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> Results: NBA Live 2004
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A little revolution now and again is a good thingﾅsometimes not Do you want to ﾓjoin the freestyle revolution?ﾔ Like other EA Sports titles this season NBA Live 2004 is hyping two new and ﾑimprovedﾒ features. First is the use of the right analog stick for ﾓfreestyleﾔ moves on the court. Then there are the new dynasty additions to build a ﾓpowerhouseﾔ over several years. Iﾒll not waste your time by mincing words. The new additions miss the mark like a Shaquille OﾒNeil free throw.  I can see what EA Sports wanted to accomplish by added more control using the right stick. They wanted the player to have the ability to access different dribbling techniques, spin moves, and be able to control players without the ball (similar to Madden 2004). However, wanting something and having something are two different ducks. The control scheme is just too difficult to use. One will often find himself dribbling the ball out of bounds while attempting a freestyle move. And controlling players without the ball is often useless because the computer sticks to their man like superglue. I wanted to like and master the use of the freestyle stick, but in the end found it to be gimmicky and poorly implemented. Staying on the topic of game mechanics I have this to say. Either the current state of the NBA includes multimillion-dollar stars that cannot shoot a 15-foot jumper without a higher accuracy than 15% or NBA Live 2004 has made the pastime of the ﾓjump shotﾔ obsolete. Open jump shots that should be routine are extremely hard to make. It feels like the game is almost forcing the player to take it to the hoop for a monster dunk just show you a slow motion highlight. Very frustrating. The dynasty mode doesnﾒt get much better. Why anyone decided to make players earn ﾓpointsﾔ rather than dollars is anyoneﾒs guess. Want to trade a few good players or even stars for some future draft picks to build a long-term, successful franchise? Forget about it. Teams trade so rarely that it really made me avoid the trading screen all together. Want to renegotiate a contract with a player on your team to keep him for the long haul? Forget about it. Players contracts always run out and most of the time that player ﾓrefuses to consider signingﾔ with your team in free agency. Ouch! That really made me want to draft that #1 rated center, build up his skills, and then have him shove a pie in my face by ignoring me when itﾒs time for contract renewal. There are some welcome additions to dynasty mode like training camp and the draft lottery, but overall the whole mode is clumsy, difficult to maneuver, and flawed. Playing around with a friend will be funﾅfor a while. The game does have online play, but the long-term staying power of this game in your library is questionable. This is a pretty harsh review, but when NBA Live 95 is 10x more fun than the current version something is wrong. New features donﾒt always equal success. Kid Factor: Kids not into the whole ﾓrun your franchise thingﾔ probably wonﾒt notice the flaws in NBA Live 2004. Theyﾒll enjoy the pretty, pretty dunks and the hip-hop soundtrack. More advanced teens will tire of the gameﾒs control problems both on the court and in the dynasty mode. Reviewer Recommended Ages: 7+ Genre: Sports ESRB Rating: E for Everyone Reviewer: Doug Hanna Producer: EA Sports Developer: EA Sports Score: 2 stars out of 5 
Kids not into the whole ﾓrun your franchise thingﾔ probably wonﾒt notice the flaws in NBA Live 2004. Theyﾒll enjoy the pretty, pretty dunks and the hip-hop soundtrack. More advanced teens will tire of the gameﾒs control problems both on the court and in the dynasty mode.
Kid Factor by Doug Hanna
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