In terms of actual changes - obligatory graphical updates excluded there seems to be some fancy new sweat technology going on - NBA 07 owners can look out for updated Freestyle Superstar Skills that can now be switched on-the-fly. The Dynasty mode has also improved, letting you manage yourl team to balling stardom, along with fancy ESPN integration, touted in most of the EA Sports titles this year.
While a lot of work has obviously been put into improving upon last year's NBA Live, we can't help but feel that EA might be over-saturating things by piling 'Moral Meters' and 'Superstar Skills' on top of the core ball gameplay.
Whatever happened to just throwing some balls into hoops, looking good in a vest-top and being far too tall for most other things in life? It's still one of the best basketball sims available, just don't expect much beyond recycled goods. Browse games Game Portals. NBA Live Install Game. While it's nice to see that Live 07 is giving these secondary players their due, you aren't going to go out of your way to adjust your playing style just so these guys can get in the zone, particularly if they're the sixth or seventh man on the bench.
It would've been better if it had been tied into the game intensity system, which is supposed to ratchet up the aggressive play on the court when the game is close or some players are constantly hitting their shots, which should let you know that you've got your team on a roll. Then again, you may find that it's relatively tricky to get just about anything going for your team, thanks to the horrendous offense and defense found in Live The number of bugs, game glitches and play issues are so numerous, I literally wanted to rip the disc out of my system and smash it into a wall.
While I won't try to bore you with all of them, let me run down some of the key ones that I discovered. This unfortunate percentage ranges from the lame players up to Superstars like Shaq, Kobe and Lebron. This isn't solely tied into contested shots in the paint either; I'm talking about fast breaks where there is no defender and the damn guy can't convert on a fundamental shot.
What's worse, you may discover that if a player is in the lane, they'll sometimes try to make a shot from behind the backboard, which is automatically turned over if it doesn't clip through the board and ricochet from the rim. This was a serious problem from last year's game, and it returns big time in Live 07, regardless of the difficulty level setting. Jumpers aren't particularly strong either, regardless of the player that you happen to be controlling or how deadly they might be from the perimeter, due to the game's inaccurate recognition of shot timing.
I took ten shots from various locations, literally releasing the ball at the same point in my jump every single time, and only managed to make one of them. These weren't all shots from downtown, mind you -- I changed them up by taking baseline shots and short range pops in front and to the side of the basket.
Regardless of where I was, the results were the same: a crappy shooting percentage. Even stranger are the arcs for every single shot, whether it's a jump shot, layup or otherwise, are wildly off the mark. For instance, in real life, layups are usually sweetly placed off the glass and into the basket instead of flying up to the top of the backboard and then rattling off the rim.
The same can be said about a standard jump shot, which has the trajectory of an end of quarter desperation heave instead of a typical shot. And before you ask: yes, these shooting issues occur regardless of whether you're using the Superstar controls or not.
You'd expect, particularly with the dominating play from last year that the Superstar controls would potentially balance out, but they come off just as broken and uneven as the standard shots, effectively rendering them useless in a game situation.
Finally, while the free throw shooting may have been tied to the right analog stick, it doesn't take into account the shooting style of each player. So even if a horrible free throw shooter like Shaq gets to the line, you can hit the right timing with the stick and still make shots. Turning away from the shooting issues and onto the squads themselves, it's extremely common to see a ton of A.
Players that are inbounding the ball will often be standing on the court when they pass the ball in, which is blatantly wrong. During transitions, players will often run the length of the court out of bounds, making any passes to these morons immediate turnovers. Even worse, the game will often slow down as you're passing the ball over half court, as if the gameplay got mired in bullet time here's a quick hint: to cut down on the level of annoyance from this problem, go to the option screen and pump the overall game speed up to at least 70 or The computer will often inbound the ball to players that are either out of bounds themselves, or are in the backcourt, resulting in turnovers as well.
It will also demonstrate horrendous shot clock and ball management, having one player hold onto the ball in one location without passing until the clock runs down to about five seconds. Then it will either take a shot or attempt to pass to another player, which can sometimes result in a turnover or a shot clock violation.
This is extremely curious because on defense, the computer can be ridiculously overaggressive, often stripping the ball away from your players in traps and grabbing rebounds off the boards while your players simply stand around, not contesting a shot or boxing out.
I could go on and on about some of the other issues for pages, but I'll leave you with one of the largest ones around: substitutions with the fatigue meter.
Simply put, the game doesn't do it properly. With the exception of foul trouble and even that is questionable at moments , the game will never substitute players based on their fatigue, which isn't realistic in the slightest bit. Nor is there a radically change in their gameplay, such as easily turning the ball over or putting up a ton of air balls.
Some computer players can be completely exhausted and still annihilate your team with their shots. It's disappointing, it's flawed, and it, along with every other problem, has to be fixed for next year if this is even going to be anywhere close to a decent title. Live is one of those games that's a mixed technical bag, particularly with the character models. The heads on these players are simply huge, and while some athletes look close to their real-life counterparts, others are completely off.
Facial aesthetics aside, the game suffers through a massive amount of visual issues, such as player's hands that move through backboards on dunk attempts. Players will still skate along the floor, and there was more than one instance that we noticed players stuck in a running pose without that frame of animation changing across the court. What's more, while the game does have some new poses and celebratory moves after a play has been made, they do seem to be canned and repetitive.
When you see three different players on the same team thump their chest on three separate plays in a row, you start to wonder just how much time was put in on that feature.
The dialogue in Live 07 is actually rather decent -- Anthony and Johnson have a lot of the best lines, particularly when it comes to the dunk contest.
However, you may still notice that the play by play is still lacking, particularly in following the game action. There are plenty of moments where Albert completely drops out, or will make a comment on a play that's easily 30 seconds or more old. While Kerr has a lot more of the anecdotes and comments that should give the game additional perspective, the fractured timing within the game gives the accuracy and relevance much less importance than you'd think.
Finally, the ESPN integration for the game, which is technically one of the coolest features for the game, is extremely nice, but doesn't go far enough. Every 20 minutes, you get an update via ESPN radio either automatically when it's updated or when you request it.
You also have the ESPN ticker which will scroll scores and news across the bottom of the screen when you've logged on. It's a nice addition, but it would've been nice to have the chance, once you jump on, to tailor your experience to what you're interested in. For instance, it would be excellent if you could tailor the ESPN experience to give you highlights on specific teams or sports when you log on, giving you a little more control over what you're receiving from the servers.
Ah well, maybe next year. You broke my heart, NBA Live 07, you broke my heart. The game is full of bugs and glitches that make it almost impossible to play, and the few additions with the X-Factor and 'redefined' Freestyle Superstar controls don't make enough impact on the game to make it playable or enjoyable.
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