NBA Live 08 finally hits the shelves, but is another sports game enough to tear you away from FIFA?

I will say straight away that the graphics are truly amazing on this title, the player likeness, animation and background stadiums are just so realistic. The movement of each player is very fluid, and this becomes even more obvious when used with the new control scheme.

The left stick as usual will control your player, but the right stick now deals with ball control, if you are one on one with a player, twitch the right stick in any direction and your player will show a bit of flair, enabling you to play around the opposition.

Also new to NBA Live 08 is the use of L1, press this and it will show your players hot spots, red is OK and blue is rubbish, aim for the red spots and you will find that you will rarely miss the basket. Controlling the player is a lot more fluid than other basketball games, it seems easier to tackle a player, gain control, pass around court, set up and shoot than in any of the previous games.

The main game offers the usual Dynasty Mode where you hire and train team players and staff. The FIBA World Championship allows you to play as some of the top international teams, or even play as an NBA team. The NBA All Star Weekend has a group of mini games to play through, these include 3 Point Shootout, Slam Dunk Contest where you have to perform the best possible dunk and the judges will rate you, and finally the NBA All Star Game.

Also new to NBA Live is the Scenario Play, here you can create your own game situations and share them online with other players.

At the time of reviewing, the EA server for NBA Live 08 was down but you are promised plenty of cool features including ESPN news ticker, the usual quick play, quick play plus where you can pick your own team from your favourite players, an online league with up to 32 other online users, leaderboards and an EA Locker Room to share rosters and scenarios.

NBA is a very fun game to play, the action is fast and frantic and it just looks fantastic, the power of the PS3 really shines through thanks to this game and therefore if you want a next generation sports game you could do no worse than this one.

Rating: 8.8/10