First Impressions of Live 2004

[BShaw20]

First gameplay impression: Imagine NBA LIVE 96 for the Playstation, one of its original launch titles, and that is basically the gameplay. Sliding all over the court, and herky-jerky and choppy animations. Even the players look unproportional to the court, the court seems small, the basket is kinda small, and the arena seems spacious but the playing area seems tiny. It's exactly like LIVE 96 with the Virtual Stadium they have. As a matter of fact, I played LIVE 96 on the PSX to compare the two, and they are similar, with the exception of the graphics.

The alley-oops are kinda awkward, especially if done from the other end, and I can't make the icon passing work when I am inbounding the ball. The Lakers don't have the MPLS in the game, but they have the Magic-Worthy era unis. No PHILA either, but they have the Dr. J era unis. The Hornets have the purple and teal Charlotte jerseys. The Magic has ALL three sets of their jerseys with the exception of the blue alternate from 1995.

Overall, this game is ok, but reminds me of LIVE 96. The arenas are rendered nice. Only problem - the way they spelled "DEFENCE." It's the Canadian spelling, in ALL of the arenas, not just in TORONTO.

Speaking of Toronoto, they also have all of their jerseys, minus the HUSKIES jersey, including the BARNEY jersey (both home and away.) Some teams don't have HOME and AWAY versions of the retros.

I'll play some more later, after the Magic game.

[KABI]

I could score 200 points or more in 96 for SNES

[Colin]

Overall, this game is ok, but reminds me of LIVE 96. The arenas are rendered nice. Only problem - the way they spelled "DEFENCE." It's the Canadian spelling, in ALL of the arenas, not just in TORONTO.

Two spellings of defence??? I've never heard of this all I knew (that are main words) are Favorite being favourite, center being centre, and I think there's something with neighboor being somethings like neighbour. Oh and color being colour.

[cyanide]

The spelling of defence, or defense, doesn't make a difference, IMO. That's probably the most minor "problem" in the entire game!

[Ricks]

Overall, this game is ok, but reminds me of LIVE 96. The arenas are rendered nice. Only problem - the way they spelled "DEFENCE." It's the Canadian spelling, in ALL of the arenas, not just in TORONTO.

Two spellings of defence??? I've never heard of this all I knew (that are main words) are Favorite being favourite, center being centre, and I think there's something with neighboor being somethings like neighbour. Oh and color being colour.

is it Defence and Defense?

much like Offence and Offense?

[BShaw20]

More observations:

MAC can only wear adidas, he cannot wear any other brand! Same goes for ANY player who has a shoe deal with Nike, adidas, or Reebok.

If a player has generic shoes, he can wear any shoe in the game. I already edited G HILL's shoe, he is now wearing 1960's era Chucks.

The 1990s all stars version of Penny Hardaway has the Nike blue foamposites, same shoes he wore in the 1997 playoffs with the Magic. However the Suns Penny does not have those shoes, and you cannot change his shoes to the foamposites, unless they have been unlocked.

The J-Kidd shoes can be purchased in the NBA Store as well. I have a pair of those; I still wear them when I ball. The zipped-up GP shoes are there as well.

Free agents of note: Brian Shaw, Shawn Kemp, Tim Hardaway, and Predrag Drobnjak.

Orlando Magic fans, the current team is entirely in the game except for Britton Johnson. Even Pat Burke is still in the Magic roster, simply waive him, acquire Shammond and Harvey from Denver, sign Alton Ford, then put Sasser and Ford in the IL - then you have the entire team. Zaza and Bogans are there as well.

The coaches are all short-asses. Phil Jackson is the same height as Derek Fisher in this game.

More retro unis - both home and away versions of the Pac-Man Hawks, the Rik Smits-era Pacers jerseys, Drazen Petrovic-era Nets away jersey, Minnesota's, Vancouver/Memphis's and Miami's jerseys for all of their existence, and San Diego Clippers. Also present are Dallas Chaparrals away jersey (Spurs), San Diego Rockets (Houston), KJ-era Suns unis (fake numbers though), and the cool late 70's Knicks unis that has the number above NEW YORK in the front.

[celticslegend33]

As far as I know, defence is a noun while defense is a verb. I'm sure I read it somewhere. Doesn't make a difference, with all the gibberish (words) people use nowadays.

Hope this helps.

[endofanera]

As far as I know, defence is a noun while defense is a verb. I'm sure I read it somewhere. Doesn't make a difference, with all the gibberish (words) people use nowadays.

Hope this helps.

I believe that is true with the English variety of err... English. But for American's and their simplified version of english it's Defense's all around.

Case in point, Google Defence and the first hit should be the British Ministry of Defence. Google Defense and the first hit will be the US Department of Defense.

[Vins15]

More observations:

MAC can only wear adidas, he cannot wear any other brand! Same goes for ANY player who has a shoe deal with Nike, adidas, or Reebok.

If a player has generic shoes, he can wear any shoe in the game. I already edited G HILL's shoe, he is now wearing 1960's era Chucks.

The 1990s all stars version of Penny Hardaway has the Nike blue foamposites, same shoes he wore in the 1997 playoffs with the Magic. However the Suns Penny does not have those shoes, and you cannot change his shoes to the foamposites, unless they have been unlocked.

