GamerNode: Reviews - NBA Live 08

NBA Live 08

• NBA Live 08
• Xbox 360
• EA Canada
• EA Sports
• October 02nd, 2007

It's no surprise that NBA Live 08 is a big improvement from last year's version, because quite frankly, it would be nigh-impossible not to be. What is a surprise, however, is just how much of an improvement NBA Live 08 is. With last year's abomination, it looked like 2K would officially take the title of Best Basketball Game and run away with it. This year's game takes steps to prevent that, and even contends in several areas.
 

The best news is that there aren't nearly as many bugs, and I didn't notice anything gamebreaking. If you hated Live 07 because of all the little things, all of the little things are working and done right again (for the most part) in Live 08.
 

One thing that's been really improved is the defense. With the hold of a trigger button, you play tight man to man coverage, and the computer handles a lot of the little things like shifting weight and guarding the offensive player's strong side. For people who want complete 100% control over their player this may not be great news, but for most gamers it works wonders. Especially since it makes the game just look and feel more like NBA basketball; no more 20 steal nights for Mike Bibby.

If NBA Live 08 stresses one thing, it's just ensuring that the game plays well. There aren't a lot of amazing new features like other sports games hype. Instead, the developers went back to the core elements of NBA basketball and made sure their game lived up to those expectations.
 

On offense, it really is a team game, and players have their own signature styles and moves. For people like Kevin Martin this may piss you off (try shooting with him... It's just annoying!) but for the most part it adds to the spectacular presentation.

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