Shooting is a pretty important part of basketball and in NBA Live 07 it is
overly difficult. There is the standard shot you can take using just the B
button or you can try a more specialized shot with the Y button for slams or the
X button for layups. The thing is none of them are consistent. I had to watch
over and over Tim Duncan, who is a pretty good inside player to say the least,
miss dunk after dunk, shot after shot...it was both painful and maddening!
Here's one of the top 50 players of all time missing uncontested shots. Outside
shooters fair no better as it is real difficult to judge when to release the
shot. It doesn't help that the animation seems to be jerky right about the time
when you need to make a critical shot. EA did make a nice change with free
throws where you use only the right analog stick to control the rhythm of the
shot. I had always thought that a lot of the ability to make free throws was
getting a good rhythm. The downside to this system is that it almost makes free
throws too easy, that is, even Shaq can make them now! The AI seems to be very
uneven in that the AI controlled team and almost always get fast breaks but good
luck trying to see your team execute one. The AI defense is also superb and will
routinely make steals, blocks, and tie players up and force a turnover. Most
every gamer will need to adjust the the default settings, especially the game
speed which is incredibly slow by default.
This is not a pretty game either for the most part. While I like the idea of
trying to use real NBA player faces on the players, it comes across here as
creepy at best and funny at worst. I think EA needs to spend a little more time
getting the correct head size to body size ratio for Live 08. There is the
occasional cool looking move or dunk but for the most part it really looks like
a game that could have been released back in 2000. I did enjoy the commentary by
Marv Albert and Steve Kerr, but after that the sounds are barely there.
In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated:
66%. NBA Live 07 is a step backward for the
franchise.
« Page 1 of 2
