Customer Reviews

NBA Live 2004

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(40)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

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.

I hope that EA reads these reviews and hears from those who actually play the games. This is one of the better basketball games I have played. When I first turned it on and started to play I was a little disappointed because the player models had changed. I like the player models from last year's game better. These models are not bad but they are small. I liked the right joystick action better in last year's game. I could actually do a real crossover instead of just changing hands. I do like the addition of the hop step. I do that a lot when I play ball. It can really help you go strong to the rim. The game flow in this years version is more like pro basket ball. It is advantageous to run plays, exploit mismatches, and pass the ball to beat the defense. This game is no dunk-fest like last year. You actually have to think about and use every part of your basket ball skills and I.Q. I like that about the game. I love the arenas that are true to each city. It gives you the feeling of really being on the road and playing in front of fans that hate your team. It also feels good to have a home game in an arena that you are familiar with even though they are just eye candy and have nothing to do with the game play. I also like that the computer now runs fast breaks and will take the ball to the hole on a steal. I'm glad that a small guard will not block the shot of a7 footer like in the previous versions of the game.

I still hate the fact the computer can still catch up with you and prevent your progress to the basket when you have a few steps on a fast break. I also like that the stars on the A.I. controlled teams step up and do the scoring. What really sucks is that there are way too many missed lay-ups. You can have a seven footer right under the rim and he will miss the stinking lay-up...consistently. That is unrealistic. I also hate that after a shot or a missed lay-up it takes the player a couple of seconds to recuperate instead of going back up and trying for a tip or a rebound. And why does my player bounce back 10 feet when I try to dribble past a guy and he blocks my path. That is unrealistic. Hope EA fixes these things in next year's game. To bad you can't install a patch on the PSX2 like you can on a computer. The franchise mode is fun. This it it is better than it ever has been before. I hope that next year it will be as deep as Madden.

I know that I sound a little negative but I do like the game. I am a professional that likes to play sports games and if this is a simulation make is as similar to the real thing as possible. it is just a matter of programing the game to do whatever it should do. All-in-all I enjoy this game and will play it till I get board with it like anything else. Right now I rush home to play it because I love Basketball and I am competitive. If you like the statigy of basketball you will like this game a lot. If you just like to run and gun you can adjust the sliders and you will love this game too.

First off, I love EA, all their games and LIVE up until now. In fact, I thought that Live 2003 was so good, it renewed my love of basketball and got me back into a sport I missed for so long. And with everyone talking about the improvements over 2003, I knew I had to get 2004.
Now before I verbally tear this game to shreds, let me start off with some of the highlights of it. Ummm... well I guess the Dynasty mode is a little better. It can store records now, like College football and even gives you Player and rookie of the months awards. But if it isn't your player, then who cares? Training mode is cool, but it would be better if you could run the drills yourself like Madden. NBA Store is cool, if you like wearing old school Jordans, and I do. And realistically, the Lakers have a powerhouse team and LeBron James isn't as good as you think he should be.
Alright, I can't hold it back anymore. This game SUCKS! Freestyle control got worse, not better, for now it's even far more limited on defense. The players don't get down and into the opponent's face, they just put an arm up. Offensively, when you crossover, you don't cut and change direction like in 2003. You crossover left and keep going right. The passing game is a joke. They must have gone to the Magic Johnson school of passing. No more chest pass or bounce pass here, just no looks, behind the backs and ridiculous over the shoulder passes. And this seriously limits your transition game. They won't catch it on the run anymore, they stop, jump and give the D time to catch up. And if they are wide open, they turn around to catch it. I saw Ray Allen on a fast break in the space of ten feet and two seconds, run into the key, stop, turn around 180 degress, catch the ball, turn back around, take two steps and dunk it. I love Ray Allen, he played Jesus, but no way. And taking my crossover button away and making it a lay up button? Who thought this would be good? Graphically, the characters are much smaller and look, quite frankly likes Sega players. The music sucks, about half the songs as last year and they were scraping the bottom of the barrel with artists. I'm glad they didn't out in a free CD, I'd have thrown it away. GM is hard because as you trade players, it won't tell you how many years they have left. So when you trade off your point guard and a draft pick for Mike Finley, you'll be mad when he's only got a year left. Those cut scenes that I liked are gone, so sad. Marv and Mike are good, but pretty dry, they never give to fired up and Marv never even says YES! Too bad Corso and Herbie only do college football. And my t-meter is now some weird optical illusion on the backboard. What geek thought of this?
But the worse thing has to be the fact that EA has made basketball a CONTACT sport. No more moving around players, through players to score, no no. Everyone is equipped with velcro and will be sticking to each other at all times. It frustrating on offense, because whenever you get touched, it throws you off so bad, you have to start over. No more quick passes into the paint or isolation plays from the top of the key. One man touches you and you have to start the sequence over. And herein also lies the new Freestyle Air, which will change your dunk into a lay up should someone make contact with you. Like other improvements before it, you must either master this or watch your shooting percentage go to hell. If you don't change to a lay up with contact, you'll miss the shot, but the players are so small, you cannot see if contact is made. And if it is and you don't, you won't. Get it? Me neither.
Remember how one things comes into play and you have to adjust the whole way you play to win? You are going to have to rethink your whole attitude about basketball to win at this one. EA took my favorite basketball game ever, yes better than Arch Rivals, and traded in the feel of it for some Air Jordans?! WTF? I wouldn't wish this travesty upon anyone. Luckily, you can buy 2003 for about...bucks now. I gonna play this some more. Why? Because I dropped...bucks on it!!

