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Mixed or average reviews - based on 38 Critics What's this?

User Score

Mixed or average reviews- based on 18 Ratings

  • Summary: Taking a page out of NBA Street Homecourt's book, NBA Live 08 introduces Quickstrike Ballhandling. This intuitive gameplay mechanic is mapped to the right analog stick and gives you the direct responsiveness you need to perform a full repertoire of ankle-breaking ball-handling moves that let you dominate on the perimeter. Pass the ball inside and win the battle in the post with all-new 'own the paint' post play for the big men down low. Use the new shot-countershot control to string together combos of fakes and shots to fool your defender into committing and create space for the game-defining bucket. NBA Live 08 introduces hot spots, where real NBA shot data is used to illuminate the locations on the floor where your players are most effective. Couple this with all-new signature go-to moves that capture the essence of the NBA's best, and you can now play the game on a console like you see it from the stands. [Electronic Arts] Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 38
  2. Negative: 0 out of 38
  1. NBA Live 08 doesn’t add a whole lot of new modes, but the stronger gameplay goes a long way. The improved, more realistic gameplay, coupled with the excellent presentation package make NBA Live 08 a must-have for basketball game fans.
  2. The game has tons of options; it looks and sounds fantastic, and with a minor quibble here and there plays a great game that walks the line of die hard sim and casual baller.
  3. A big improvement over NBA Live 07 (or 06, for that matter), offering some great features and cleaner gameplay. If you’ve been waiting for the next-gen iterations to catch up with the current-gen versions, then this is one to get.
  4. This shot definitely goes in, but not before taking a few lucky bounces on the rim.

See all 38 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 12
  3. Negative: 5 out of 12
  1. PFunk
    10
    Live 08 promises everything it screwed up on last year. At 60 frames per second, it looks crazy good. They incorporated real players signature moves that look like a real game mixed with graphics borrowed from Homecourt. I am so happy that EAC realized last years horrible game and made up for it. Collapse
  2. JobAdkins
    8
    Great game.I've always liked the 2K basketball better cause it is better always has been but EA has really stepped up there game.I enjoy live 08.I have played nba live 09 and dont think there is anything special about that game and would not but it,but 08 is worth the money especially now(way later) because it is so cheap.I'm looking forward to seeing how nba live 10 is.I rate this game a 8.1 Expand
  3. AdrianV.
    7
    Much better than last years NBA Live '07, but there are still lots of niggling flaws. It doesn't seem to matter when you release the shot button, so this takes away some of the skill involved that has been present in other basketball games. Some players don't behave like they do in real life at all which takes away a bit from the realism. Dunking is too frequent and when players do go up for the jam, they appear to get up there far too quickly as if they were shot out of a cannon! As for the improvements - The graphics and framerate are great. The animations have been improved. The reponsiveness is much better. It does take a little while to get used to the new lock on D though, as quite often the ball would get thrwon into the post and i would find myself pointing the control stick away from the offensive player and pressing the change player button only to find that my player has suddenly run out of bounds and the opposing teams post player has got an easy dunk! I'm sure I'll get used to it the more I play though... Overall, I would say this game is good, but not great. NBA 2k7 and 2k8 are still the best basketball games on the 360. Expand
  4. I used to be a huge fan of NBA Live series, especially NBA Live 06. From 07, EA Sports seems to take experiments. 07 seems very slippery and full of flaws, but at least there is one feature I like a separate button for dunk. In 08, most good features are overthrown. You can tell that EA Sports is making the game more detailed. But I think they fail. Ok, NBA Live is dead since NBA Live 10. I haven't played any NBA games in 3 years, maybe I should try the 2K13 to pick up my desire to control an entire basketball team. Expand

See all 12 User Reviews