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[Preventer Wind]

I was fortunate enough to wake up early and find that every copy of the new edition of NBA Live was checked out. Let me just say that if you liked the high scoring sim of last year you will be disappointed.

To start things off there is a new NBA Store option, which works similar to Madden Cards. You earn points for doing different tasks. You can spend your points on old school jerseys, authentic shoes, headbands and socks. I was amazed to see at least a half dozen Jordans and that's not counting the different colors. I was disappointed at seeing Gary Payton's shoes but not T-Macs. I guess EA and Nike were jealous of T-Mac and Adidias so they signed a deal where only Nike shoes could be in the game.

The Dynasty Mode also comes with more options. I'm afraid you can't decide on how much you want to charge for refreshments or how much you want to pay your Mascot. But you can train players at any time during the season. You just have to have enough dynasty points. Like the NBA Store points you get Dynasty Points for accomplishing different tasks during the season. I don't know if you can NBA Store points and Dynasty Points at the same time. I haven't gone back to the store after I started a Dynasty. If you don’t want to spend the points on an individual workout you can hold a team workout which, of course, costs more. But rather then 1 players stats increasing your entire teams stats increase. You get 4 options as to which stats you want to raise (Shooting, Offense, Defense, and Conditioning). You get 100 points per workout and if you don't put at least 10 points into every category some of your stats will go down. Plus for the price your stats don't go up that much. Which leads me to another thing...

Stats. Ok so T-Mac and Shaq are rated high. But other then your top of the line superstars that's about it. Ron Artest and Ben Wallace at 71 and 75 are actually rated high by this games standard. Most players are ranked below a 50. But don't fret this actually helps the game play.

Yes the game play. The Freestyle Controls are still there basically untouched but that's ok. The game play has gotten more challenging. Rather then being able to dominate the CPU by 50 points the games are actually closer. You no longer can spin past your defender with ease. No more backing anybody down unless your name is Shaq. You can still do these things but it takes a T-Mac or a Kobe or a Shaq to do those things. Which is actually realistic. Not that it's impossible to score. There is a new move called a Pro-Hop, which makes it easier to drive with your non-superstars.

Defense is ok. It's too easy to block shots and steal the ball. If you double-team someone about 20% of the time you’re going to get a steal. Since I like the Rockets I have Yao Ming on my team and let's just say he's averaging 6 blocks a game. Which is ok but when Steve Francis averages 3 it's just too easy. Though other then that the Defense is much improved from last year.

Other things you should know:

You can hire coaches (shooting, rebounding, etc.) to improve any stat. This is a much better deal then the workouts though it does cost a lot more to keep the coach for the entire season.

You can trade draft picks. Though early on in the season no team is willing to accept any draft pick for any thing.

For players salaries the same points system is used. Why they can't use normal money is beyond me. I have to simulate a season or two to see if this is a bad thing.

The graphics are improved. The players are sharper though they have a cartoony appeal if you look at them closely.

There are two yes two as in 2 different shooting buttons. One is for lay-ups and dunks and the other for jumpers. It takes some time to get used to and still every now and then I hit the wrong button. I've actually wanted to see this done. It makes the game more challenging.

Right Thurr is indeed a part of the Jukebox. And Brandy's Full Moon did not make it in. I know you people were on the edge of your seats waiting for that. Outkast, Sean Paul, Jermaine Dupree and The Black Eyed Peas are just some of the artists on the track. It’s almost entirely Rap. Though not a fan of Rap, it isn’t that bad. What am I saying? I disabled every song but Right Thurr.

There is a Retired Jersey section. I would imagine that the great players who retire would have their jersey retired. I don't know for sure.

That's about it for now. If you have any questions please feel free to ask. I will probably wait to see how ESPN Basketball 2004 is before I buy a basketball game.

[Dr.Doom]

Does the game have slowdowns my friend told me that it slows down and affects gameplay doesnt matter what version of the game it is.Is it true?

[Preventer Wind]

None that I saw. It ran smoothly the whole time. Maybe he got a faulty copy?