Peter Moore, also known as the guy with the Halo 2 and GTA tattoos recently moved to EA after finishing his run with Microsoft, and has been quoted as mentioning the lack of interest in some EA sports titles outside of their home country of America, which is probably true. There was that NFL game recently played at Wembley stadium that was sold out completely, but Gamestyle bets that was the entire UK fan base for the NFL. With this in mind, we tackle the latest in the companys series of NBA games, and while a competent basketball game, we doubt itll have anyone but ardent fans purchasing it.This isnt due to the games technical points mind you, as in most areas it is quite well developed. Graphically its quite a sight in full HD, and the animation of the players is slick and fluid. Everything has nice sheen to it, (especially the reflective wooden courts, which could probably reflect lasers) and its probably the most realistic looking game out of the series so far, but to be honest thats expected so theres little to wow you. The audio areas of the game are also as well done as they should be, featuring all the squeaky trainers you would expect.This is probably the main thing thatll strike you though, or rather, wont. The game looks good but it doesnt look breathtaking, its like EA just made them to get the job done, rather than to impress anyone. Halo made us sit up and take notice of its beautiful lighting effects, Gears of Wear because of its sheer graphical power, and they both had great soundtracks and effects. NBA Live 08 isnt as well presented as either of those games, but its as nice looking and sounding as it should be, but nothing more. Theres no real point in extolling it because it would be like being impressed that the Gamestyle offices lights came on when we hit the switch, because thats what theyre just doing what theyre supposed to.Less impressive is the control scheme, as it seems set on using every damn button on the 360 controller when there is clearly no need for it. Do we really need two different buttons for putting the ball in the basket? One for dunk and one for shoot? Couldnt that have been assigned to just one button? It also tries to complicate things by including Pro-Moves. Basically the star player on each team (Kobe, Shaq, and other such people that are not Michael Jordan) has their own special defensive move that helps them breakout of tough situations and score. Colour us curious, but does anyone else imagine the next step of this being entering a 15 button combo to have Gilbert Arenas launching a fireball at Joey Graham? Though in truth thatd be pretty nifty, oh wait, Nintendo did that already. Certainly itd spice up the game a bit more, but EA has done its part to make the game playable, even adding a quite useful feature to proceedings. By hitting the LB button on the pad when your team has possession of the ball, you bring up a series of coloured markers around the key youre shooting towards, coloured coded to respond to how successful that player is from scoring from those areas. Its quite useful and definitely helps you when the clock is counting down and youre a couple of points behind.The usual game modes are there as well, career (in the form of Dynasty, what basketball has to do with a line of Chinese emperors is beyond us), quick play, online and offline multiplayer and such. It all makes for quite a competent basketball game, but ultimately theres little to draw in anyone who doesnt enjoy the sport in the first place, unlike EAs brilliant Fight Night Round 3, which was one of the best early Xbox 360 titles. So basically, if you like basketball, its a good game. If you dont, theres not really anything for you here.
You might also like to check out Quarrel for the Microsoft Xbox 360.
or alternatively Magic Racing GP 2 for the Microsoft Xbox 360.