Amazon.com: NBA Live 2004: Nintendo Gamecube: Video Games

45 Reviews

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(6)
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3.8 out of 5 stars (45 customer reviews)

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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars FINALLY, A GOOD NBA LIVE GAME..., October 20, 2003

By	D.L. "generasian" (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews

Against my better judgment, I went out and purchased NBA Live 2004 after swearing off the franchise after last year's debacle. Though I loved the hyped Freestyle Control, I found 2003 to be incredibly frustrating for it's emphasis on arcade-like game play that allowed the opponent to score at will. But like a battered wife, I eventually found myself coming back, hoping that things would change for the better. I'm happy to say that NBA Live 2004 is light years ahead of it's predecessor.

Two major gripes I had with last year's version were the opponent's high shooting percentages and their ability to almost always snag the offensive rebound. Not only are these two issues fixed in this year's edition, the entire game play engine has been overhauled as well. Based on the "All-Star" difficulty setting, which is geared towards more experienced Live players, the opponent's defense is stingy and tough as nails. The Freestyle Control, which made it easy to breeze past defenders to the basket through a series of jukes and cross-overs, is not as effective, though it sure is pretty to watch. It's refreshing to have to work for a score. To do so, the emphasis must now be on setting picks and using motion to free a player for an open shot. Thankfully, EA has implemented a few tools that you can use at your disposal. A new feature this year allows you to control a player without the ball. Once you feel that you're open or have a clear path to the basket, you can call for the ball and go for the shot. Furthermore, EA has now implemented a control scheme in which you can either choose to go for a jump shot or a dunk. I guess they were tired of the complaints about the two foot jump shot from the basket. In addition to the new dunk and jump shot buttons, you can now alter your shot if you feel that it is about to be stuffed. For instance, say that you're driving down the lane, hell-bent on dunking the ball in your opponent's face. However, you notice that another defender has shifted over so that now you're facing a two on one challenge at the hole. By pressing the dunk button and then quickly tapping it again, your dunk now becomes a sweeping lay-up, a la Jordon around Sam Perkins in the '92 Finals. Sweet... Also, a welcomed addition to this year's game is the hop step, or traveling according to basketball purists. Regardless, by pressing the Y button when facing an opponent, your player will now "hop" towards the basket to free himself for an open jumper or a dunk. The closer you are to the basket, the better chance the move will be more effective. I also noticed that for some players, the move is much more effective than for others. While playing as the Houston Rockets, I found that it was harder for Yao Ming to pull off the hop step as opposed to Steve Franchise. Thankfully, you can't overly abuse this move since it hardly guarantees a score. It just allows you more breathing room to get a shot off.

Rebounding. This has been a thorn in the Live series for as long as I can remember. I don't know how many times when my man was about to snag a rebound when the ball magically teleported to the hands of an opposing player. It took almost a decade, but I'm glad EA has finally fixed this problem that oh, so haunted past games like the angry ghosts in Poltergeist. By pressing the jump button on defense, I'm happy to report that the ball will most likely be rebounded depending on the position on the player and the timing of the jump. I could never figure out why this concept seemed so difficult for past developers. Granted, the computer will occasionally snag the offensive rebound, but it is less often than before.

Graphically, NBA Live 2004 is visually impressive, especially on the XBOX. The colors are vibrant and the player models are smooth and detailed just enough to distinguish one from the other. However, they are still too cartoonish-looking, with large heads, hands and feet. If Sega can realistically render it's players in their upcoming ESPN NBA Basketball down to the pimple, I don't know why EA can't either. I also miss some of the in-game cut scenes that were prevalent in 2003. They captured the fun and essence of an NBA game, but are sorely absent in this year's version. So far, I've only noticed one which happened during time-outs when the players converged around the coach. Also, EA finally took the effort to model the stadiums based on their real life counterparts. Gone are those generic courts that seemed indistinguishable from the other. Unfortunately, the game suffers from serious frame rate issues from time to time. I have yet to play the game on other camera settings than the press box view so I don't know if that has an affect. If not, then EA's quality assurance team should be fired.

After NBA 2k3 unofficially won the title as best basketball game last year, the ball was in EA's court to face up to the challenge. I'm relieved to say that they have. By overhauling the game play engine, serious issues such as rampant scoring and offensive rebounding swayed towards the opponent's favor have been fixed. NBA Live 2004 now feels like a real basketball game. The flashiness has been toned down with the emphasis more on defense and basic fundamentals. One can only hope that this is the benchmark for future Live games.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Madden Madden Madden Blah Blah Blah...., December 16, 2003

By A Customer

Stop comparing this game to Madden! Sure, we'd all like every sports game to be as great as the Madden franchise, but they're not all equal, so stop denigrating every release that isn't exactly like Madden!

