Metacritic Games

NBA Live 08 (Playstation 2)

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]

Electronic Arts
Sports, Basketball
Players: 2
E (Everyone)
Developer: EA Canada
Released October 2, 2007

Overall Metascore

This is a weighted, normalized average of all individual scores given by critics, on a scale of 0 (worst) to 100 (best).

68 / 100

Critic Reviews

90	PGNx Media 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.
83	Pelit (Finland) An entertaining basketball game with fabulous match atmosphere. National teams are a great addition, although the lack of real world championships is a little minus. The awful camera work and the stiff animations are still the main things that need improvement. [Oct 2007]
80	PSM Magazine All of that, combined with a decent variety of gameplay modes and the eight international teams(read:you can also draft international players into your franchise)make NBA Live 08 a great score for PS2 ballers. [Dec 2007, p.81]
70	Gamestyle If you own any other NBA game then this will just be an update, but if you don’t then this is a solid piece of work.
70	GameSpy NBA Live 08 isn't a whole lot different from last year's offering, but the subtle changes that were implemented -- the addition of Hot Spots and the bouncing of Freestyle Superstar and X-Factor -- make things on the court a lot more fun.
68	Jolt Online Gaming UK It’s a little simpler to play than the 2K series, and more fast paced, but it’s also just not as good.
65	GameSpot It plays fine, but other than some updated rosters, there's almost nothing new in NBA Live 08.
60	Official Playstation 2 Magazine UK Still trails beind the NBA 2K series, but this is certainly an improvement on last year if you can get to grips with the camera. [Nov 2007, p.90]
60	GameZone Excluding the removal of Superstar moves, NBA Live 08’s weak engine remains unchanged from last year’s game. The gameplay is just as slow and sluggish as it was before.
55	IGN Those who are desperate to do some balling on their aging console have nowhere else to look so here’s some advice, go over and play your friend’s PS3 edition of "NBA 2K8."

CLOSE THIS WINDOW

©2009 CNET Networks Inc. All rights reserved.