NBA Live 2004 is a HUGE improvement over last year. Anyone who says last year's version was better must not know much about the game of basketball! The gameplay in NBA Live 2003 was EXTREMELY unrealistic. In last year's version, the Freestyle control made scoring much too easy and it was almost impossible to play defense. Shooting 70% for an entire game was a regular occurrence. Furthermore, there was a huge gap in the difficulty-levels. The Allstar setting was too easy and the Superstar setting was difficult to the point of being unfair! One of the best things about this year's version is that you can completely change the settings to the way you want them. For example, if you think the game is too easy, instead of going to the next difficulty level, you can go to the options menu and change specific settings like the shooting, or the defense, etc. If you find that your computer opponent is hitting every shot it throws up (like in last year's version), you can even adjust it's shooting percentage as well. However, you probably won't need to do either one because the defense has been improved. Your players will no longer roll out the red carpet while your opponent drives to the basket untouched. Your computer-controlled teammates will actually step into the lane and disrupt the shot! This, alone, adds more realism to the game. If you are a true basketball fan who is looking for a fun and exciting (yet pretty realistic) basketball videogame, NBA Live 2004 is definitely for you!

You people have to dumb to think this game is good. It is unrealistic, and that feeestyle controller makes crossovers that you would never see in a NBA game. You can go to the whole with no trouble and score with a little push on the analog stick. NBA 2K3 was clearly a better game than NBA Live 2003. NBA 2K3 is a realistic game with better gameplay and calls. You can control everything. Trust me ESPN NBA Basketball a.k.a. NBA 2K4 will be cuttin NBA Live 2004 to the fullest.

This game has a lot of problems. The collision detection is the most frustrating thing. The ball WENT THROUGH my players time and time again. I can't pick up a rebound unless I'm directly on top of the ball (the players refuse to put their hands out and grab it even if it's an inch away).
The players turn their backs to the hoop frequently (and what looks like randomly), which makes it really hard to do ANYTHING (offensively). Cut sequences suck. Draft sucks (not enough information to make informative decisions)
I used to really like EA, and hoped that they would out-do NBA 2K3, but unfortunately they haven't. I was really excited about this release, but now I'm not sure. Maybe I just have to get used to the controls, but whatever happened to picking the controls you want (program each button)?

Hopefully, I won't be telling my age when I tell you that I've been a fan of basketball video games for almost 20 years. I've played basketball games that most people have never even heard of and it's great to see how far games of today have come!!!!
Big props to both EA Sports and Sega for their efforts!

Okay, now for the reviews....I had the opportunity to play both NBA Live 2004 and ESPN NBA Basketball and I must say that both are excellent games! This is the first time in recent years that both EA Sports and Sega put out quality games at the same time. NBA Live has toned down the ridiculous run-and-gun style of play for a much more realistic game while ESPN Basketball has picked up the pace and fixed the silly passing mechanics that made last year's game frustrating. ESPN Basketball wins in the graphics department hands-down. The players look amazingly like their real-life counterparts and the animations are very smooth. However, I feel that NBA Live has made a number of excellent changes to give itself a slight edge in the "fun-factor" category. First of all, the new announcement team of Marv Albert and Mike Fratello are an excellent addition to the game. Secondly, the freestyle control is better than ever. The Iso-motion control scheme, which is ESPN Basketball's response to Live's Freestyle control, simply can't compare. The moves created by Iso-motion are a lot less accurate and much harder to control (you'll pick up a lot of charging calls initially). Another big addition is NBA Live's 10-man motion capture strategy. Player's now do things like fight for position, cut to the basket, call for the ball, and several other animations on their own. This does wonders for providing a realistic feel to the game. In ESPN Basketball, the players pretty much just stand around until you "tell" them what to do by running a play.

But, in my opinion, the most significant change that NBA Live has made to this year's version was to create 2 different shooting buttons; one for shooting jump shots and one for dunking/layups. You will no longer see short players, who rarely dunk in real-life, attempt dunks that they miss almost every time. You now have the option to attempt "runners" and "floaters" in the lane instead of unsuccessfully attempting to dunk every time. This allows you to take ownership of shots that you miss instead of feeling like the AI "made" you miss because you control the type of shot you take. This ads an entirely new dimension of realism to the game and also helps keep the shooting percentages (on both sides) to more realistic levels.

