NBA Live 2008: A Critical Review

It was only natural that when video games became a mainstream form of competitive entertainment, sports games had to follow. Basketball was no exception, though the sport was not as popular back in the day as it is now. The genre was born in the 1970s and over a period of more than 30 years we are looking at the stunning new NBA live 2008 for the HD-ready game systems such as PS3 and Xbox 360. In between the long time period of more than 30 years, there have been many hoop games than you can imagine, many of which were baby steps to what we take for granted now. Seasons, franchises, real teams, and real players were features that were not feasible or expected on the ancient hardware where gaming was first born. Recently EA has just launched its latest addition to the NBA game series, NBA Live 2008. 

EA (Electronic Arts) is the world’s leading independent developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software for advanced entertainment systems. Since the company was founded in 1982, EA has been a creative leader and today, the company continues to innovate and evolve the interactive entertainment medium. EA markets its products worldwide under four brand logos: EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS BIG, EA and POGO. EA’s broad portfolio of franchises includes global perennial sports blockbusters from its EA SPORTS™ brand including Madden NFL, FIFA Soccer, and NBA Live. Its revenues are worth $ 3.091 billion. (info.ea.com)

 

The production of NBA live of 08, considered to be the latest and greatest NBA game built, brought a lot of excitement. Along with the excitement, there were many upgrades and faults if compared to the Live 07 game. The purpose of creating a new chapter every year is to show the improvements made from the pervious year.

One of the biggest differences between the 07 and 08 game is the practice gym. In 07, you had the futuristic look at the gym. There was the big mirror behind your basket which showed your reflection of ball handling, shooting and everything. This year is a total make over. In 08, there is the actual court where you practice by yourself and improve your skills with the lights off. Another difference is the shooting arc created after you shot the ball. The arc was very high last year, but it seems like an actual shot this year, which adds to your total experience of the game.

This year, the producers of the game mainly focused on the fundamentals of the game; shooting, passing, dribbling, rebounding, dunking and layups. In last year’s edition, the dribbling aspects were terrible. You couldn’t see the basketball touching your hands and seemed as if the ball was on a string. In 08, the dribbling motion seems more realistic and way more responsive; the ball stays in your hand. It’s a piece of cake to perform a crossover, pass the ball, perform a hop-step, and then decide whether to dunk or shoot. This results in a fast-paced game with lots of sharp passing and great finishes. The post up play of the different players can be seen in 08. The makers of the game added little subtleties that define each player where as in 07 all the players perform the same move. This is called the go-to move. The go-to move is a move that superstar players have such as Kobe Bryant’s turn around jump shot, Tony Parker’s quick drive to the basket, and many more. The next big improvement in 08 is the actual presence of defenders around the basket. In 07’s game, you could literally go through as many as three defenders and throw down a dunk on the basket. Unlike in 08’s version, the presence of the body of a defender can cause you to change your shot at the very last second. A key improvement in 08 was the default angles of the game. It is actually playable for starters because the default angle has been changed to a more dynamic broadcast-style perspective. It’s easier to see what’s going on.

Just because I am talking about the upgrades does not mean that there is not a downside to the new game. There are also areas, some small and some not-so-small, where NBA Live 08 stumbles. Rebounding is an area that has stayed fairly stagnant since last year. There are slight modifications that have been made so that the ball doesn’t warp into a player’s hands quite as often as it did, but you’ll still see instances of a power forward jumping to clutch a rebound a split second before the ball even hits the rim. Either it’s a flaw in the game or NBA players have suddenly developed some impressive clairvoyance. There’s the new lock-on defense which essentially makes playing defense as easy as holding down the left trigger and maneuvering the left stick a bit. You no longer need to worry about switching players to follow the ball; the game now handles that for you. The whole defensive play experience has been taken out of the player’s hands a bit too much.

Fast break lay-ups are still missed a bit too often, though it’s not nearly as frustrating as it was last year. Developers need to realize that NBA players, at least the upper echelon athletes, do not miss lay-ups, even when contested. Inbounding the ball can be a bit of a challenge for the CPU. On occasion you’ll see five-second violations that shouldn’t happen, and others where you should have been able to steal an inbound pass, but can’t. There’s another issue that stem from inbounding the ball, one that has been in every NBA Live in recent memory; that being a backcourt violation which occurs when tossing the ball in from out of bounds. Anyone who knows the game of basketball knows that this should never happen; No matter where you throw the ball in from, there’s no way that it can result in a backcourt violation. However, this will happen every time in Live 08 if you pass the ball from out of bounds, back over the centerline. One oddity that pops up while selecting your team comes in the form of some mislabeled attributes. The attributes are broken up into adequate categories but things just don’t shape up like they should. For example, the Cavs are said to have no athleticism. LeBron is the second coming of Michael Jordan, and his team has an empty meter for athleticism?

With all those internal aspects being mentioned, we can’t forget about the external ones. The offering of game modes has been expanded on a bit. NBA Live 08 offers the FIBA World Championship, an eight-team tournament that pits the mighty USA against the rest of the world. However, just because they expanded their game modes, does that mean you are going to have more fun? None of the new game modes really advance the overall NBA Live experience all that much; the Quick Pick Play, for instance, is held back by the fact that the CPU will pick some of the same players as you for its own team.

I personally had a hard time getting used to this game since some of the controls were changed. It was a bit confusing at first because I was used to control of the previous games. To perform a jump shot you had press and hold the X button or to perform a dunk or a layup, you had hold on to the O button. In NBA Live, some the control buttons have been changed which can frustrating for some as it was for me. But when you love basketball video games, you won’t stop at anything to get better at it. Since that creates competition bet friends and cousins.  I am most impressed by the visuals and graphics which portray the realism of the game; you can see really the fine models of players and droplets of sweat. That really shows how the players react to the play in the game  

I think since the first video game of basketball, it has grown in to a level where we feel we are actually playing real basketball. I would be wrong to think that it stops here. For many years to come, we can only imagine how much further we can go. At the rate we are progressing, I think we might have a station where we can play virtual 3D basketball; we control the basketball with wired gloves and operate the game itself through our mind with a head gadgets attached. We will have to wait and see. In terms of rating, I would rate the NBA Live 08 a seven out ten. I am hoping that the next edition to NBA Live series, NBA Live 2009, change how everyone think about basketball games.  Click here for a trailer!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Work Citations

 

 

GT (Game Trailers), 08 Sep. 2007, NBA live 08 vs. NBA live 07, 27 April 2008, http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/103812.html

 

 

EA, Corporate Information , 30 April 2008, http://www.info.ea.com/company/company_background.php

 

 

Brian Ullrich, EA SPORTS, Go-To moves in NBA Live 08, 5 May 2008, http://www.easports.com/nbalive08/gotomoves.jsp

 

 

 

IGN Videos, NBA Live 08 PlayStation 3 Trailer – Launch Trailer (HD, 5 May 2008 http://ps3.ign.com/dor/objects/900781/nba-live08/videos/nbalive08_launch_100507.html

 

 

Nate Ahearn, IGN, NBA Live 08 Review, 27 April 2008, http://ps3.ign.com/articles/824/824860p1.html

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RealTalk617, IGN, NBA Live 08 review, 28, April 2008, http://readerreviews.ign.com/rrview/games/nba_live_08/900781/71801/