Corona420

October 1, 2008 - This year NBA Live 09 offers gamers the opportunity to take control of a single player and determine his individual impact on the game in its new "Be A Pro" game mode. However, based on our early impressions, players looking forward to a hoops equivalent of Madden's Superstar mode, which allows gamers to select a player and guide and develop him throughout his career, will be sorely disappointed: Be A Pro mode, simply put, is a repackaging of the player-lock feature presented in previous installments of the game, with a primitive evaluation system added to rate the player's performance in what is essentially a single "Play Now" game.

Ever wish you could play like Tony Parker for a game? With Be A Pro mode you can be Tony Parker for a game.
Although the new feature carries a tag that reads, "Play your role and win as a team in Be A Pro mode," the mode actually places no importance on teamwork or team success.

Be A Pro mode rewards players for positive plays (such as scoring a basket, grabbing a rebound, dishing out an assist, blocking a shot or coming up with a steal) and penalizes them for negative plays (like missed shots, turnovers and getting scored on), then provides the player with a rating at the conclusion of the game. But, it does nothing to reward players for filling a role (help defense, boxing out to ensure that a teammate can coral a rebound, setting picks, etc.), encouraging gamers to stuff the stat sheet as thoroughly as possible regardless of which NBA player they've chosen to control.

In other words, the game mode is geared towards the Kobe of old, jacking up and sinking as many shots as possible, rather than the new and improved Kobe that guided the Lakers to the NBA Finals and took home his first NBA MVP award last year based largely on his improved ability (and willingness) to get his teammates involved and dominate the ball less.

Soar over the competition as Kobe Bryant in Be A Pro mode, but beware: Post players have a decided advantage.
As a matter of fact, Be A Pro actually discourages teamwork by penalizing players for failed double teams. So, when you rotate away from your man to help a teammate that's been burned by his, you actually run the double risk of being docked for your teammate's man scoring a bucket or being penalized if he kicks the ball back out to the player you rotated away from to try and prevent the basket.

Be A Pro also heavily favors post players, who typically don't have to track their man out to the perimeter to prevent open looks from the outside, and who have an extremely easy go of it sprinting down the middle of the court, calling for a pass and finishing with an easy dunk or layup deep in the paint.

To test that point, we played two game pitting the Lakers against the Celtics in a rematch from last year's NBA Finals and came up with some very interesting (and underwhelming) results.

In the first game, controlling Kobe Bryant, we managed a Kobe-esque 53 points in a route of the defending NBA champs. However, because Kobe missed several shots and his defensive assignment, Ray Allen, made several shots, he finished the game with a 98 rating. In the second game we played as Celtic role-player Kendrick Perkins, who simply demolished the Lake Show on his way to 43 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists and a perfect 100 rating.

KG got the better of Kobe in the 2008 NBA Finals, but Celtic role-player Kendrick Perkins had no problem putting up better numbers in Be A Pro mode.
Perkins had no problem running past his defender, Andrew Bynum, and calling for the ball in the middle of the key as the defense attempted to set, and then throwing down monster dunk after monster dunk. It has the potential to get old REAL fast. We'll find you

NOMINATE AND THANK IF THIS WAS GOOD INFO

-Whitey

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Ezexx

I am gonna get NBA Live 09. I can't wait!!

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