I think this game is incredibly fun, with deep options, much more realistic gameplay than previous releases. The upgrades over the previous incarnations are immeasurable: you can actually hit mid-range, and long-range jump shots with consistency; the passing mode is much more realistic; MANY more plays and schemes; way better defensive system; more realistic rebounding; a very deep dynasty gameplay; great arenas and realistic player graphics; much more realistic player stats; great off-ball controls; better post moves; the freestyle controls are nice, especially on defense; the CPU actually substitutes players at a realistic rate; the flow of the game is realistic; the cut-a-aways during gametime are nice; the player management/contract component is as realistic as they could get, given the swampy rules of the NBA CBA; the commentary is much better than even the Madden releases, and is non-reptitive and informative, actually, as Fratello offers particulars about even marginal players in the league; the game sound is incredibly realistic, the crowd response adding to the tension and drama of the game; and the NBA store feature is a really neat addition, as you can outfit your squad with socks, shoes, headbands, and even Throwback Jerseys.

So the interface isn't exactly like your precious Madden games? So what? This is, by far, the most realistic basketball video game I've ever played. It has great replay value. An owner mode would be nice, but given non-Madden titles are lagging a couple years, it should be in there by 2006.

A few caveats: it's much too easy for the CPU to block shots on the perimeter. I recently played against the Nets, and Kidd ended up blocking 10 shots from the perimeter. He's a good player, but he isn't THAT good. Also, the booklet isn't as thorough as it could be: some explanation of play-sets would have been helpful. I'm a basketball nut, but I don't know the difference between the five different Motion offense sets. A little more content would have been nice.

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12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good... but not great., October 17, 2003

By	Lyfestyle (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews

I spend pretty much all my video game time these days on Madden 2004. When playing Madden you get the feeling that a lot of work has been put in by a lot of people to make a polished, beautiful, user-friendly game. I don't get that feeling with this game.

I understand Madden and NBA Live are developed by totally different developmental teams and other than the EA Sports name, they aren't really related in any way. That said, it's obvious the Live crew did take a cue from Madden in that the initial screen is identical in layout to that of recent Maddens. Where it gets sticky is when you try to navigate the screens beyond the main screen. Resigning players, drafting players, hell, even viewing the free agents can get frustrating really quickly. The B button sorts columns while the Y button goes "back" a screen, which is exactly the opposite of how it should be laid out. As annoying as this is, I think with enough practice one could get the hang of the controls here.

Menus and annoying button-assignments aside, if the gameplay while in an actual game is there, who cares about menus, right? Right. But the gameplay still isn't quite there. In previous Lives for older systems (Super Nintendo, PS1), were relatively easy in their controls. Moving the pad or stick forward moved your player forward, moving it back turned your player around and he ran backwards. This seemingly obvious control is no longer in place. You move the stick forward, yes, you move forward, although you can't ever really move as the man to man defense pushes you back, as though a forcefield prevents you from proceeding. When you move back, your player moves backwards, very slowly, while still facing the defender. I can't comprehend why they would do this. And they now have a 'dunk' button, which is interesting, in that if you accidentally press it at any point you fire up a crazy one handed shot that you can't pass out of. The dunk button is the X button, so I found myself firing up half court shots any time I tried to use the "turbo" function. Which brings me to the "turbo" function. Do you run faster when you push turbo? Common sense would say yes, but to be honest, I can't tell a difference. One thing they added this year that I thought would be great was a "jump stop" function that allows you to jump to a stop before passing or shoting. I thought it would be a cool feature until I realized that the opposing point guard would do it 45 times a game in route to forcing a layup in the middle of the opposing team's center and forwards which results in a block or a foul pretty much every time.

Is the rebounding better than last year? Yes. Is it as good as it should be? No. Is it as easy for the computer to drive and dunk it every time? No. Do they still try? Yes. At the end of the game you can look at the shot chart and about 95% of the shots come from inside the paint no matter who you're playing and who you have defending inside. And with all these layup and dunk attempts get ready for 15-25 blocks a game from your team. I was playing a game as the Rockets and 5-foot, 9-inch Moochie Norris blocked 2 shots on the same play on his way to a 6-block performance. Talk about realism.

The game does look very good, and it's presented fairly well. The Dynasty Mode is nice, but if you've played Madden's Franchise Mode, you'll find yourself longing for Madden's setup, which is just head and shoulders above what you'll find here.

The bottom line to me is fun factor. If the game is fun, then any shortcomings that it may have can ultimately be overcome. The game is fun, and I'm sure once I get a strong sense of how the hell to control the thing, I'll enjoy it even more. Bottom-line: A decent effort, but it still leaves a lot to be desired.

A note to the development team: Spend less time on hairstyles and tattoos and more time on a post game. The original Kobe Bryant's Courtside to the Nintendo 64 had a far better post game than this year's Live, and it was released 4 years ago. Also, the salary/trading system is borderline worthless. Why have the players paid in "points" and not money? And where's the opposing team or players' meter for their approval level of a trade or proposal? It's not that hard to put in there, and yet it adds quite a bit to the game.