NBA Live 2005

"Doesn't "live" up to expectations."

I recently got NBA Live 2005 for Christmas, and it is actually good, besides a few bad things. Lets start, shall we?

1.Game play 7/10

There are a few annoying things about this game. The number 1 thing being the slowdown. It seems that EA didn't care about the Gamecube version so they didn't change anything, causing slow down during wide angle shots. Most of the time it's fine, but if you go to shoot a buzzer beating three and your timing gets messed up due to slowdown, it's annoying.

The other annoying thing is when the players change their shots to get blocked. Say you're going for an open lane dunk, and then all of the sudden your player goes into a different animation so he can get blocked. They should jam it home, but instead, they put the ball higher and away from the basket so it can get rejected. That's not realistic.

Overall though, besides the two mishaps, the game play is actually very good and smooth. Players roll off on picks, and true to real life, a lot happens away from the ball.

2.Graphics 9/10

This is where it's really good. Players look like players(Minus a few like Kirk "Frodo Baggins" Hinrich) and arenas look true to life. Shaq has his big, gorilla like build, Lebron has his muscles, and Kevin Garnett has his tall, lanky body. Plus with their faces being scanned into the game, they look very real.

3.Sound 8/10

The music is horrible. It always is in EA games. But, the announcing by Marv Albert and Mike Fratello is very good. It keeps pace with the game speed. But they cut off what they're saying sometime because of keeping up with the pace of the game. Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith are good commentators for the Dunk Contest, but they have around 3 sayings, so you hear them constantly.

4.Extras 10/10

Franchise is the main part of the game, like mostly all sports game. It's pretty in depth, but basically boring. The best part of this game is the All Star Weekend Mode. You have your Rookies VS Sophomores game, the 3 Point Contest, the Slam Dunk Contest, and of course, the All Star Game its self.

The Slam Dunk Contest is the most fun. It's easy after you do the slam dunk school, and it's pretty cool looking. There are alot of button combinations so you could be there for awhile trying new combos(Unless you use the faq) so it's pretty fun. Especially with friends.

The 3 Point Contest is way too easy. I always get a perfect score no matter what. It's easy to figure out the timing, which makes it unfun. They should bring back the NBA Live 1998 version.

Buy or Rent:Rent if you want to just mess around with some games and the dunk contest, but Buy if you want to actually have a good franchise.

Overall, it's a decent game, but would have been a great game if they fixed the slowdown problems.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/24/05