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(More customer 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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NBA Live 2004 is the definitive basketball experience for hardcore fans who want to be on their favorite team!All-star announcer team Marv Albert and Mike Fratello give you authentic play-by-play commentaryFor use with Microsoft X-Box Game System
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