NBA Live 2004

"NBA Live 2004 can be fun, but it has some problems"

NBA Live 2004 is the best looking basketball game on the market. EA Sports seemed to make the graphics the key selling point, focusing on the new dunks and the 10-man motion capture. Sadly, that seems like all EA has worked on leading to a passable game with many problems.

A major problem with Live is the glitches, and sadly, many of them are in the Dynasty mode. The biggest of which is the free agent glitch which allows you to sign big name free agents at the minimum every year. This just ruins the game because if you don't sign them at the minimum, some other team will.

The most recognizable problem with Live is that you aren't playing a game of basketball, you're playing a game of animations. Everything in the game is an animation of some kind, the problem is if the animation is off you will miss the shot, you will miss the block, you will miss the pass, you will get knocked around for no reason, you get the point. While this doesn't seem like a big deal, the hundredth time Dejuan Wagner sinks a jumper while in Yao Ming's because Yao's animation was about 3 inches off, the controller will probably go flying.

But, the biggest problem with Live is the AI. The problem is there is none. While on offense, no matter what the settings, you'll have trouble grabbing boards. Why will you have trouble? Because your guys will stand there. Granted, you will grab a few because the computer players rarely move too, but overall, it's just frustrating. If you decide you want to take control of a big guy and grab all the boards no one goes for, you're still going to have problems. Why? Because if you automatically switch players, you'll switch to the guy on the opposite side of the hoop who is blatantly out of position. The only way to correct this problem is go manually select who you want to be each time and manually grab the board.

Of course, why do you need to grab all these boards? Because the shooting in Live is absolutely horrid. Granted, the competition and shooting in the NBA over the past 10 years has declined drastically, this is pathetic. There is a much higher likelyhood of making a three pointer than it is to make any other field goal. And it is much more likely to make a three pointer than most lay-ups considering fouls are few and far between.

The Quick Ratings:

Graphics: 5/10 – The animation looks pretty and everything, but if they aren't in an animation, they are just standing there (this happens far too often, although some of it is a result of the horrible AI). Also, the framerate on the PS2 version drops DRASTICALLY in certain camera angles when you bring the ball upcourt. Considering that the visuals themselves are not that great, this is juts inexcusable.

Sound: 8/10 – This is the best part of Live by far. It has great player chatter, decent announcing, good stadium noises, but it still is not anything outstanding.

Controls: 6/10 – Freestyle control has made an improvement over last year, but the problem of controlling animations instead of players is what brings this score down.

Gameplay – 6/10 – The speed this year has been fixed and the stats and scores can look accurate, but the glitches bring this score down a few points.

Overall – 6/10 – EA is at a point with its franchise where it should consider just scraping everything and starting over. It will take a drastic overhaul of the current code next year to make Live a truly great game because they would need to fix the glitches, the code, the shooting, and the animations.

Granted, NBA Live 2004 CAN be fun for some people, however, after a while it can begin to wear on a person. I recommend renting Live and ESPN NBA Basketball before deciding if you want to spend $50 this year on a basketball game.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 12/06/03