Reviews for NBA Live 2005

NBA LIVE 2005

Strengths: All-Star Weekend, Xbox Live

Weakness: Game play like 2004 so no improvement. Graphics.

NBA Live used to be the best basketball game out but 2004 and 2005 seem the same. All-star weekend is the only reason it gets 3 stars instead of 2, you'll be spending some time in this mode when bored with the regular season.

Might want to pass on to NBA live'06 or try NBA 2k5 which was a much better game!

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NBA Live 2005

Strengths: All-Star Weekend Game Modes, Improved Franchise Mode

Weakness: Not a significant improvement from 2004 edition

NBA Live 2005 is the latest version of the NBA basketball simulator from EA Sports. The game engine seems very similar to Live 2004 with some graphical and gameplay tweaks. The franchise mode has been improved and offers more depth in the management and day-to-day activities of your team and roster. The All-Star Weekend mode is fun and a nice departure from the normal gameplay mode. Overall, this version is for those basketball fans that have to have the latest rosters and enjoy the NBA Live series style of games.

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More of the same

Strengths: Same solid presentation and gameplay; All-Star Weekend; Xbox Live

Weakness: Not much different from last year

NBA Live 2005 is EA's latest edition in the very popular NBA Live franchise. Unfortunately, most of the game is a replica of last year's version. Not much has changed since last year with the exception of the addition of All-Star Weekend. In this gameplay mode, you can take part in the slam dunk contest as well as the 3-point shootout. Both of these are very enjoyable, although the dunk contest will take quite a bit of practice to get a hang of. As expected, online play is included in the game. While the gameplay and presentation make NBA Live 2005 the leading basketball game for the Xbox, the lack of new features leaves me wishing the game would have a fresher look after all these years. Therefore, I recommend this as a weekend rental.

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To me this game is titled: Slam Dunk Game

Strengths: Decent graphics, some decent player animations, and nice presentation. 3pt shootout and slam dunk contest.

Weakness: There are some glitches. For ex. you may get a turnover for no apparent reason. Also the lack of fast break.

This game to me seems unfinished or untested. Gameplay seemed good enough or comparable to other basketball games except for the slow passing game. Reading other peoples reviews I never understood what they meant by lack of fast break until I actually played this. Fast break to me doesn't really describe it. Players almost come to a complete stop when you pass to them, so there is really no sense of a fluid motion. This gets very irritating almost immediately, and can cause many backcourt violations.
There are some decent defensive and offensive player animations that made me think that the gamemakers might be on the right track, but they'll have to fix the passing issue and other minor glitches in the game if they think I'll be gettin' next years edition.
However if you can find this game cheap the 3pt and slam dunk contests can provide some decent hours of entertainment.

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NBA Live 2005

Strengths: All Star weekend featuring Slam Dunk contest, enhanced Franchise mode.

Weakness: Lack of Fast breaks, same old NBA Live engine again.

Although this game is fun, one thing that bothers me about the NBA Live series is that the basic game (graphics, sound, controls) have basically remained the same since the PSOne days. While I think this tradition carries over well in games such as Madden, I think the foundation of NBA Live was always weak to begin with. EA should have scrapped this engine and built from scratch. The player models are just plain ugly and the players seem to just "skate" on the hardwood. You have to set the A.I. sliders in order to tweak for a more realistic sense of basketball. For some reason, EA decided to cut down on the fast breaks this season. While I am not a huge fan of huge scoring fests, the way EA has decided to nearly eliminate the fast break defeats the beauty of basketball. The one thing that has vastly improved is the franchise mode. I love the new feature to bring in college and high school players into your practice facility and you actually get to play them in a scouting scrimmage versus one of the players on your own team roster! One gripe about franchise mode is that there are no player personalities. So you can sit TMac on the bench for the entire season and he will NEVER demand a trade or whine. The Slam Dunk contest is overrated in my opinion but it's a nice excursion from the regular game. Buy at your own discretion. If you love Live, then you can't go wrong. But if you've never been a fan of the Live engine to begin with, Live 2005 will not change your mind.

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NBA Live 2005

Strengths: Slam dunk contest

Weakness: Awkward passing at times

I got this game for my son recently and I was more than shocked at how far games have come recently. Let me preface this by saying that I'm not a gamer. The last basketball video game I played was for the atari.
It's very true to life, but it's not quite real yet. Being a Spurs fan, little things like not seeing Manu Ginobli being slammed to the floor when he drove to the basket was almost a let down.
There's a ton of things you can do like building up a dynasty through several seasons or just one season, but that seems just really boring. Having a quick one-on-one against another player is much more fun and it felt great dunking on my son repeatedly.
Little things were missing like fluid fast breaks. Say I was able to make an outlet pass to a player down the court he would just stop where he was and wait for the ball to come rather than having the pass thrown in front of him. Things like that kills a chance for a good fast break.
It's still a very enjoyable game but it isn't quite perfect. Take your time to read the instructions because if you're a non-gamer like me it will take a while to learn what is what on the controller.

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NBA Live 2005

Testseek.com has collected 2 expert reviews for NBA Live 2005 and the average expert rating is 80 of 100. The average score reflects the expert community’s view on this product. Click below and use Testseek.com to see all ratings, product awards and conclusions.

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NBA Live 2005

NBA Live 2005 receives an overall TopTenREVIEWS rating of 3.35 out of 4.00. It is ranked the #1,055 game of all time, #33 game of 2004 for the Xbox and #150 Xbox game of all time. The rating and ranking is based on an average of 40 critic scores, awards and other criteria. To see a breakdown of the game ranking, read individual critic reviews, or see how other games ranked, click on the link...

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NBA Live 2005

In the ongoing war between ESPN Videogames (formerly Sega Sports) and EA Sports, one battleground that remains a hotspot of contention is the hardcourt. Basketball videogames have been notoriously lackluster when compared to the authenticity and real-life representation of their gridiron counterparts, but both the NBA 2K and NBA Live franchises have come a long way, baby. These two combatants add...

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NBA Live 2005 (xbox)

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NBA Live 2005

Basketball season is just around the corner and EA has released NBA Live 2005 just in time to get you primed and ready. New this year is a revamped franchise mode and a full implementation of All-Star Weekend to go along with the already solid gameplay. It isn’t radically different than Live 2004, but it has one key addition that makes it worth a purchase: online play via Xbox Live.

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NBA Live 2005 (xbox)

Spud Webb steps out onto the floor for his first dunk. Dr. J just scored a 49 with an alley-oop off of the backboard, between the legs jam, and now the pressure falls on the smallest man in the contest. At 5-6, nobody ever expected Webb to be in the competition in 1986, and now, almost twenty years later, the virtual Spud is ready to fly again.

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