NBA 2K8

The Association mode is very, very good. Managing playtime is easy (relatively), and the options are strong. As a side note, you can take your created team into a season, but in all honesty, I couldn't stand the cheap uniforms my players wore long enough to run through even one season. The create-a-team options are incredibly slim, and you can't take any of the Legends players for your roster, either. If you can't make a dream team, why create one? Speaking of teams, you need to play like the team you choose to have any chance at success. This means running as Phoenix, playing team ball as Detroit, and grinding out wins behind LeBron as Cleveland.

The stadiums look good, the courts are spectacular, and the animations are spot-on. So why did I complain about the looks at the start of this review? The player faces are ugly as hell. Some of the stars look like themselves, but most everyone else - especially the Caucasian lot - look like zombies of some sort. The create-a-player mode is afflicted by this and has the worst face creation system I've ever seen. I mean it, Oblivion - notorious for being finicky - is like The Sims 2 compared to this. This isn't about too many options either, it's about poorly explained, poorly executed options. I've never seen a create-a-player mode I hated, but this may be the first. When you consider that 2K Sports was touting it's hard work on the faces, all of this  - the ugly players and crappy face design tool - seems even more insulting.

The play-by-play is good for the most part, but I have two problems with it. For one, it repeats too much, and I've only heard two sets of lines repeated at the Player of the Game screen. Secondly, there are times when Kevin Harlan's voice was poorly looped and sounded way out of place.

The Game Wrap-up is by far my favorite feature. I love seeing the top 3 plays again, and getting to sort plays to watch by player is great. Even the Player of the Game screen shows plays by that star player from the game. I also like the sports ticker constantly running through the game, but then I watch ESPN News on TV most of the time anyway, so I'm the wrong guy to ask about being force-fed too much sports information.

In all, aside from the ugly players and the guess work needed for shooting, this is an excellent game. Add to all of this the Blacktop mode with it's included Slam Dunk Contest, as well as the 2K Reel Maker, and you've got one great b-ball package. Alphasim out.

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