File:Classic Game Room HD - NBA LIVE 10 review

Description
Classic Game Room HD reviews NBA LIVE 10 from EA SPORTS for Xbox 360, also available for PS3. NBA Live 10 has taken me by surprise because historically, basketball has not made for good video games. Football, soccer, baseball, hockey and golf have all made a logical transition from the real sport to video games with game cartridges dating as far back as 1978 when the Atari 2600 and Magnavox Odyssey 2 were loaded with playable sports titles headlining their catalogs. Basketball was always buried in shame, rarely featured in ads and stuck on the last page of sales brochures behind the glitz of football. Old school basketball video games were terrible. They consisted of two players facing off against each other with a giant pixel that you were supposed to throw at a line. Whoopie! Id rather play Basic Math. Fast forward more than 30 years and push aside that faded VCS Basketball cartridge to make room for NBA Live 10. EA Sports has managed to make a basketball game that jumps off the screen with realism and technical mastery while lavishing the player with fun and well rounded gameplay. Players can pick their favorite team, trade players and manage every detail or just dive right into a fact paced game of basketball. The recent slate of EA Sports titles has impressed me with their ability to be played like arcade-style sports games or team management simulations. Admittedly Im not much of a basketball fan. Pittsburgh doesnt even have a basketball team which left me choosing a team based on proximity. I flipped a coin between Cleveland and Philadelphia and picked Cleveland even through the coin said Philadelphia because I have actually heard of players on Cleveland. I figured that would increase my odds of winning. After a 2-5-0 run through the seas I switched to the Lakers and rained 3 pointers on opposing teams like razor hail on Marcus Fenix (its a Gears of War 2 reference). Hey, you know what NBA Live 10 could really use? Flamethrowers. Even without the luxury of blasting other teams with liquid napalm I picked up scoring, passing and gameplay with no sweat which is impressive because I barely know anything about basketball.