NBA Live 09: NBA Rewind

While I work on finishing up my full impressions of NBA Live 09 (should be up early Monday) I thought I could provide a look at the NBA Rewind feature. Coming out of the community event I believed that NBA Rewind would have wide appeal especially as the season progresses. Thanks to Live 365 every game is added the very next day which will allow people to replay match-ups that may have intrigued them or that turned out to be memorable. They may simply choose to follow along with their favorite team’s season via Rewind. There are many reasons why this could offer an interesting and unique way to play. In addition to each game this coming season that will be downloaded daily EA also included games from last season on the disc.

A couple notes on how this works. The DNA, rosters, and depth chart of the teams for that specific game are used. The starting lineups will match the starting lineups from the game and if a player was injured at the time they will not be available to use in the game. What it won’t do is attempt to replicate what happened in real life. It isn’t as though a player that fouled out will foul out because of that in the Rewind game.

For players no longer in the NBA, such as Josh Childress in the example I am about to display, they have a generic look but play with the DNA and ratings they had at the time of the game. For Rewinds of playoff games they are treated as though they are exhibition games without the presentation and atmosphere that would be found in a dynasty playoff game. Rewinding to a Sonics game from last season will not produce the Sonics instead they remain as the Thunder.

To try out NBA Rewind I took Game 7 of the Hawks and Celtics from the first round of the playoffs. Continue on to watch a video of the first quarter of that game.