NBA Live 2004 Game ReviewNBA Live 2004 Game Review
Overall: 9.3
How does an NBA game released in 2003 get a 9.3? Easy, it was of an amazing quality. There are so many amazing things that EA was able to accomplish in 2000 all the way until 2008 that all just died away when they hit that road block in 2009. One of the games that was released during this dynasty (hint to later ;)) was the NBA live series, and inside that series, my favorite NBA Live 2004. NBA Live 2004 has it's place in my favorite sports games right next to the Madden games of 2004 and 2005. That must mean the NBA Live must have been pretty amazing, which it really was. I feel as though the addition of NBA live 2004 to my collection of game cube games really was something that made my overall collection better, not by price, but by quality of the games that I own. What made NBA live such an amazing game? All of the special features and amazing game play that you will be able to find all through out the game, starting with the amazing and starting aspect of the graphics.
Graphics: 10
The overall look and feel of this game, as I have already stated, is amazing. What is so great about that graphics? Well, they are really clean. The colors are put together carefully and none of them are too bright and too dull, all the colors are what the colors of an ACTUAL basketball court, stadium, or a jersey actually look like. The creators of NBA live 2004 weren't messing around when it came to the graphics. One of the best part of the graphics to me is the close ups. Many games are known to have terrible close up images of the characters so that they look terrible, but not in NBA live. The close ups on the characters actually look like the characters themselves instead of some really creepy image that no one knows what it is, and many little kids are scared of. Also, the game does an amazing job with cut scenes. By cut scenes I mean the replays and in between the quarters in the game. The characters walk off the court and they move smoothly. Also, the benched players reactions when a big play happens is amazing. They stand up and jump around and cheer, without a flaw. It really does just look quite amazing. The movements in the game are pretty fast, meaning that you must take special care into planning out how each pixel will move, and they sure did take their time on completing that section. The characters move very smoothly if they are going slow or fast, it all just looks amazing. And like in other basketball games, the players sometimes go through the rims when dunking, but not in this game. The rim is actually an object in this game that the players can hit, hang on to, and actually don't fall through, this was a nice job for the programmers. Last off is the special features, which are just basically commercials for other EA games, but they are with the characters. The animations in those are like an actually commercial and aren't all choppy and discussing. (Like some commercials were back in like the 1900's.
Sound: 10
If any of you guys have ever played one of these old EA sports games, then you should really know what I am talking about. The musical choice in the game is amazing. The songs don't really have to do with basketball, but then in a way they do. All of the songs tend to be very up beat and want to get you into the game. NBA Live did a nice job with their song
selection from the game, some of which I actually listen to outside of the game. The songs and all the sounds are probably my favorite part of this game. Also, there is a mixer where you have the ability to
select special songs that you want to play instead of them all just randomly playing. Also you can turn off the sound effects in the game, such as shoe squeaking (which I don't know why you'd do that, it is a basketball game for gods sake). Some people do turn off the shoe squeaking and they actually really do enjoy that feature, just it has never really appealed to me. Also, commentary and things like that are at a minimum. With the excepting of when Michael Jordan hits a slam dunk, in which the announcers of the game go crazy. (A feature I really like as I use Michael a good bit). Secondly on the topic of the in game sound is of course the clarity of the sound. The sound is very clear and doesn't have any of those bad spots where there is an apparent hole in the sound and it just sounds completely terrible all together. I really do enjoy the sound and songs that play in this game, just about as much as Madden 04, so that is why I give the sound affects a 10.
Addictiveness: 7
The game is pretty addicting all together. What exactly do I mean by that? Well, once you stop playing, it is pretty hard to quit. While playing all sports games, you win some and you lose some. In this game, you'll lose a good bit of your games. What does this achieve? It makes you want to beat those teams you lost to and shove it in their faces that you're better. This kind of factor, where it is hard but not way too hard, is pretty great to have in a video game that you'd like people to keep playing. Now a days they make the games easier so kids beat them fast and so that they will just go straight back out and buy a whole new game. I really hate how they do that now, as now it is all about what your profit is, not your costumer satisfaction. That is the main reason why I stay with the old games, the people back then (game designers) didn't care THIS must about how much money they were making more then how the game actually is. I've played this game a lot, and still haven't really gotten very tired of it, so I haven't bought any new NBA games due to how awesome this is. (Except like NBA 1999 but that doesn't count :P) With all jokes aside, NBA Live is probably an amazing example of a game that people would use as an example to explain to people what addictiveness REALLY is and the main reason that I give NBA Live 2004 a 7 on addictiveness.
