Who ever said you couldn't be a baller?

User Rating: 8.5 | NBA Live 2005 PC
NBA Live 2005 is a solid attempt by Electronic Arts in continuing their series of dunking, dribbling, shooting, and everything else. From a player who's never touched one of their older games, I found NL2005 to be fun, vivid, and fast-paced. The customizable settings added variety and allowed you to put yourself on the court (example: creating your own character, selecting your jerseys, training your team, making decisions...).
The control system of NL'05 is great but I found that the camera works best when set at one of the 'Baseline' settings (just to point out that this game did feel slightly rushed in its creation).
As expected, what little controls needed can easily be mastered even on a laptop since a mouse is not needed. The keys are customizable and the interface is extremely handy. The graphics are relatively decent and not noticeably stiff. One thing to point out is the soundtrack which I can see EA put a lot of effort into piecing together. This game will satisfy the casual gamer but falls short when it comes to actual 'elements'. For example, games can only be played on a field. It does not feel 'new' or 'fresh' despite the dozens of characters playable. It would have been funner had there been more variety in the actual dunks and shooting. There is a tendency to have to rely on doing dunks always, for fear of missing.

The verdict thus remains that this game is worthy on your sidelines and maybe as an occasional alternative to all those other games you have.