Sega Sports: It's in the game?
Ever since the middle of the 16 bit era, the video game sports market has been dominated by Electronic Arts. Their signature Madden franchise has sold tens of millions of copies in the last decade, their NCAA titles have slowly became favorites among many sports gamers, and their Tiger Woods line can run circles around any other golf franchise. NBA Live doesn't have it so easy though. Since the 3D era began, NBA Live games have ranged from "too arcade", to too slow and realistic, to simply not good enough all around. On that note, ESPN Sports(via Sega), have slowly dug themselves in as the leader in virtual basketball entertainment. On top of that, with the ESPN games retailing at $20, EA finds itself in even more of a predicament. Enter NBA Live 2005. In an effort to boost its mainstream appeal, almost everything that used to be NBA Live has been overhauled. Many gameplay elements have been changed, the franchise mode has been revamped, and they've added an "exciting" new All-Star game mode, complete with a Slam Dunk challenge. Will NBA Live 05 elevate the series to king of the virtual courts? Or will ESPN and Sega still have the last laughs? Read in to find out...
Game Modes
In the past, NBA Live has almost always had an adequate number of game modes. The problem though, was that some of these game modes simply weren't executed as well as they could have been. Case and point, this series has always been known for having a franchise mode, just not one as good as you'd see in a Madden or NCAA game. EA has tried hard to change that this year, and to a certain extent, they have. This year's franchise mode finally features a real salary cap with real NBA salaries. That's right, gone are the days that Tim Duncan and Allen Iverson demanded 300,000 points to play for you. On top of that, the player scouting and drafting has been advanced quite a ways, allowing you to scout rookies at any point of year. In addition to those upgrades, EA added a really great "intervention" feature. While simulating games in your franchise mode, the game will show you the score of your games after each quarter. And, after each quarter you are given the option to "intervene" in the game. So, if you're down by 6 at the beginning of the 4th quarter and want to rally your team to victory, you can. This is actually something that I'd like to see in Madden and NCAA in the coming years.
With the newly designed franchise mode, EA has implemented a new "All Star Weekend" feature. This mode allows to gamers to take part in any of the All Star weekend festivities, including the Rookies vs. Sophomores game, the NBA All Star game, the 3-point shootout, and of course, the slam dunk competition. EA has pumped a lot of hype into the new Slam Dunk competition, and they've actually delivered. This feature allows you to throw down one of over 20,000 combinations of slam dunks and get them scored by legends such as Dr. J and Spud Webb. A quick warning, pulling off high scoring dunks is very difficult, and takes a lot of timing. Luckily, they've implemented a "dunk school" tutorial to help you learn all of take offs, alley oops, and in air moves. Lots of fun indeed.
Along with these new and updated features, there's still all of the game modes that you'd expect from an EA basketball game. There's practice, where you can pick a player and shoot around without defense, Play now, where you select 2 teams and play a quick game, and 1 on 1 where you can finally match up Lebron and Carmelo to see who's the real phenom. With those, there's also a fairly deep create a player option, allowing you a lot of the same option that's Tiger 2005's game face II had. All and all, a lot of depth here. Unfortunately, they still go hand and hand with some nagging gameplay problems.
Gameplay Problems
Normally, I wouldn't have an entire section for this, but there's a lot worth noting here. First and foremost, the player ratings in NBA Live are by far the worst in any sports title, ever. Who the hell did they hire to do this scouting, some random crack head? For starters, there are very few good players in the league. There are maybe 4 or 5 players in the 90s(overall rating), another 10 or 15 in the 80s, and the rest are lower. Tim Duncan, the biggest force in the paint left in the Western Conference is only an 89, and Chris Webber, a many time All-Star, is in the mid to high 70s. Not to mention that Allen Iverson has a better shooting rating than sharpshooter Michael Redd. Fix these problems before next year, please.
In addition to the god awful player ratings, a few key in game problems still exist. First off, the fast break pace is still ridiculously off target. Every time you get a steal and start to push the fast break, defensive players(even slow ones) tend to come from no where, step in front of you, and take away all of your momentum. Second, in trying to fixing the "pro hop" move from last year, they probably made it even worse. Last year, pro hopping was the solve all problem to double and triple teams, and allowed you score every drive. This year, any time you pro hop, you'll run into the defense and either lose the ball or get called for a foul. This essentially makes the pro hop completely worthless. I will give EA some credit here, they did do a nice job of making the free-style control more realistic and toning down the game pace, but there's still some work to be done.
Graphics: 8/10
EA has done some work to improve upon NBA Live's graphics, but they still don't stack up to those of ESPN Basketball. The player models have been leveled up a bit and now look as nice as ever. There are a lot of good special effects in the new slam dunk competition, including laser light shows and enhanced video monitors all around the court. They've also added a lot of nice franchise presentation features, including the new PDA style menus. Finally, the game runs fairly smoothly throughout your experience, with only a few small areas of slowdown.
Audio: 9/10
When thinking of EA sports audio, you have to think of the EA Trax library. It's back again, and just about as good as ever. If you're in to hip-hop, your ears will be happy to hear the beats of "big stars" like Lloyd Banks, among others. Also, the commentary in Live 2005 is as good any, featuring Mike "the czar" Fratello and Marv "I beat my wife" Alberts. Along with them, the slam dunk competitions are done by TNT's Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson, who give some nice, witty input as you rock the house with a big between the legs 360 jam. I only wish Charles Barkley could be in the booth with them. Maybe next year.
Controls: 8/10
The controls in NBA Live haven't changed much since last year, with the exception of the addition of the Slam Dunk comp and the new "free-style" air feature. Freestyle air is a nice feature which allows you do more with the ball when rebounding or going up for a shot. You can now do things like bat rebounds in the air so another teammate can grab the ball, and adjust your shot in mid air when you've been fouled. As I said earlier, dunking is fairly difficult in this game, and takes a lot of time. First, you need a press a button to take off, then you have a press another button to do a trick, and then you have to use a trigger to modify the trick. Not too mention pulling off ally-oop dunks. Confused? So was I...Make sure you go through the tutorial at least one time.
Overall: 7/10
Each year, EA does a lot with NBA Live in the hopes of one day making a game that becomes the Madden of basketball video games. While they've taken a step in the right direction with Live 2005, they still aren't quite there. Sure, it has a new, ultra cool Slam Dunk competition mode, a better dynasty mode, and good graphics and audios. At the same though, there are still a lot of gameplay issues that keep it from being a "great" game. Recommended, but only to sports gamers and general fans of the Live series.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
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