NBA Live 08

Released in 2007 and the first of to be on all seventh generation consoles, NBA Live 08 gives players the ability to jump into the fray of the ‘07 and ‘08 season of one of the world’s biggest sports. Unsurprisingly yearly sport games aren’t famous for their ability to provide continuously groundbreaking and innovative games. And that’s okay, because since the sport itself seldomly changes, any title portraying said sport will inevitably run out of things to create.

Since capturing all the nuances of a real game of basketball feels like a far-fetched dream, developers all around try to further simulation and realism with every new release, and in NBA Live 08 that is very clear.

The Good and The Bad

The not-so great part about the title is that it doesn’t add anything new to the game aside from gameplay. NBA Live as a series has always taken a more fast-paced, arcade approach to the sport, which means career mode, three-point shoot-out, Dynasty mode, and the online mode feel exactly the same as earlier versions. There isn’t any other way to describe the game modes, other than an exact copy and paste from NBA Live 07.

Good news is: if you enjoyed NBA Live 07, you will definitely love this new version of the game. The most notable changes were made to gameplay, EA has deliberately taken off some of the overly-complicated mechanics from earlier titles, and instead focused on in-game mechanics like: quickstrike ball handling, own the paint, shot counter-shot, and hotspots to name a few. These repurposed, and improved commands bring a new level of challenge, realism, and enjoyment to the game.

Old Flame, New Game

There are a lot of things to do in this game, yes, the same modes that fans will recognize from other titles, but inside the court the game feels very different. Developer EA Sports made great progress in replicating some of the authentic feelings of a basketball game, for example the new low-post controls are amazing and closely replicate how scary some of the league's biggest players can be.

There’s a lot of technical, and mechanical progress to be praised, in fact even animations and the flow of the match feel better, and lighter. Addingly, the narrators, Marv Albert and Steve Kerr, are impeccable as always, delivering superb voice-over performances that reassemble their live work as closely as they can.

Unfortunately NBA Live 08 is far from perfect, for instance the game’s artificial intelligence is extremely unreliable. Witnessing some of the offensive, as well as defensive plays that the game chooses to execute is so unnatural that it just might pull you out of immersion. Minor issues related to performance, physics, and rulings are commonplace as well, none of the things mentioned above make the game unplayable, but they do contrast with what is overall a well-polished game.

Summary

For people who love basketball, enjoy nuance mechanics, and a more arcade-style title, NBA Live 08 is an entertaining choice. If you enjoyed games like NBA Street, or the NBA 2K series, while they all look similar, they play very differently and experimenting might be worth a shot.

PROS:

• Voice-Over
• New Mechanics
• Entertaining Arcade-Style
• Improvement Over Its Predecessor

CONS:

• Unoriginal Modes
• Occasional Performance Issues
• Abysmal Artificial Intelligence
• Superficial Basketball Experience