NBA Live 2003 PC Review Version 1.0
Welcome everyone to DUBA, The Pinnacle of NBA Live PC Gaming.
Courtesy of EA, we received an early copy of NBA Live 2003.. and after much anticipation, here is my review.
We'll Touch on Gameplay, Graphics, Sound, Features and Overall Impressions.
Intro
After playing both the ps2 and xbox versions of Live 2003, i was thoroughly disappointed. Not only was the game arcadish and childish, but it had lost any feel of being a "Sim" game, which to true Live gamers is an extreme disappointment. Fortunately, my feelings for the PC version are more favourable.
Live is BACK!!! After skipping 2002 as EA got lazy and realized "Man, we gotta stop putting out rushed crap," they decided to let us enjoy the lag, rebounding, possible cheating, and all the other lovely quirks of Live 2001.. oh.. did i mention no stats after games? Thanks EA. If it's in the game, we probably took it out this year.
When loading up Live, you know right away it's identical to Ps2/Xbox as far as looks and feel in the menus. Still cannot use the keyboard, can't use #'s sometimes when saving franchises or profiles.. which blows my mind, but I digress. Same options, same menus as ps2.. nothing special here.
You get a choice of Play Now, Play Online, Play exhibition, season, franchise, practice, 1-on-1, and so on. I didn't get to play online yet, since no one else had the game, but i did get to try out all of the other features.
Franchise feature is similar to last year, same setup and feel, similar fantasy draft, and when ur in the franchise itself.. it's pretty much run of the mill EA franchise, stats, trades, free agents, standings. There are a few different features added like upcoming free agents for the next year, and that's about all, the regular league news on injuries and trades.
Awards and All-NBA, Rookie, Defense teams are still there.. where it gets interesting is the offseason. Ala Madden, u get to see retired players, sign your free agents, and participate in the rookie draft, and then bid on players available in the free agent pool. Nothing spectacular, rookie draft scouting reports are pretty much same as last year as well. Come to think of it, it's not that interesting. :)
Gameplay - 7.5/10
Really pleased when i started playing Live 03 for PC.. I was really worried EA had done it and messed things up, even more then usual, but they actually won me over. The Gameplay is solid, still arcady like the consoles, but "feels" good enough for the pc. Yes the blocks, and scoring is still a little outrageous, and cpu steals are unbelievable. Remember that rebounding bug last year? Well u can forget about 2nd chance points, because there's probably an average of 1 offensive rebound per game now.
One thing that pissed me off on consoles was inability to set your controller up, PC is a BIT better, where u can configure some buttons.. but they still have a preset list of offense and defense together.. so shot blocking, rebounding and jumping on defense cannot be mapped to the shoot button on offense, which REALLY makes me mad. I hate have 2 buttons for that, and it's such a simple thing that EA ignored.
Fast breaks, fast breaks, fast breaks!! Remember showtime lakers? Well when playin cpu, you better get your ass back or cpu is a fast break and alley oop away from waxing you. Again things are a little arcadey, but a nice step up from 2001. The arcade/sim argument? Hard to say.. I played on both and didn't notice a difference, but there could very well be a chance that they are backwards.
Gameplay again is solid, overall I'm pleased with it.. easily could have been made perfect if real ballers were part of dev team, but I'll be happy playin this for a year.
Graphics - 9/10
As usual.. EA concentrates quite a bit on graphics, to make things look pretty :)
Did a bang up job this year.. players are in such great detail, from tats, to shoes, to jerseys, and an amazing job on the faces of the nba players.. there are very few you couldn't tell who they were if u were looking at their virtual faces.. BUT.. and it's a very big BUTT.. like Twigga's Mom, but YOU NEED A GOOD CPU FOR OPTIMAL GRAPHICS! No joke, I have a P4 2.2 ghz with 512 ddr ram and Geforce 3 Ti 200 Card, and I could not put graphics up full, and I'm sure I would have to turn them down for online game play. This has always been a problem for EA, but there are many many options to tweak it and find the right setting for your computer, you just won't get the full effect of what they spend probably 70% of their time on. Overall great job on graphics.. close to amazing.
Sound - 6/10
Why such a low score? Cuz it's the same bland commentary every year.. maybe I'm a bit harsh.. but we need something fresh and exciting to make it feel like a real game, I still feel like i'm playing 2001 with the sound. Nuff said. The crowd and players and basketball sounds are fine and dandy.. but the presentation which I will get to next, and the commentary that goes along with it, really needs to be worked on.
Features/Presentation - 5/10
Almost as disappointing as Sound. NHL/Madden they both try and at least spice things up with training camps and nhl cards and what not.. but c'mon.. THIS IS THE SAME NBA LIVE.. why can't they make the franchise feel like a franchise? ESPN is the DUBA of sports broadcasting, and EA really needs to step up to the plate and bring the feeling that you are watching or playing in a real NBA game, not just some PC title. Player intro's are garbage, they don't even announce or show names anymore, there is nothing. I don't know if 5 is a low enough score. What's wrong with a sportsdesk announcing the game, key players, trends, trade rumours, around the league, interview with Barkley.. oh.. Online franchise? Would that hurt so much? Yes, you force people like DUBA to do it, but the replay value could be increased 100x more with a little thought and effort.
Overall Impressions
Overall, I give NBA Live 2003 for the PC a 7.5 out of 10. It's an improvement over 2001, but again, unless ur playing in a online league, like DUBA.. the average user really can't be that impressed with the features and presentation. Online play is the key, and How EASO and the lag in multiplayer turn out will possibly affect my score more. But if u just are buying this game to play at home by yourself.. well ya..
Accessories or (Gear) for players looks to be great improved this year.. as you can see from the screenshots we've provided.. you can accessorize anything from top to bottom.. which will be a great addon for all those jersey/shoe and accessory developers
One Good thing.. I forgot to mention is that we have stats!!! Finally we have player stats and team stats that can be exported at the end of the game!!! Yay!!! Ea did something right!! So leagues can survive now!!!!
