| GOT GAME? With the winter weather too cold to play ball outside, video games can be a great way to take care of your basketball cravings. But at around £50 a pop, which game do you spend your left-over Christmas money on, NBA Live 2010 or NBA 2K10?  NBA LIVE 2010 - EA Sports For years, the NBA Live series was the most dominant basketball game on the market. But since age of next gen consoles, they've been playing catch up to the NBA 2K games. While 2K Sports developers were focusing on improving gameplay, EA was concentrating on graphics - and beneath the layer of polish, the games felt clunky and outdated. With the 2010 edition of NBA Live, EA look ready to regain some lost ground. A lot of time has been spent on improving the game mechanics, and it shows. The game is easy to get the hang of from the get-go. You can just pick up the controller and play without spending too much time staring at the controls in the manual. Because of its easy learning curve, it's great to play with friends - even if they don't know much about the sport. The whole game has a fast paced arcade feel to it that results in a lot of dunks and alley-oops which are fun to watch. Unfortunately, the game still has the same flaws that plagued previous instalments. Animations look unrealistic and glitchy a lot of the time. Rebounding looks particularly bad, most of your bigs look like Stretch Armstrong when going for the ball. Sometimes when you try and grab a board, your player will just float away from the ball leaving it to the other team. And you'll be shouting at the screen when your teammates will sit and stare the opposite direction from their man, rather than defending. The inclusion of FIBA teams and a championship mode is nice, but Team GB team is out-dated (if you're reading, EA Sports, John Amaechi retired 7 years ago) and because you can't bring in your created players to national teams, there's no way to update them. The "Dynasty Mode" and online features are nice, but don't offer anything unique. As improved as the game is this year, there aren't enough features to keep you coming back. NBA 2K10 - 2K Sports This year's edition of NBA 2K marks the 10th anniversary of the series, and to celebrate they've tried to make their best basketball game yet. The biggest new addition is the "My Player" mode that lets you create your own rookie, build up his stats and take him on a journey from training camp, to D-League to the NBA. If Live is an arcade game, you could call 2K10 a simulation. Gameplay can be intimidating at first - as soon as you turn on the game you have to get to grips with the menu. The shot-stick controls can get some getting used too and post-up play is particularly hard to master (expect to get a lot of 3 second violations.) Once you've got to know the game however, it offers the most rewarding basketball experience. The game is slightly slower paced than Live, but feels more realistic because of it. Defending is responsive due to the lock-on trigger, and the offensive game flows well. You'll see a lot of nice put-back jams, blocks and dunks...and because of the number of animations, it'll be a while before you've seen them all. Presentation is polished and looks like an actual NBA game, with half-time reports and full highlights making you feel like you're witnessing a real game on the box. The same applies to the franchise mode. The menu is presented like the NBA.com site with photos of the night's best game. The in-game commentary is more than just play-by-play, but discusses your previous games, season standings, league leaders and playoff chances. If you want an easy to play, fast-paced NBA game to pick up and play with friends, NBA LIVE might be the game for you. But with so many features like the dunk contest, create a team, street games and a better franchise mode, NBA 2K10 will keep you coming back for more. Plus you can usually get it for about £10 cheaper. Games reviewed on Playstation 3. Both games out on all consoles. NBA 2k10 is also out on PC. WORDS BY: Simon Burr |
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