With NBA live taking a seat on the bench and NBA 07 pulling up lame, the PlayStation 3 launch represents a great opportunity for Visual Concepts to establish the NBA 2K series as the dominant basketball sim on the PS3. And that's just what it has done. If you've played the Xbox 360 version of the game, the PS3 version isn't much different, so you pretty much know what to expect here. But if you're new to the series or you've played it only on the PlayStation 2, you're in for a treat. Signature shots, oodles of gameplay modes, feature-rich online play, and great on-court action are just some of the many areas in which NBA 2K7 excels.

Individualized player shots look amazing.

NBA 2K7 features a dizzying number of gameplay modes. Quick play, 24/7, season, the association, tournaments, and a robust online component give the game tremendous replay value. There are also a number of options and sliders that let you tweak the game to your heart's content. Having so many choices to pick from is great, but navigating through all the modes and options is made needlessly difficult due to the new menu system. It's unreasonably complex, and you're forced to bring up menus with the right analog stick. Rarely are you able to simply go back a step; rather, you're forced to go all the way back to each mode's main menu and do things all over again.

The association is NBA 2K7's multiseason mode, and it's deeper than ever. You're placed in charge of an NBA franchise and it's your job to hire coaches, set up practices, perform general manager duties, and play the games. Watching your team's chemistry as well as fatigue level is very important, since players will tire after hard practices, thereby not giving you their best effort during a game. Should you need to shake things up in the locker room, three player trades are supported, though to be honest, we spent quite a bit of time trying to pull one off without success. You'll also need to prepare for the NBA draft by scouting players and even putting them through a series of predraft workouts. One thing's for sure--there's never a lack of activities to keep you occupied. For such a complex simulation, the association runs smoothly, without any major glitches. Dwayne Wade did win the MVP five seasons in a row, but other than that anomaly, player statistics seemed realistic and players retired at reasonable ages.

While it doesn't hold a candle to NBA Street, 24/7 mode is surprisingly robust for a secondary game mode. Deep create-a-player options allow for some crazy-looking characters, such as a mullet-haired baller that would make Joe Dirt and Randy Johnson jealous. Street-specific moves like bouncing the ball off an opponent's head and some over-the-top dribbling give the game a decidedly arcadelike feel. There's a story that accompanies your player's rise to street-ball glory, but its execution is downright embarrassing. You're a young no-name baller who happens to be on the court while Shaq is practicing free throws. Somehow your buddy is able to talk Shaq into letting you shoot against him, and after you win, O'Neal hands you a flier with details on a legends tournament in New York. The combination of a corny script, so-so voice acting, and silent NBA players who act out their parts like mimes make the story difficult to enjoy. If you're looking for a street-ball experience without the story, you can play one-on-one, 21, and half- or full-court in locales from Miami to New York's Rucker Park.

On the court, Visual Concepts didn't make any huge alterations to how the game plays. Newcomers will likely find the controls difficult to pick up, while series veterans will appreciate them for their seemingly endless depth. Player substitutions, play calling, and more can be done during play by pressing the appropriate direction on the D pad. Effective use of set plays is an integral part of getting open shots, partially because that's how real NBA teams do it, but also because players move around the court as if getting open and cutting to the hoop aren't high on their list of things to do. Crossovers, spins, and hesitation moves are done via the "isomotion" controls (R2 plus the left analog stick). Shooting is mapped to the square button, or, should you prefer, you can utilize the right analog stick for greater shot control. In theory, using the right analog stick to shoot lets you pick the best shot for the situation. A shorter guard posting up a power forward might want to opt for a fadeaway, while a taller player might go up strong and attempt a power dunk. In reality, using the analog stick results in players frequently putting up unnecessary low-percentage shots, rather than the simple shot you were hoping for.

Like so many other PlayStation 3 launch titles, NBA 2K7 doesn't make much use of the Sixaxis' motion-sensing capabilities. But you can shoot free throws by tilting the controller back and then tilting it forward as the shot is released. If you're holding the controller in your lap, it doesn't feel much like you're shooting a free throw, but if you go the extra mile and hold the controller up over your head, you can sort of replicate the feel of a real shot. Unfortunately, the whole mechanic doesn't work particularly well because you've got to tilt the controller forward to release the ball much earlier than when the player onscreen releases his shot. Because of the large number of unique shots, you're forced to adjust your timing for each and every player, so unless you have the time to learn each player's shooting motion, you'll want to adjust the free-throw slider straightaway. There's a practice mode, but you're shooting from a different perspective than you would in a game, meaning success on the practice court doesn't translate to success during a real game.

Mission Impossible.

Final scores and shooting percentages are noticeably low, in part because teams play like their real-life counterparts. One night you might put up a bunch of points against Phoenix, which loves to push the tempo, and the next evening put up far fewer against the slower-paced Spurs. There's also an ugly side as to why scores are so low. Sometimes defenders legitimately play great defense, but just as often you'll skate in place, performing crossovers and hesitation moves against an invisible wall. Down low, the hop step is an effective way of establishing dominance in the paint, but it, too, is often rendered useless by unseen forces. Fast breaks are prone to coming to a screeching halt, either from a turnover due to an errant pass, forced because the camera was too close (on the default setting), or because streaking players stopped in their tracks to receive a pass (even if you use the lead pass). The big way in which the game seems to keep scoring down is with an inordinate amount of missed shots. Blown dunks and lay-ups, wide-open three-pointers clanking off the rim, and missed put-backs are all commonplace. A few tweaks to the gameplay sliders can correct the anomalies, but that shouldn't be necessary. But even then, it's tough to get players to go up strong for a dunk--they just try to lay the ball in most of the time.