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NBA Live 2005 Review - Xbox

NBA games are gradually getting better as the years go by. More and more features are being added to the gameplay, and to the menu to allow for copious amounts of hours of gameplay. Although the NBA Live series (much like all the other EA Sports series') reached a peak in the year 2000, and then declined greatly in quality, it has slowly been recovering from it's downfall as the developers try to second guess exactly what the gamers want in a Basketball game. NBA Live features an improved Freestyle mode, along with an all new Freestyle Air mode to allow the gamer to have full control of the players, even in the air. Read on to find out about the loads of other new features offered in NBA Live 2005.

Gameplay

The basic gameplay of NBA Live 2005 obviously revolves around a basketball game. Two teams of five (excluding the bench) battle it out, bouncing a ball up and down the court to try and get it through the hoop for some points. Everyone knows how to play it. NBA Live 2005 gives you full control of all your players in the game. There are times when you'll think you're the player as you can pretty much move around as freely as you want. There's so many different buttons to push that you'll have a rough time learning every move, and keeping up with the speed of the game in the meantime.

NBA Live 2005 features a full season mode where you can set up a 29-, 58- or 82-game season. This is of course the essential game mode in any Basketball Sim, and NBA Live 2005 pulls it off perfectly. Along with Season mode comes a whole array of gameplay modes including Playoffs, 1 on 1, Practice/Slam Dunk School, Dynasty Mode and the all new NBA All-Star Weekend. The NBA All-Star Weekend involves a 3 Point Shootout, the Slam Dunk contest, and the Rookie Challenge. You can also participate in the NBA All-Star Game where it's a challenge of East VS. West. Dynasty Mode sees you as the coach/manager of your very own team. Build your franchise squad up into the most elite basketball team ever, and destroy all other teams to claim victory on the top of the ladder after multiple seasons. Dynasty Mode is very in-depth, and anybody that loves basketball will love being able to create their own franchise.

A cool feature about NBA Live 2005 is 'My NBA LIVE'. Here you can browse around the EA SPORTS Hall of Fame, the NBA Lounge, and the NBA Store. You can check out trailers for upcoming EA games, view the trophies that you've won and records you've set, and also purchase new outfits and other unlockables in the NBA Store when you redeem Task List points. It would be better if you could (continued next page)