How would you rate NBA Live 2004?

Hey guys,

I'm just wondering....how would you rate this game on a scale of 1-10?....10 being the best.

Thanks

I would probably rate it an 8 or 9. The fastbreaks can be very frustrating at times but fortunetly can be controlled if you play smart. Overall though the game is very solid and blows away last years lame 2003.

about an 8

i found out that turning user on ball assist to 100 and changing the computers play calling from dynamic to 1-4 high or triangle tones down the fast breaks...also using the clock helps out a lot like with the celts id post baker kick it back out to james post baker again back out to james then swing to pierce for him to break down a defender or mid range jumper etc...its sick

and put offensive rebounds to 100 for u and the comp....still no that many offensive rebounds but ah well...ive been getting some when i control the guys myself

yea offensive rebounds is about the only stat that never really quite makes it to a nba average. I get around 6 per game and the cpu usually less, maybe 3 or 4, the nba average is 9-17 off rebounds. Everything else however is pretty close to nba averages. I always find myself tweaking with the fouls though..theres 4 sliders for them and it always varies from game to game for me..

I'd prolly give it a 7. It's got a lot going for it, but there are many little annoyances that become frustrating.

Ever since I started playing the Live series, all I've been looking for is realistic gameplay - not just realistic stats. I think 2004 does a good job in producing realistic stats but only has average gameplay.

I think a lot of the problem has to do with player animations. Too much of the game feels automated.

What I do like about the game is improved defense, and the ability to customize game settings - although some pre-set game settings would have been nice.

I'm hesitant to say that 2004 is better than 2003. I think both games have their pros and cons.

i give it an 8

the good:
graphics
gameplay
animations

the bad:
cyberfaces
cyberfaces
cyberfaces

hehe, more like:

the good:
graphics
gameplay

the bad:
animations

the UGLY:
cyberfaces
cyberfaces
cyberfaces

i actually thought the animations were pretty good most of the time.. they looked realistic most times, although absolute ugly at other times..hehe like the passing looks unrealistic, and the jump pass??!! when will they retire this??!! but other things like dunking, posting up, looked fairly realistic... i thought the new foul animations were pretty cool too

transition from a call to inbounding the ball is way too quick like u get called and ur tapping the pass button to skip a cutscene and suddenly uve already passed the ball and it gets intercepted

or when the comp inbounds at their own end and throws it out if u have 2 guys there u can inbound right away and the defenders wont have come back yet so u get the easy basket thats kinda annoying

I give it a 6

Good
------
Blocks! Defense! New Arenas! Commentary the best ever in a sports game! Sliders(they kind of work)!

Bad
------
Gameplay is just like last year with new animations. No coaching strategies. Dynasty mode is lacking.

Overall I am somewhat disappointed. I don't give a *&#^ about graphics, I know the boys on here will make us great cyberfaces. I am frustrated that everyteam plays the same and the same gameplay flaws from last year are in this years game. To me its last years game with a patch on gameplay....very frustrating as I thought there was going to be an overhaul with the 10 man mo cap.

Its still playable and actually challenging.....but challenging in that cheese kinda way

so long
jr

i rate this game 10/10 excellent game

10/10, don't be ridiculous.

I'd say a 9/10 for fun, but a 5/10 for the lack of finishing the details in the pc version. It's a rushed game in many ways (like in 'not entirely tested and finished 100%').

It's got a lot of potential with all the custom patches and tweaks, but for a full product I really expect THEM to finish it, not us.

The gameplay feels good, but also rough and untested.
The graphics are generally good, but half of the textures lack detail cause they come directly from the console version.
The low resultion frontend is a real joke for a pc game - only 640x480 and low resultion textures for everything that you seen/select/edit in the menus. (Look at the difference between ingame shirts and shoes and the ones in the create/edit player screen).
Sound could use an extra spark, but are pretty good.
Obviously, they spend far too much time on the selection of music instead of the game itself. Shame and pretty ridiculous, cause it's all a matter of personal taste anyway.

It's fun and enjoyable, but with a little more effort from the team it could have been a real winner & classic.

Just a shame that those EA producers aren't up to their task, cause there are always a few areas that have clearly been overlooked in production with every single title.

6/10
screwed player movement, awful UI, ugly cyberfaces, wrong proportions sizewise

Last edited by Raider_MXD on Mon Nov 17, 2003 5:25 am, edited 1 time in total.