Overall, NBA Live 2004 and ESPN NBA Basketball are both great games. However, NBA Live has gone to great lengths to provide some of the most realistic gameplay ever in a basketball game. You can't go wrong with either game but NBA Live has reached new heights with this year's version!

First let me mention I'm not an EA versus Sega guy. I have owned titles from both sides. But EA definitely has the publishing power to sell trash. The fact that it took this long to code real arenas and better AI in it's new hoops and hockey games shows EA's ability to sell poor product with nifty commercials. Sega's competition has made EA up the ante, but as with the NHL series it still falls short.

The gameplay, graphics, arenas and commentary are all improved. It's a harder to game to win at... and the shooting percentages reflect real NBA stats for the most part. Impressive. And the separate button for a dunk/lay up is brilliant and will soon become standard. I think we've all been frustated when we drove the lane for the easy hoop and the player pops up for a 4 foot jumper.

The 10-man motion capture is a good idea, but it has some real flaws. As mentioned by others the jump passing is standard... not good. Really bad is the tendency for you player to always be protecting the ball, so coming off the pick for a three leaves your player still standing in a ball protecting position instead of a triple threat scoring position. Kinda hard to launch the three when Peja has his back to the basket from 25ft out. And if a big man drives to the basket and misses... he will be stuck in a stumbling position and will not ever go up to follow his own miss.

As for bugs... there are prominant slowdown and framerate issues. Make substitions and sometimes they don't take. There is no excuse for this and reflects on EA poorly. And lastly... can someone at Tiburon studios (Madden,NCAA Football,NASCAR) teach EA Canada how to autoload and autosave their games. We gamers have gotten snobby for our $50 and expect more user-friendly interfaces. Having to load everything up, and then remember to save everything afterwords is just laziness on the developers part. And the stat tracking pales to the football series as well.

My review probably reads like a 1 star review, but I give it 3 stars because they are clearly making an effort this year. The effort should have began three years ago... but at least Sega has scared 'em a bit. However, NBA Live 2004 isn't as good as NBA 2K3, so when 2K4 comes out I will be trading this in with confidence 2K4 will continue to improve their outstanding series.

As for the blind loyalists... remember these are not the same people who make Madden or NCAA Football. It's the development houses you must look at... not the publisher. The EA Canada development house simply is not on par with EA's Tiburon studios and Sega's Visual Concepts and it still shows.

If you like real basketball instead of arcade basketball, you should get this game. I love this gameplay, but it could be better. The new hop step button is great, but if you step up to take a charge, the defender slides backwards. It also takes to long for the shoter to recover after a missed layup. And they have to many missed layups in the game. You should have to push a button for your player to protect the ball, they turn there back to the basket as soon as you cross half court. The defence is the best in any basketball game I've played. The Dynasty mode is OK. They should have money instead of points. And since it's a longer season that football, they should have more from game to game to keep you ocupide, like food, jerseys ,ticket prices, changing coaches and signing bonuses, like Madden 2004. As for play calling, I liked it better when you had to push select and another button for the play you want call. It gives you more plays, not just 4 with the D-pad. You have to play and practice this game for awhile to realy get into it, it is the most realistic basketball game that I've ever played. NBA Live is heading in the right direction, they don't have to change much, just twek it a bit for 2005.

I now understand better after reading another review why Live is so behind Madden...There are some positives, but the negatives are too great to give this anything higher than 3 stars. Every year I get cranked up for Live coming out, since I like basketball more than football, but I always end up playing Live for about a week, realize it sucks, then go back to Madden. My comments are similar to others, but I will list my pro's and con's anyway:
PROS- Hop move, different announcers (I don't really care for albert and fratello, but thank god they got rid of that other schmo. By the way, maybe someone should get Kevin Harlan- he's always pretty amped.), better rebounding.

CONS- The dynasty mode sucks. What was the point of even adding it? Why in the world don't they take some lessons learned from Madden? The NBA store sucks too. I kind of liked the specialty coaches, they should have added more features like that, like Madden did. Also, based on Madden, why can't we create a stadium, relocate, etc.? Is this too hard to do? Another major problem I have is that you can't change the controls they way you want. Since they changed the square button to the dunk/layup button from the crossover, in the first game I played I think I shot about 20 18ft layups! Why in the world did they get rid of this? Did people complain about having too much control?!? Why can't I set the controls myself? The movement is also slow, I hit some open perimeter players countless times, and by the time they raised up for the shot, it was contested or blocked. I'm not talking about strangling defense either, I'm talking about wide open shots. The training camp is another bomb. Why can't they take another clue from Madden (noticing a trend) and actually have YOU RUN THE DRILLS? As it is, you distribute 'time' according to what drills you want your team to run, then you watch some very tired looking graphics of your team doing jumping jacks (just what I was looking for in a video game) , then you watch as none of your players increase their ratings. Madden took the concept and made it fun, Live took the concept and made it look 10 years old. Just another thing to skip through.