NBA Live 08 Review
Pop the champagne and order some championship rings. Live 08's a winner.
Posted by Chris Buffa on Tuesday, October 02, 2007
NBA Live 08 is a revelation. Electronic Arts (EA), through voodoo, a deal with Satan or simple programming genius, rescued its failing hoops series with one hell of a basketball game; one that ditches impossible to guard superstar moves for enhanced five-on-five play. The result is an addictive sports game that not only re-energizes the franchise, but gives the company's rival, 2K Sports, reason to worry.
You'll see Live 08's enhancements the moment the game begins. Instead of slowly plodding up and down the court, players move at a brisk 60 frames a second. Kobe slithers through defenders like a cobra while Yao Ming spins to the basket for a rim-rattling slam. Even better, fast breaks feel exciting as you dash to the basket and feed the open man. This enhanced speed comes at the expense of the graphics, which look less impressive than previous NBA Lives (the crowd is a pixilated mess), but it's an acceptable trade-off for playing a faster game.
EA also did a great job with the artificial intelligence. Each time we brought the ball up court, the defense made us work for our shots. Sure, we tricked it a few times, draining the wide-open three or feeding our big man in the paint, but for the most part, the AI (including Allen Iverson) did an excellent job clogging the lanes and getting hands in our faces, which more often than not led to blown lay-ups and long rebounds.
We enjoy working for our points, yet at the same time, the increased difficulty makes winning frustrating. Shooting, for example, takes a lot of patience, especially when guys like Tony Parker, Tracy McGrady and Steve Nash repeatedly miss open shots. However, that plays to one of Live's strengths. You'll make some lucky hoops, but in order to win throughout an 82 game season, you need to know your team and each player's hot spots. EA gives you a much needed assist by actually including this data in the game, so you can see where Kevin Garnett likes the ball or where Kobe hits most of his threes. Digest that information, and you'll beat the AI more frequently.
Live 08 also benefits from tons of sweet animations, particularly in the paint, where guys push and shove each other to gain position before snatching rebounds. You'll see plenty of great stuff all over the court, from signature player moves to rituals at the free throw line. Furthermore, you won't rely on some newfangled and impossible to guard super moves. Instead, you utilize Quick Strike ball handling, a feature assigned to the right analog stick that lets you pass the ball between a player's legs and cross over by tilting the stick in various directions. It takes some time to master, in part because it's more subtle than EA's previous innovations, but it enhances the game, allowing you to break down defenders and get to the rim.
Even with these improvements, the game has its quirks. The aforementioned frame rate stutters at times, and you'll see the ball pass through players instead of said player catching it. On occasion, guys will suddenly rocket to the rim with a burst of superhuman speed; another will stop during a fast break (thus ruining the give-and-go) and referees will call an offensive foul when it was clearly a defensive one.
Those issues are miniscule, however, when you take the quality gameplay into account, as well as all of the features. The usual suspects, such as Franchise and NBA All Star Weekend return, but EA added some new additions, such as the FIBA World Championship (complete with international teams such as Spain and Italy), Online Leagues and Quick Pick Play, where you can create a personal all-star team by selecting players from all teams. And of course, the game supports online play to go along with those leagues, giving you the opportunity to play people from all over the world as well as digest tons of ESPN branded content, including sports scores, podcasts and video.
Then there's the exquisite presentation. Gone are lifeless players, now replaced with emotional ones that celebrate big shots. And although Marv Albert and Steve Kerr resume their roles as the game's primary commentators, they don't sound wooden or take long pauses between lines. Instead, things now sound more natural. They educate you, discussing a player's weakness at the line or sharing stories about someone. It's not as good as what you'll see on TNT, but EA shows great progress in this area, and will likely improve upon it in future releases.
As for the rest of the audio, Live includes familiar chants and music (still no Madison Square Garden organ), as well as an impressive soundtrack, which includes Stephen Marley, Timberland and DJ Jazzy Jeff, fits the NBA's personality. If you have surround, definitely use it.
To say this game shocked us is an understatement. We never expected NBA Live 08 to be this good, but in this case, we love being wrong. 2K Sports' NBA 2K8 will probably be just as sweet, if not better, but don't ignore Live in favor of the competition. EA pulled off something special that demands your attention.
Final Score: 8/10
