NBA Live 08

"EA drops the ball this year"

Another year and another NBA Live games from EA Sports. It seems like every time I turn around the market becomes flooded with sports games of every type. Sadly I received both Live 08 and 2K8 in the same day. I played this one first...

Graphically this game looks amazing. Highly detailed player models, a shiny court. The interface is still the same but the score board on top of the screen is very clean cut and down right sexy.

The announcers for this game are rather bland. I didn't notice them half the time and when I did they lacked any and all personality. Sounds are typical sneaker squeaks and ball sounds. The music is alright with a decent mix of Hip-hop and rock-esq. music.

Control in the game is simple to get the hang of and silky smooth and responsive. That is until someone is blocking your shot then the controls spin out of control and the game stutters a bit.

The modes are still the same this year and to be honest nothing has changed much. I don't notice any new modes but again I didn't spend a ton of time with last year's game.

The games AI is brain dead not only on the opposing team but your teammates run to the correct end but otherwise they just stand there as if they were having a picnic in a sunny field. It's just absurd that my ball bounces off the rim and they all stand their while the opposing team actually goes for it.

That isn't the only problem. As I stated before the game stutters when someone tries to block you and I found that the game is overly sensitive with fouls when it comes to you blocking someone. I think I fouled the other team every time and it was the only way they scored on me. It's just absurd to score that many fouls when I rarely, if ever have scored a foul in a basketball game before.

Not only that though this game features the worlds worst load times. A normal game takes about 2 minutes to load which is absurd but you are given some sports trivia. Of course I'm not a sports nut so I don't know the team some player was playing against in a 1999 game where he scored 78 points.

The games does offer on-line but I didn't get to play it. It was easy to find another player but after picking our teams and stuff the game began to load and 5 minutes later I turned my console off as I was sick of answering questions on the loading screen.

EA finally gets the series heading in the right direction but they really drop the ball this year with technical problems, players stuttering when near each other and some of the worst load times this generation. No thanks EA, you can keep your NBA Live 08 to yourself this year.

Story - N/A
Graphics - 10/10
Sound - 7/10
Control - 9/10
Game Play - 6/10
Replay Value - 4/10

Final Score - 5/10

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 10/10/07

Game Release: NBA Live 08 (US, 10/01/07)