I haven't played every edition of EA's NBA Live series but I've played plenty and put in some serious hours, and the gameplay flaws on the 2007 edition are ridiculous. The most ridiculous are the phantom steals and dropped balls that occur a couple of dozen times each game as you drive to the hoop. I've had a monster dunker like Shawn Marion leading the break and driving to the rim with no one in front of him -- and yet the ball mysteriously falls to the floor for the trailing defense to pick up. This happens even after the player has left his feet and it doesn't seem to matter whether the defense is two steps behind you, standing beside you or even attempting a steal. The ball just falls out of the player's hands. Of course, all you have to do is stand in the paint on the opposite end to get the ball back, cause chances are the same thing will happen to the CPU. But who cares about an even trade when the goal is a basketball simulation? This alone has already put 2007 in the "for sale" stack, but the controls are unresponsive, especially when attempting to use the direct pass option (the icons often won't appear and you'll wind up shooting from half-court or throwing the ball into the backcourt). It's also mystifying why EA changed the player icons. For years, your center was the A button, power forward the square, small forward X and shooting guard 0 while the point guard would take the icon of whoever had the ball. This made direct passing a breeze, but now they constantly shift. I'm sure there's a pattern to it, but what's the point of fixing something that was never broken? This is just sloppy, almost retarded, game design.
now im one of the devoted nba live follewers, who has to have this game every year tghat it come out! it seemed like they were doing better with every new edition from 95-99. but then they went backwards around the begin... Read Full Review
Okay, when I first played this, I thought it would be a pretty cool game. I liked the menu and how they set evrything up. Then when I played my first actual game, I started to doubt it. At first I didnt like the controls... Read Full Review
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