NBA Live 06 for the Xbox 360 was one of the games that suffered most glaringly from the drive to rush to meet launch lineup deadlines. As with Madden and a few other games, the next-gen version of Live fell glaringly short of gamers' expectations. Though the game certainly looked like they had put some care into the graphics, the gameplay options were positively gutted, leaving some console owners wondering whether they wouldn't be better off buying the more complete version for the original Xbox. EA took great strides and put considerable care into fleshing out this year's next-gen version of Madden, but I'm sad to report that, though it appears they at least put in an effort, they didn't succeed on the same level with NBA Live. It still doesn't feel like a complete and polished final product, and is likely to disappoint.

At the very least, EA went back and filled in all the gameplay modes and intricate nuances that really flesh out the basketball experience. NBA Live 07's Dynasty mode puts you in the shoes of an NBA GM, making you responsible for a whole slew of off the court activities that you can engage in at your leisure. You can do everything from tweak the practice routines of your players, to scout and recruit players for the following years' NBA draft, and monitor your players' health levels to ensure that they're playing as well as they can. Truthfully, I have a hard time seeing anybody but the most dedicated hoops fans getting into these sorts of things, but it's precisely the attention to detail and fleshing out of small gameplay bits that was missing from last year's version, and it's nice to know it's there.

The controls in-game have finally been fleshed out as well, with the addition of the pseudo-gimmicky "free-style control." Each player is given a certain level of ability in five different categories: high flying, scoring, playmaking, post, and shooting. Depending on how proficient they are in a given activity, they can perform different levels of acrobatic and powerful moves by pressing the LB in addition to whatever command you're engaged in. It's not really explained anywhere how this extra flare influences your commands, but it's something that you pick up as you play more and more.

It contributes even more to the feeling that the game is overly offensive oriented. It's slightly better than last year where it was all but impossible to block people from driving through the lanes, but it still feels easier to get to the net than it would be in real life. Curiously, the CPU is far more capable of defensive play than a human player will ever be. They shift around and cover open men fairly easily, and their frequent double-teaming completely immobilizes players with the ball. If the player were capable of these feats as well, it might not be as much of a problem, but it feels a little cheap to be gimped when put up against the CPU.

The gameplay still has a number of quirks that seem to have eluded EA's trouble-shooting team. The aforementioned paralyzing double team is chief among them, but they also include the misdirected hop-step, unnecessary post-ups, and herky-jerky animations that make the players resemble something approaching robots. While the realistic sweat may have been enough to sell the game to the graphics buffs last year, the lack of transitions or sense of real momentum or physics really hurts the look of the game.

The presentation, which has become an increasingly important part of the sports experience as the gap in graphics decreases, is passable, though one can't help but feel that they could be doing more with the ESPN license that they practically stole from under 2K's feet. There are a few features which bare the ESPN name, but there's little that really helps replicate the ESPN experience. The commentary is still top-notch, and while I still have to suppress a chuckle whenever I hear Marv Albert speak, his commentary is lively and is nearly always spot-on with the action on-screen.

Of all the EA Sports games I've played this year, NBA 07 seems to me to be the worst of the lot. Madden does a great job of immersing you in features, and NHL 07 has had the benefit of a complete gameplay and graphical overhaul. Next to those two, NBA 07 really stands out as the exceedingly inferior runt of this year's sports litter. Its core gameplay needs a lot of tweaking to be as fluid and approachable as I think they want it to be, they need to smooth out the animations to make the game look and feel more realistic, and they could probably do well to expand the multiplayer options to boot. Basketball fans would do well to skip this version, or at least check out the competition, because this is not EA's year. The potential is there, but we're still waiting for them to deliver.

Score: 70%

Oct 18, 2006 | 0 comments
Chris Chester