NBA Live 08

October 8,2007 - The first year of the rebuilding phase of the NBA Live franchise is here. Taking the gameplay back to the basics, EA attempted to set a working foundation for a fully-featured game that hopes to quickly best the NBA 2k series. Does NBA Live 08 manage to sink the shot or clank off the backboard?

What’s new here in NBA Live 08 mainly deals with the gameplay itself, making it more intuitive than it’s been before. The game really feels good to play this year and it’s certainly a more intuitive game than it has ever been before. The Quick Strike controls on the right stick let you have direct control of the ball to pull off special moves to put some distance between yourself and the defender to get a good shot off. The Hot Spot feature highlights the half court to show your player’s, well, hot spots. It’s helpful for those who aren’t religious NBA addicts to see the limits of your players. The addition of the Go-To moves adds an extra layer of detail to the game, though it’ll only affect about two dozen players around the league. These are just a few of the major additions to the gameplay that helps the game feel like fun to play, rather than being a chore to control.

Though NBA Live’s post game has been improved, allowing you a bit more control in scoring in the paint or stopping the big man on defense, but it’s a little too easy to dominate in the paint on either side of the ball. Unfortunately, if your player gets under the backboard, he’ll occasionally hit the rim or backboard if you attempt to dunk in the situation. Steals are quite easy to pull off while passing can be awkward when the passing cursor occasionally freaks out when players are moving in the paint. Add in the strange transitions between idle or running and dunking animations that show that the game’s still a work in progress. These quirks don’t ruin the fun that Live offers, but these are things that need to be worked out for next year.

The new modes here haven’t been tweaked much, but there’s some new stuff with which you can test out the rebuilt controls. The franchise mode starts with the hiring of a new staff and training camp before you get to the meat of the mode, which makes the game a yearlong adventure from the season to the draft and back around again. There’s a lot of depth to the mode, but can be controlled enough to make it more manageable for those that just want to jump in and have fun. The FIBA makes its first appearance, and for being a late addition, it’s no surprise that only a barebones eight team tournament mode is offered this year. More teams and a deeper mode would be nice for next year. Elsewhere, EA’s addition of leagues to this year’s sports games continue with Live, but don’t expect it to rival NBA 2K’s leagues just yet. The All-Star Weekend returns once more and the main foul here is the dunk mode. Though there’s a lot of potential for cool moves, it’ll require a lot of practice and patience to pull off anything good. The 3-Point Shootout works quite well and the All-Star game and Rookie Challenge are just exhibitions in new clothing. There’s even a trivia game that appears while loading into a game, though there’s no special reward for getting them right. There’s a good amount of keep you busy, but there’s not really anything that’ll surprise you this year. It’s clear that the focus was on the gameplay and not so much on the modes.

Visually, NBA Live 08 manages to take the crown this year for the best-looking game quite easily. The players look quite closely to their real-life counterparts, though still just off enough to remind you that it’s just a game. The animations look good for the most part, but dunking tends to be the main offender here as transitions into a dunk usually look quite awkward and it’s not rare to see the player dunk through the rim. The jerseys look great and the high-definition sweat is plentiful. To compliment the shiny players, the floorboards look freshly waxed throughout the game. The crowds look fine while zoomed out, but cutscenes show just a few rows back are faceless, low-def people that show where the polygons are not located. Load times are fairly small, though you’ll be forced to just stare at an exciting blank backboard when you’re not starting up a game.

NBA Live 08 does manage to sound quite good once you get into the game. The crowds can get loud, arena music fills up the arena, and the announcers are sharp and even witty at times. It’s unfortunate that the home crowd doesn’t get rowdy as the game winds down in anticipation of the win. The announcers also have a tendency to repeat lines, especially when they involve players that may only have one or two comments to cycle between, but the overall flow’s pretty good and nearly feels like you’re watching the real thing. The soundtrack is pretty much par for the course, as far as sports game soundtracks are concerned.

This shot definitely goes in, but not before taking a few lucky bounces on the rim. It’s certainly nice to see that NBA Live’s on the fast track to good times for the series, but it’s probably not worth a purchase just yet. So you should definitely save the money and rent it first to see if NBA Live 08’s up your alley. Otherwise, it’ll probably be in your best interest to hold off and see what’s planned for the second step of this rebuilding process.

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