As of this writing, it's hard to fully evaluate NBA 2K10. So much of this year's game is tied to being online; specifically, being connected to the 2K servers. Since the game was released on Oct. 6, your odds of connecting to those servers are about as good as knocking down a free throw while blindfolded. You might get lucky, but chances are you're going to shoot an air ball. It is absolutely infuriating.

Equally infuriating are the shocking frame-rate issues that you see on the Xbox 360 version when using certain camera angles (the PS3 doesn't suffer from this.) You can tinker so that this goes away, but when the default camera angle is almost unplayable, something is amiss.

NBA 2K10's most touted new feature is NBA Today, which is somewhat similar to NBA Live 10's Dynamic Season mode. NBA Today downloads the current data from the league and plugs it into your game. The play-by-play will comment on the previous day's games; the stat overlays will be up to date -- it's really cool. But of course, you need to be able to connect to the 2K servers to use it.

Sure, this looks good. But you know you can't play from this angle, right?

This is doubly frustrating because offline play against the artificial intelligence is by far the weakest part of the game. The struggles are similar to those in previous versions: Your AI teammates are idiots, especially in how they play defense in the post and rush to double-team anyone who makes a threat at getting to the basket, which leaves their man wide open. The opposing AI is all too eager to accept this opening, even giving up a layup to pass the ball back out to an open man for a three-pointer. It looks as weird as it sounds.

The defensive issues have plagued this game for years -- it's just too easy to score in the paint. Actually, scoring down low isn't the problem; it's too easy to get the ball down low in the first place. If Boston's Kevin Garnett receives the ball within three feet of the rim, chances are good that he's either going to score or get fouled. The defense needs to stop him from getting the ball in an easy scoring position.

Along these same lines, the AI players on both teams refuse to play passing lanes, regardless of how you tweak the game's difficulty sliders. It will drive you absolutely insane to watch an opposing team's point guard throw a lazy pass in the middle of the paint to the center, while no one on your team considers it a good idea to, you know, catch it.

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It's a real shame that the wonky online and defensive play are here, because there is so much to like about NBA 2K10. Despite the aforementioned woes, in other areas the AI plays a truly brilliant game of basketball -- running pick and rolls, backdoor cuts and side screens. It's fun to watch the AI play offense because it obviously knows what it's doing.

Association mode (the game's franchise mode) remains a bright spot. The stats it generates aren't spot-on, but they are better than those in NBA Live 10, and the AI seems up to the challenge of running its franchise. There are no bizarro-world trades like those you see in NBA Live. You can also finally control all 30 teams at one time, so apartment and dorm leagues should thrive.

In fact, playing against another human opponent on the same console is far and away your best option -- you can remove a lot of the annoying defensive AI, and experience the game how it was meant to be played.

Dunks are the name of the game on default settings.

The play-by-play is also worth mentioning. It sounds like a real telecast, with nice banter between Clark Kellogg and Kevin Harlan (Kellogg will have several anecdotes regarding key players that are really neat the first few times you hear them, though they can get old if you play with the same team a lot). The crowd noise cannot compete with the brilliant atmosphere found in NBA Live 10, but the play-by-play is clearly better.

Despite its flaws, there is a lot to like about this year's game: The controls are more responsive, the animations are great, the offensive AI is sound, and the overall feature set is impressive. But with the surprising resurgence of NBA Live from EA Sports, 2K Sports no longer has a complete stranglehold on the genre. It's time for 2K to up its game -- and to make absolutely certain its servers work when the game is released. Basketball gamers have a real option this year, so it's not a good idea to upset them.

This review is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.