The J-Kidd shoes can be purchased in the NBA Store as well. I have a pair of those; I still wear them when I ball. The zipped-up GP shoes are there as well.

Free agents of note: Brian Shaw, Shawn Kemp, Tim Hardaway, and Predrag Drobnjak.

Orlando Magic fans, the current team is entirely in the game except for Britton Johnson. Even Pat Burke is still in the Magic roster, simply waive him, acquire Shammond and Harvey from Denver, sign Alton Ford, then put Sasser and Ford in the IL - then you have the entire team. Zaza and Bogans are there as well.

The coaches are all short-asses. Phil Jackson is the same height as Derek Fisher in this game.

More retro unis - both home and away versions of the Pac-Man Hawks, the Rik Smits-era Pacers jerseys, Drazen Petrovic-era Nets away jersey, Minnesota's, Vancouver/Memphis's and Miami's jerseys for all of their existence, and San Diego Clippers. Also present are Dallas Chaparrals away jersey (Spurs), San Diego Rockets (Houston), KJ-era Suns unis (fake numbers though), and the cool late 70's Knicks unis that has the number above NEW YORK in the front.

sounds cool but i was hoping they'd be a showtime Magic era jerseys

[BShaw20]

I did mention in the very first post, that the Magic-Worthy era Lakers unis are included.

[Nel]

Does T-MAC have a better cyberface this year?

[Cameron]

American = Donut
Canadian = Doughnut

[seanakaforty]

I haven't got the game yet but from the reveiws I've read, most of the gripes are ones that have sliders(cpu's defense, user's shooting, injuries...etc.) Most people also agree that it is an improvement from last years. Considering that I loved 2003, I'm sure I'll love 2004.

[WalleO]

oK GUYS. I just got the game and played for about 1 hour. The key things i noticed about the game that i've always wanted to know before i got the game are as follows.

GRAPHICS

This is the first time i'll play the live series on a console. (I got the Xbox version), now i want to be as unbiased and as honest as i possible can. because i never seen the previous live versions on the xbox, i cant compare 2004 to the previous. However, what i can do is compare the xbox version of 2004 to the PC version of 2003. Im soory to have to say this guys, but the Pictures you've been seeing online for a while now, you know, the cartoonish rubber look the players have. its for real. thats exactly how the look like on the xbox version. i also noticed that there's no realtime refelctions/shadings on the player like the PC version of 2003 has. I swear to you, at least from what i've seen. THE PC VERSION 2003 GRAPHICS OF THE PLAYERS are 20 X better on the PC compared to the XBOX 2004. And im not even exaggerating.

Another thing that plauges this version is the unsmooth frame rate. this is usually most evident during the post up sessions and the defenders gather around you. Also, whenever the music suddenly starts to play the framerate is noticably reduced. And i promise you, that this will happen everytime. and it starts to get annoying. For the sounds of that, it looks like the PC requirements are going to be hellova steep and high. I can only hope im wrong.

Also, i notice that once you start the game, the refree that tosses the ball in the air at the beginnig of a game, takes a few steps backwards and DISAPPEAR right before your eyes. I dont know why EA did that. It kindna takes a little a way from the realism.





CAMERA.

Looks like its the exact same types of camera for the LIVE 2003 version.


GAMEPLAY.

This is where 2004 outshines last year's. though i've seen some awkward animation movments when the players are racing back the court BACKWARDS usually after a a score. thery are also a few others that i'll mention later.....i'll update this review later on

[BShaw20]

I think there are only two refs in the game. And they only stand on each baseline.

[kevychan]

my first impression on ps2 (disappointed)

why?

1) each animation is good of its own, but they don't flow well, very chobby
2) real life physics doesn't apply to this game, players are moonwalking
3) players always crowd under the net and when you press dunk behind the basket, you can still somehow fly BACKWARDS and dunk the ball, no physics here too
4) when i control a player, i don't feel the weigh of the player, i feel like controlling a mashmellow, either i get displaced to somewhere all of a sudden or i displace someone else

resulting i have to give 10% for realism here just the gameplay itself, not to mention the screw up dynasty mode stuff that other ppl found out

EA crew should go back to high school and study physics
Live 2000 is still the best in this compartment, such as the rebounding mechanics and animation flow as a whole

i don't care how well the sound and graphics, as long as you have a shitty moonwalking players, i won't play it, i see nbalive2004 is just an expansion pack of nbalive2003

i hope there are more adjustable options to fix that in the PC version, if this does not happen, i will ban live 2k4 this yr and play EPSN instead

[cyanide]

my first impression on ps2 (disappointed)

why?

1) each animation is good of its own, but they don't flow well, very chobby
2) real life physics doesn't apply to this game, players are moonwalking
3) players always crowd under the net and when you press dunk behind the basket, you can still somehow fly BACKWARDS and dunk the ball, no physics here too
4) when i control a player, i don't feel the weigh of the player, i feel like controlling a mashmellow, either i get displaced to somewhere all of a sudden or i displace someone else

This is a huge contrast from one of the reviews posted by either EGarrett or a Celtics fan user. I don't know who to believe anymore I guess I'll just have to play the game and see for myself once the PC version comes out.