Shooting is a matter of timing and where you take the shot on the court as it relates to the prior mentioned Hot Spots. You can use a regular jump shot or use a different button for a close-in shot like a lay-up or dunk. Press the dunk button too far away from the boards and you are very likely to get an offensive foul called. I felt that the offensive fouls were very touchy fouls and they only seemed to happen to my team; it seems the CPU rarely had offensive fouls called. I also question the way the CPU can get fast breaks at an alarming rate with any team. Even though I was playing as the Phoenix Suns, who are famous for their fast break offensive, my CPU opponent, once playing as the Charlotte Bobcats, famous for no offense, routinely had many more fast break points.

The game is pretty strong graphically with a lot of the players looking eerily similar to their real life counterparts. It's clear that EA made sure that the cover boy Gilbert Arenas was especially well done, but more often than not you'll recognize the players with the exception of the non-starters. The crowd is nice looking and their animations are good, although the coaches still look like creepy zombies. The overall animations are above average of NBA games but still a little choppy at times. Live 08 does have a ton of different animations for shooting, rebounding, passing, and such, it's just that sometimes the players do not make the smoothest transitions between animations.

There are several game modes offered up in Live 08. A new one is FIBA World Championship, also known as the International Basketball Federation, where you choose between eight international teams and battle for the FIBA Championship. If you're a fan of the USA then this is a good chance to help out the boys and see if you can do what they haven't been able to lately and take home the gold. (OK, I'm not sure if they actually give gold medals at the FIBA Championships, but you get the idea.) There's also Quick Pick Play where you can load up a team with your favorite players and play another star-packed team, although don't be too surprised to see the same players on both team. You get a fairly deep Dynasty Mode where you can set can control practically every aspect of a team from hiring staff, running training camp, scheduling off day events, and more. Or you can set toggles and let the CPU handle most of the details for you. Making a return is the NBA All-Star weekend mode that includes the 3-Point contest, rookies vs. sophomores, and the fun Slam Dunk contest. Of course there's Xbox Live which offers up Online Leagues for the first time and an online version of the Quick Pick Play along with the more traditional modes.

In summary, NBA Live 08 for the Xbox 360 is a vast improvement over last year. The controls feel more natural with new additions like the Quick Strike Ballhandling and the Hot Spot feature being very welcomed. Graphically the game is god looking although there are some small hiccups with the animations. There are a ton of game modes and the online options are good. There are some issues with the AI and at times the CPU seems to be able to do the nearly impossible.

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 79%. While not being a nothing-but-net caliber game, NBA Live 08 does score after a couple of friendly bounces around the rim.

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