2Night in that class, I believe that NBA 09: The Inside belongs there as well. Try as I might, I wasn’t able to have at least one game that felt pretty good all the way through. I can beat the CPU, but it’s never truly satisfying even when I do. As I said, there’s the occasional highlight or moment where the game feels slightly better, but overall, it’s really bad!
Looking back at the contemporary reviews, the PlayStation Portable version received the highest scores. It makes sense, as the gameplay wouldn’t have been too bad for a handheld in the late 2000s. When it comes to the PlayStation 2 and 3 however, it lags far behind the strongest sim basketball games on those platforms. Again, it doesn’t even measure up to its immediate predecessors, which I wouldn’t rank among the top hoops titles on sixth or seventh generation anyway. Throw in the flashes of brilliance that suggest it could’ve been so much better – the tantalising moments of fun – and it’s easily one of the most disappointing Triple-A basketball video games ever released.
It’s hardly surprising that NBA 09: The Inside was the last game in the series to come out on PlayStation 2 and 3, with NBA 10: The Inside being released exclusively for the PlayStation Portable. The series already had an uphill battle for popularity as an exclusive title, not to mention the fact that most of the games were only released in North America. Simply in terms of quality though, NBA 09: The Inside was in distant third place behind NBA Live 09 and new brand leader NBA 2K9. It’s a shame since it was the last annual basketball game standing apart from NBA Live and NBA 2K, but to be blunt, it was nowhere near good enough to compete for a share of the market.
I’m sure that some people enjoyed NBA 09: The Inside, and if so, I do understand. I can see the glimpses of the game that it could’ve and should’ve been, and it’s possible to adjust to a flawed title’s quirks and enjoy it for what it is. For me though, it’s utterly abysmal; undoubtedly one of the worst Triple-A basketball video games that I’ve ever played. A few innovative features, solid modes, and other decent bells and whistles, ultimately can’t make up for an embarrassingly subpar gameplay experience that not only failed to improve on the previous release, but somehow declined in every way imaginable. It’s a sloppy effort from a studio that has done better, before and since.
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