Story: 10
This is probably where people will hate on this review. I am aware they isn't really a "story" but there IS a mode called Dynasty mode. (Get why I said that earlier...) Dynasty mode is basically where you get a team of players, and you must play them in season after season while acquiring more (and hopefully better) players as you go along, until you get a super team. This kind of story is what kind of thing you get from these kinds of games. Like in Madden 2004, the career mode where you play as your player for his entire career. This kind of mode is actually more fun then it sounds. When you get down to it, it really hones your skills. This mode get's harder and harder as you go along, so when you finally go back to normal mode, you are a complete boss. This mode is a great time waster as you get into it and will rocket through season after season, I really do enjoy playing this mode, but I wouldn't recommend it to any beginners who really have never played the game before. Due to how awesome this mode is, I will give the "story" section of NBA live a 10 on this review.
Depth: 10
Just a big by the way, this game is huge. You get all the teams in the NBA, and more, to play as with every player in the NBA and all stars dating back all the way to the 70's. This means you have tons of teams to play as and to play against, all with a different difficulty rating. There are also a ton of different modes to play as, a lot of drills to do, and I can't forget, the Dynasty mode. There is just so much that you able to do in this game. Playing as all these teams get's you to know all of the NBA players and teams. Your NBA knowledge could really go up. (Speaking from experience :P) There is just so much to do in this game that you could go on forever. You can also play with and against your friends for an even bigger challenge and more fun. Basically, NBA live has just so much to do overall in the game, that it would be pretty much a lie if I didn't give it a 10 in depth.
Difficulty: 8
NBA Live 2004, is hard. I'm just going to start by saying that. In the game the best team (the '90's all stars) are the best team (ranking in at a 99) and the Charlotte bob cats are the worst (coming in at like a 55). For the first few days, weeks, and even months, this will be one of the only match ups that you'll really be able to win. When I first moved up after always beating up the bob cats, I lost. The first team I played was the New York Nets (now Brooklyn Nets) at a 79. I lost like 119-40. The game is really, really hard. It takes a ton of practice to be able to beat on some of the better teams (about 5 teams ranking in at 99). I, who have been playing the game for about 5 years, still haven't been able to beat a team of 99 with a team any lower then a 99, that's just how hard this game is. (And remember, I am describing all of these experiences on the easy mode, far easier then hard or pro or any of those fancy levels which I only dare to step up onto.) The game overall is just so hard all together, I don't even know why the addition of these really hard levels were needed, they are very far harder then just a challenge, they're just an overall pain. With all things considered, the game really isn't that impossible to be able to get going at, and it really isn't too hard to try and have a little fun playing. I enjoy playing the game even when I am losing, as it is really fun and overall amazing. Due to how hard the game is, but not being too hard, I am going to give the difficulty for NBA Live 2004, an 8 on difficulty.
All you need to know:
NBA Live is an amazing game with great features such as graphics, sound, and game play that make it an overall joy to play. Things that make it a not so amazing game are how hard the game is and the space that is needed on the memory card to completely play the game to its full extent. With those things set aside, the game overall is an amazing experience, and with being only $4 for loose, $5 for complete and $7 for new, the game is overall an amazing small investment. To wrap up with this whole review, NBA live is a game that is really deserving to be known as my Favorite NBA game of all time, and really deserves more hype then it got when it came out. I know many new great NBA games have come out since this one was released, but NBA live 2004 will always have a place in my heart and really does deserve the 9.3 I gave it.
If you have any questions or feedback about the review post below and as always, thank you for reading.
Graphics
10 Sound
10 Addictive
7 Depth
10 Story
10 Difficulty
8
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