The PC version is horrible, we all said that our expectations weren't so high, but COME ON.
The first time I loaded up I noticed the same preload team graphics, the same low-res menu, the same old functions.. Well I thought what the heck, configured my gamepad and went to individual practice with A.Iverson. First look - didn't see any difference between 07 and 08, it seemed like I was playing 07. I was hoping that EA would make the practice like on 2k7 on the xbox (don't know about live on the xbox, haven't played) where there are like 5 or so balls and you can pick any of them up. Of course there weren't any extra balls .. oh well..
The controls in practice mode were horrible. Iverson without the ball was like a homemovie on fast forward, couldn't control him at all. The shooting was usercontrol release, which is good. Animations are no different from 07.
In-game. Well all the cameras SUCK. The broadcast cam is really pointless, you can't see whats going on on the other end of the court, total disaster. Once again, animations haven't changed. Haven't seen one new animation so far. The sky, or heli or whatever it's called cam (the old TV cam) has a bug just like in the SUM mod. Whenever you inbound the ball, the camera goes half way left , or right, and you can't see beyond the 3pt line.
As far as I understand, you can't bring up the Hotspots functions in-game. At least there isn't a specific key, and well I tried pressing and holding all of them. It appears that if you want to see the hotspots, you have to pause, go to the Hotspots function in the menu and remember all of your players hotspots. Doesn't seem logical to me. I memorized a few players hotspots, but I really don't like it. I was shooting with iverson from his hotspot, undefended for 3 times in a row, didn't make 1 shot. Don't understand why.
Go-to moves. Well I only saw a few of them, but they seemed just like the old FSS moves, wasn't impressed at all. At first I didn't even notice them, because we are all used to the FSS moves, and seeing them wasn't a shock in any way.
There are a few good aspects though. The rebounding is a lot better than 07. Players don't jump 5ft backwards on a normal catch and grab rebound, they jump towards the ball. That's something new for Live on PC.
Now it's hard to get a fastbreak, and you have to work hard to make one.
What I noticed is that the user passes get picked of easily, so you have to get used to smart passing, because in 07 the ball would go through 3 defenders and you'd end up dunking over the other 2 guys. The picked-off passes force you to think more about passing the ball, waiting for open teammates.
Fatigue - fiiiiiiiiiinaly. CPU subs - fiiiiiiiiiiiiinaly. Combine them both - oh dear Lord bless EA. Finally after so long they managed to get both, fatigue, and cpu subs working.
Even so - when playing 08, I felt as though playing 07 with a few minor updates - thats all.
NBA Live 08 is what 07 should have been. All of these "updates" in 08 are things that should have been in 07. As I said, the game feels and plays like 07, it just feels a bit updated. Things like cpu subs, fatigue, rebounding - they're pieces of the core to basketball, and they should have been in 07.
EA doesn't impress me at all with Live 08. Having a "new" game which is actually an update from it's older version doesn't quite cut it for me.
God burn EA down
edit: a few other things that make me want to ram an aircraft into EA Canada.
Create a player: I couldn't believe it - but the preview part got even worse. All of the haircuts look identical due to lack of quality. nothing new: no tats, no bands, nothing. I hope it was me being stupid, but I haven't found the part where you can change the dunk packages. I reeallly hope I just didn't find it, because if they removed it .. God help EA Canada ..
All the menus are, of course, the same as last years.. and the year before that. Resolutions are the same. 640x480, 800,x600, 1024,768. I was hoping they would make a 1280x800 resolution, or at least something for the widescreen monitors or laptops.. but nooo..
It's kinda weird where they positioned the back button in the menu
