NBA Live 2005

Some might find it hard to get excited about a game like NBA Live 2005, but there was a time this was the dominant basketball franchise. EA had a real cash cow with this series before they threw it all away and the NBA 2K series would reign supreme. Still, for an “older” basketball game, I feel that this one here is a lot of fun to play and it manages to walk that fine line between arcade and sim very well.

Can You Be An All-Star?

The big selling point of this year’s game was the emphasis on the NBA All-Star Weekend. Many games have featured the All-Star game before, but NBA Live 2005 went above and beyond to include the whole weekend and really make a spectacle out of it.

You of course have the actual All-Star game which is cool. However, you also the slam dunk contest, a three-point contest, and a cool rookie v sophomore game as well which was a lot of fun. Add to this the typical EA style of TV presentation and you have a really cool All-Star experience that had not been done before. All-Star Weekend also tied into you running your franchise in career mode as you could get invited to it which was neat.

Will The Real Carmelo Anthony Stand Up?

The presentation of the game is great, People love to talk trash about EA, but they always make good looking games and this one is no different. At first glance, the game may not look all that different from NBA Live 2004, but the player's likenesses I feel are a bit more accurate this time around. The arenas, presentation, and so on just has a tad more polish to it this year. It may not be at the same level that the 2K games were at this point, but this is still a very good-looking game.

Hip Hop Beats

EA always goes above and beyond with the music in their games and this game has a great hip hop soundtrack. Of course, this all depends on your like for this kind of music, but it is very fitting and you can clearly tell that EA spent a great deal of time and money in securing these songs for the game. The play by play is something that this series does as good as if not better than the 2K series.

More Of The Same

As far as the core gameplay goes, EA did not change too much. The game manages to be a blend of arcade and sim like basketball action and that is a huge reason why I always liked this series. The game has a real emphasis on the offensive end of the court and that is where EA clearly put their resources when it came to the gameplay this time around. Apart from that, not a great deal has changed.

Pros:

• The All-Star Weekend is a lot of fun
• The player likenesses are improved over the previous game
• The gameplay is fast-paced and fun
• I liked the more “offensive” approach to the gameplay
• It has a solid soundtrack

Cons:

• Not much has changed in the core gameplay
• After this, the series started to go downhill