7/10 would be my rating so far.

frontend is horrible, who has his monitor in 640x480 setting? why do pc users get "raped" with a console menu year after year. they bragged about how they have cute 3d offeces and stuff, but what´s the use of it? you have to go through so many sub-menus and you get hardly any infos. from from the menu perspective it fells like a shitty console port. i´d much rather have a web-style interface like nhl 2003(2004 is good but not as good as last year. haven´t tried madden, but i´ve read it´s much better too).

ingame graphics are fine, i really like that they have every arena this year. it´s also running pretty smooth on my pc, but i guess that depends on your system.

the animations vary from awesome to extremely frustrating.
the layups and dunks looks very good, screens and how players try to fight through them is also fine. but the normal jump shot animation takes too long, players seem to be releasing the ball too late. as a consequence the cpu ALWAYS has a chance to close out to an open man no matter how open he was(why did they change it, last year they had nailed it perfectly!). and when you get a jumper blocked it takes your player forever to turn around and get back, which is just ridiculous(if i get my shot blocked at the top of the key in real life, i don´t just stand there for a sec considering my options, i turn around and hustle back on D!).
offensive rebounds also are kind of frustrating because if a player has a good enough dunk and jump rating he´ll jump for a tip dunk all the time instead of just going for the ball.

the addition of sliders was a great thing to do, you can customize the game to your liking.

gameplay is aside from the stuff mentioned before quite realistic, definetely better than last year.

the commentary is just about the best i´ve heard in a sports game so far, marv and the czar are great much better than the poier guy from previous versions.

lol last year we were all asking for

more realistic stats with 12 min quarters - got them

sliders - got them

a better franchise/dynasty - if you could have more than one team i'd say u got it, not a great franchise but its a step forward in my opinion.

not a lot but some asked for real shoes - got some of them, once again step in the right direction

slower gameplay - got it

better commentary - deff got it, its the best i've ever heard in a game

to me ea improved in most of the aspects we wanted it to, sure theres a lot to improve on still, but it seems like they took some big steps in the right direction. With a better dynasty, and some animations redone (like shooting), and some graphics redone (which will be redone by patchers) the game would be nearly perfect in my opinion. I enjoy it very much and much more than last years. the thing i want most is real salaries, whats up with the system they have now

After playing a few games, I am no longer on the fence - 2004 is better than 2003.

What still frustrates me is that the CPU never takes jumpshots, and I've yet to find settings that help this. Sometimes switching to a zone defense helps, but I want to be able to play man-to-man most of the time. I also don't want to have to manually set a specific offense for each CPU controlled team - its too bad "dynamic offense" means "go for layups on every possession".

I'd give it an 8. It'solid game all around.. play it with some blueberry and it's 10

i give it a 4.9

reason being: if someone like me is kinda wanting to play nba live 2003 when nba live 2004 is out. then THAT IS A failed product imho

you like nba live 2003 better than 2004

I think NBA2004 has made great progress on many aspect like third dimension,motive before the game,and you will find the player's act is reality

i give it a 8,mainly due to the dynasty bugs!
the FA superstars not signing, the simmed stats after the 1st year and the training camp weakness.
other than them, its great!

i'd give it an 8.5...it is leaps and bounds better than 2003 b/c of the 10man mo-cap alone. I actually like that it's not easy to get any shot you want. I have the console version so my cyberfaces can't be changed, but they are downright horrible, so are the player models...everyone seems too darn cut....Vin Baker looks like a bodybuilder....they just have that chiseled statue look. I like the animations and the arenas alot. The offensive rebounding and the player Ice Skating are the 2 main problems i see but they dont ruin the game for me. I'd also like to have some control on what type of pass i throw so i can better combat zone defense(bullet passes, lobs, bounce passes). I love the pro-hop and hard dribble, and it's taking me a while to learn how to play and use different strategies.

I'd give it a 7.8. This game is very good, much better than 2000, IMO. Most of my ratings come from the gameplay itself, but there are a few minor problems in the game, and most of the ratings I take off come from the bugs and the GUI/option modes including Dynasty mode. I'll post a review sometime during Christmas holidays cuz I still gotta play as much as I can to get the best out of it and the worst.

NBA 2003


The Good

Offense
freestyle
animations
control



The Bad

Defense
Big men get dunked on by midgets who knock them down
Blocks out of bounds
Steals too often
No in-game save


NBA 2004


The Good


Sliders
Blocking
Stealing
Announcers
Sound effects (no more jet engine blocks)


The Bad

Animation, Animation, Animation
Players can't bleeping face the other basket even when dribbling in that direction
Court has shrunken somehow - feels like I'm playing 5 on 15
Graphics for faces, bodies
Blocked or shot altered too often
No in-game save
Free thrown style - screw the silver box, why not just use the white painted box?




Overall, I find myself going back to 2003 too. It's a whole lot more fun to be able to actually control your player as opposed to having him sliding around this way and that.

I give it a 9.

IMHO, I think a good undertsanding of the actual game of basketball is somewhat required here.

The pro-hop is indeed a cheap tool and you can easily score all the baskets from the paint.

What I love is doing the pro-hop and dishing it out for the trey.

Very few of my points come from midrange--which is kind of weird but easily ignored.

The graphics are definitely an improvement--meaning they're not as demanding as Live 2003. Live 2003 was too much style and no substance.

This year they've almost balanced it out.

The only real gripe I have with this game is the fact that players react WAY to slowly after attempting a layup from inside... or having it swatted away emphatically by a Ben Wallace. I mean they just stand there, dazed and confused.

The only other gripe (but minor) is the pro-hop can work against you in the fact that if you pro-hop too far into the paint--you throw up a shot that gets rejected by the rim or flat out tossed out of bounds. That's a bit weird but that is really carelessness on the user's part.

Other than that, 9/10.