Best version of NBA Live for PC

[Eich]

Proboly I would say 2005
but i liked to paly NBA 98 on my Sega

[Bolero05]

NBA 2005, undoubtedly

[Emor]

Yeah 2005 is the best

[Fitzy]

get 2004, that was my favourite by far, if only i could get it to work now

[Valor]

You can be fired if your GM rating gets too low, though as long as you're winning and training your players you should be able to keep a positive GM rating.

just wondering..what happens when you get fired? is it game over or do you just go with another team?

[Andrew]

Depends on which NBA Live you're talking about. These days you're offered another position but if I recall correctly NBA Live 2004 and NBA Live 2005 just returned you to the main menu, game over.

[diddy]

i like 08 very much because of 3 reasons:
1. sigshots
2. no crashing
3. number of patches, that made my game awesome, thanks to my fav site and community NLSC!!!

[ericem]

live 2000 = last realistic live game
live 2001 = sucked
live 2003 = fun but arcadey
live 2004 = better than 2003 but "pro-hop" is unstoppable
live 2005 = 2nd most realistic but gets boring after some time
live 06 = like live 2005 but with freestyle moves and you CANNOT block jumpshots
never played 07 and 08.

so based on my experience it will be Live 2000 with 2005 a close second.

[Valor]

Depends on which NBA Live you're talking about. These days you're offered another position but if I recall correctly NBA Live 2004 and NBA Live 2005 just returned you to the main menu, game over.

i see, thanks Andrew!

[obliviousky]

You can block shots in NBA live 2006 as long as you have a way taller dude. I use to have Yao block a guard when the guard is shooting. I love NBA live 2006, the simulation is so much better than 2008. Besides the rareness of trading between CPU NBA live 2006 is the best. Although NBA live 2008 has a better graphic, it is just too easy to get a dunk and layup.

[baller_23]

NBA LIVE 07 with SUM

[Patr1ck]

Want to know what I love about Live 06? The layup/shot strips. They are the greatest. Watching a player go flying with arms flailing and without the ball is hilarious. I don't remember there being so many when I played 2 years ago.

[cyanide]

I heart Live 2000. I haven't played it in years, so I'm sure it's irrelevant now compared to 2K8. If it must be on a PC... I just don't know what to say

[Andrew]

On a semi-related blast from the past note, pretty much everything from NBA Live 97 onwards is superior to Microsoft's NBA Full Court Press.

[couponman]

NBA Live 08 and 07 has better graphics, and NBA Live 06 was more realistic in gameplay. Too bad I deleted my NBA Live 06 here in my PC, and I still have to find coupon codes for NBA Live 06 for additional savings.

[Andrew]

That post almost didn't give itself away as spam. Unfortunately, the coupon plugs were a giveaway.

[Patr1ck]

Wow, and that appears to be manual spam, instead of bot spam.

[dwayne2005]

I am new to the NBA Live series, and have gone on EBay and picked up 2003, 2005 and 2006. Started with 2003, but a few days later got 2005... went right back to 2003! I've played maybe 2 full games of 2005. I've, however, spent a lot of time on the 3 point shootout! I know it's two buttons and that's all, but I'm addicted. Like a game of Beirut. Plus, I always like seeing the pretty bouncing ball spinning, arching and swishing much more so than dunks.

Got 2006 a couple of weeks ago, but haven't played a fullgame yet (seems to be much easier than 2005). Sad to see that the commentary for the allstar shootout hasn't changed, it's quite irritating. But on the plus side, it doesn't have Marv albert in the game commentary like 2005. I'm spending all my time unfortunately working on historic rosters for 2003, the gameplay is much more toned down with my .dbf's, and I can't go back to default 2003.

Just ordered second hand versions of 2000 and 2001.

[Andrew]

But on the plus side, it doesn't have Marv albert in the game commentary like 2005.

Not sure what you mean there, Marv Albert's still providing commentary in NBA Live 06 (and indeed, to this day in the NBA Live series).

[dwayne2005]

I really haven't paid much attention to it. I must have heard one or two things in the commentary with it dimmed and figured he wasn't in it--really haven't had much time to play it properly. Maybe the sound is just clearer, the sound sounds really muffled in 2005, that I didn't notice.

[Andrew]

Fair enough. He's definitely doing commentary in NBA Live 06 though, he's been working with EA since NBA Live 2004.

[Leander]

I prefer NBA Live 2005. I own 95, 99, 2000, 2003 and 06 as well.

2005:

o graphics not as good as in 06 but more realistic imo.
o player introductions only in exhibition mode
o backdown button
o player callnames cannot be added
o solid game
o better animations imo
o dynasty bug: no cpu trades after loading your dynasty! (

06:

o player introductions only in dynasty mode
o better graphics but a bit cartoonish imo
o no backdown button -> right analogue stick
o callnames can be added!
o Freestyle superstars

06 is enjoyable as well and has some better features BUT the cartoonish graphics and horrible animations spoil the fun for me. 2005 has nice rebounding animations but in 06 players fly around in a strange way and what I dislike the most is that body parts move through other players. Moreover, players ice-skate sometimes.

2005 has similar problems but not to a large extent. In 06 the pointguard dribbles past a defender with his arm going right through the defenders body, for example. This happens all the time...that's why I don't want to play 06.

[Andrew]

06's graphics don't really strike me as being cartoonish. A lot of the animations are the same as NBA Live 2005 as well, the addition of FSS moves being a noteworthy exception. 2005 doesn't have the Primacy recalculation bug though which is a hassle in 06, 07 and 08.

[dwayne2005]

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[Andrew]

NBA Live 06 should allow you to save stats, I did throughout my NBA Live 06 Dynasty thread.