by: Andrew Thornton

January 15, 2008

NBA Live 2007 somehow manages to not only be worse than last year's version, but it actually manages to be quite possibly the most broken game on the Xbox 360. Sports fans, you have one option this year for basketball in the next generation and that is NBA 2K7. Live isn't worth your time or money.

I want to start out by talking about what EA Sports did right this year because once I get going with the rest of my review, you'll realize why none of it is worth anything. The All Star Weekend mode that EA has added into the Live series is something that I'd love to see included in the 2K series, which simply offers the All Star game. I'd love to play the 3 point competition, slam dunk contest and the rookie game in a good basketball game. The depth of the Slam Dunk contest actually manages to make it fun. So kudos to EA for that.


The player models are nicer this year as are the arenas. All of the stars at least look fantastic when they're standing still and the arenas are great replicas. Then there's the fact that all of the modes from the last gen systems are present this time around; it's nice to have dynasty mode back. It pales in comparison to Association in the 2K series but it's still nice to have, and I love that you can choose to do the 2006 draft for yourself too. (Though it's funny seeing high picks like Andrea Bargnani and JJ Redick go undrafted). Like 2K games, the Live series has put a large focus on chemistry this year and in one of the few areas where this series outshines its competition, the mode here allows you to see who is causing the problems with your chemistry so you can weed out bad seeds. This game also has the better audio - for the first time in a sports game, I actually enjoy the commentary here. It isn't repeated as badly as in many other games and Steve Kerr is a great analyst. I enjoy him in real life and I enjoy him in the game. Hearing him suddenly start talking about Rasheed Wallace's free throw shooting troubles in last years playoffs and possible causes for the trouble are great and one of the few things I liked about this game. There's a great selection of music here as well and while I don't know if it's as good as in 2K7, it's close. Oh, and free throw shooting is better this year too. Thought I'd throw that in there.

Now it's time for me to tell you why none of this stuff matters. Namely, it's because the game is pretty much unplayable. I love modes, I love depth, I love all of it. These are the things that turn a good sports game into a great one. But if the game is crap to begin with, these things don't make it any better. Why do I care if I can play the rookie game or redo the 2006 draft when within a minute of starting a game, I find myself wanting to turn it off? For years, Live has been the fast paced arcadey basketball game. It hasn't provided a deep simulation but it has provided a pretty good time for what it was. Players floated as if on ice and there were problems but the game was playable. Such is not the case here. This year, Live has been slowed down to a crawl. Your players move at such a slow pace that the game feels totally unrealistic in the opposite direction.

Live 2007 is a very attractive game, quite possibly one of the best looking on the 360. That is, if you look at it when no one is moving. For all of the attention to detail in the players and arenas, the second you start moving around the court you'll realize why this is a horribly ugly game. The animation is some of the worst that I've ever seen and it carries over into the gameplay. Nothing is responsive. While individual animations look good in parts (the dribbling looks nice for example), transitions are non-existent. When you pop up into a shot, it looks horrible. Far too often players will be pulled to a defender by a faulty animation or will dive to the rim from a still position in a way which is highly unrealistic. This further throws off the play experience as it's nearly impossible to get into any sort of a rhythm. If you do happen to do so, you probably won't know how you did it and will loose it fairly quickly. None of this is helped by a frame rate which crawls at times and makes the game feel even slower, making the animations look even worse than they already do.