We finished out our extensive hands-on gameplay by playing a half of the regular basketball game. EA has included an all-new graphics engine with improved player faces, and an upgrade to the lighting engine. Even at this early stage, the game is looking very sharp, and additional new animations have also been included. Much to our relief, one of these new animations is a soft lob into the post; to be sure, there are a good number of new passing and defensive animations.
One of the biggest improvements to the gameplay is added defense against the jump stop maneuver. Veterans of last year's game may remember that the jump stop (or pro hop) was oftentimes just a free pass to a dunk, as it allowed you to push back a defender and give you great position under the basket. This time around, if you don't aim your hop into an open space, you'll lose control of the ball and turn it over, or simply get it stripped. You may also get tagged with an offensive foul if you run over a defender with your hop. Rounding out the list of new changes is added control over offensive rebounds. Instead of having no control over whether your player attempts a tip in, putback dunk, or just pulls down the board, you can now use three different buttons to crash the glass. Press the dunk/layup button to try a putback dunk. Hit the shoot button to try a tip in. Or just press jump and pull down the rebound.
