Rating: 
Summary: Very Rough Game But Fun
Review: It is a fun game but the game is programmed VERY VERY VERY rough. It seems they rushed the game into release or something. Graphics aren't even close to acceptable. Player faces are very vague, it literally looks like a fat dou being pinched into a human face. While the game play is barely acceptable but you can shoot 3s inside 3 pt line, you can shoot a ball behind board when it is physically impossible. In general, only a playable game. I have never been a EA sports game fan anyway. Most of them sucked. For basketball, I recommend 2002 or 2003 NBA LIVE for XBOX. In my opinion, they are more like real life basketball.
Rating: 
Summary: Just rimmed out.
Review: Let me start by saying that this game is a GRAND improvement from last years game. The in-the-paint action is phenominal and the level of thought in shot selection makes for a more realistic experience than you get from ESPN Basketball. However, Live's franchise mode once again isn't up to par with ESPN. After three seasons I had Paul Pierce and Trace Mcgrady starting on my bench. It's so unbelievebly easy to stack your team because the salary cap system is awfully executed.
In the end, this game will WOW you on the court, and leave you scratching you head at the GM's desk.
PROS- Smoothest, most realistic gameplay
- Well done sound, sountrack and announcers perfect
CONS- No thought in training camp mode
- Salary cap ruins franchise mode
- EA's comeback AI always lets the CPU score when needed.
Rating: 
Summary: awesome
Review: nba live 04 is a great game. the gameplay is cool, but sometimes its hard to get your guys to run plays because they get stuck when another guy is in their way, and cant run around him for whatever reason. and also in dynasty mode you can sign top free agents after training camp b/c no one would sign em in the real free agency period. and some average guys just stay there forever.
sometimes i spend the whole day in (in the summertime)playin live. superstar level is easy though. the intentional foul is cool too all u have to do is press the playcalling button in pc.
Rating:
Summary: Fun game but couple of flaws should be mentioned
Review: NBA Live 2004 for the pc is great. Many of the features in this game are way better than last year's struggling game. This game now features a better more simulated game. Last years was too quick, this years is much more on the defense and learning how to use plays correctly. Audio is much improved. I hated Don Poyer's commentary and his partner. This edition includes TNT's Marv Albert. Players look somewhat good. But YAO blocks anything, have himn on your team, he is really good!
Dynasty Mode is what is the best part of the game. Basically you are playing to win. At the end of your games you earn points for completing tasks during the game. Like if you get 2 off rebounds you get 15 points to use for more training or unlocking team clothing. (But is 150 pairs of shoes needed?). Also I enjoy the player cut sequences. If you release a player, it will show him leave the Team headquarters. When you draft a player, it will show the player shaking hands with the commissioner in the draft room. Some of these little things, make this game fun.
Problems are small, but when you miss a shot and the other team goes on transition, your players can't catch up. The other team gets a free basket. Also your offensive players can't dunk when there are defensive players there too. Very rarely do they make it.
Live is turning to be a great game. It should be gold in the next few years.
Rating:
Summary: NBA Live 2004
Review: NBA Live 2004 is the best of the nba live series. The game play is amazing, the graphics are great and the controls are easy to use. I love it.
Rating:
Summary: NBA Live 2004: King of Hoops!
Review: NBA Live 2004 is the newest randition of EA Sports's dynasty of basketball game titles. This one is even better than last year's exceedingly wonderful title, NBA Live 2003. I feature the patented freestyle controls and allows you to use them on players that aren't touching the ball. EA calls this their 10-man freestyle control system. It works wonderfully. They've revamped the franchise mode and renamed it the dynasty mode. You can now trade draft picks, amoung other grand improvements. As always, it feature the NBA greats and have updated the rosters. This is just a tiny bit of why I think NBA Live 2004 is truly the King of Hoops.
Rating: 
Summary: The "terrible" guy was unfortunately right
Review: OK,a previous reviewer said that this game is "terrible", do not buy it, smash the CD into pieces etc. Well, he was right.I own NBA Live 2003 too. That one was terrible too. Did I think that 2004 would be an improvement? No. It was clear ever since that the people who develop this are no real basketball fans. So some things in the game would change, but no overall improvement would be made. I knew it. I was right. Let me give you an example. Have you ever gone to a concert of a favorite band and see many people who only know a couple of songs, and that's all they expect to listen to? Well, this is similar. These guys do not really know basketball. I doubt they 've ever played it, even as amateurs. They have only watched it on TV. No, not whole games. Just the highlights.
So if ALL you like of basketball is the fastbreaks and blocking dunks, then this game is for you. Otherwise, stay away. Sure, some things have changed since Live 2003. Defense is slightly better. The freestyle system is worse. Player motion is worse. The Dynasty Mode is even worse and more arcadish than Live 2003's Franchise Mode. There are huge bugs in it too, and no patch for them yet. Anyway, a good inclusion was the brand new "slider system", where you can actually adjust things like fouling frequency, block frequency, double team frequency etc. This is good, but even tampering with everything is not enough to create a simulation out of this parody-of-a-game. It is just not a simulation. The new "10 player awarness" thingy has actually done things worse. Players usually choose to move in completely counter-intuitive manners. And of course, they refuse to mark their man and stop the fastbreaks. I mean, it's really ridiculous. A last comment. Have the developers done all these "mistakes" on purpose?
Yes, most of them. I cannot believe that they can't program the damn thing not to go on fastbreaks all the time. I refuse to believe that they couldn't make a game where scores would be realistic in the "Simulation Mode" (scores are too high). They are just unable to appreciate real basketball (or don't care enough to).
But there are also mistakes that show programming incompetence. The "10 player awareness thingy" (or whatever they call it) is just poorly programmed. So...why did I buy this game again? Oh, yes, there is no competitor for PC, and wanted a basketball game to play. Too bad for me, I guess.
In conclusion, if you hated Live 2003, you are going to hate this one too. If you have never played Live 2003, you are a lucky man, do not play this one either.
Rating:
Summary: The "terrible" guy was unfortunately right
Review: OK,a previous reviewer said that this game is "terrible", do not buy it, smash the CD into pieces etc. Well, he was right. I own NBA Live 2003 too. That one was terrible too. Did I think that 2004 would be an improvement? No. It was clear ever since that the people who develop this are no real basketball fans. So some things in the game would change, but no overall improvement would be made. I knew it. I was right. Let me give you an example. Have you ever gone to a concert of a favorite band and see many people who only know a couple of songs, and that's all they expect to listen to? Well, this is similar. These guys do not really know basketball. I doubt they 've ever played it, even as amateurs. They have only watched it on TV. No, not whole games. Just the highlights.
So if ALL you like of basketball is the fastbreaks and blocking dunks, then this game is for you. Otherwise, stay away. Sure, some things have changed since Live 2003. Defense is slightly better. The freestyle system is worse. Player motion is worse. The Dynasty Mode is even worse and more arcadish than Live 2003's Franchise Mode. There are huge bugs in it too, and no patch for them yet. Anyway, a good inclusion was the brand new "slider system", where you can actually adjust things like fouling frequency, block frequency, double team frequency etc. This is good, but even tampering with everything is not enough to create a simulation out of this parody-of-a-game. It is just not a simulation. The new "10 player awarness" thingy has actually done things worse. Players usually choose to move in completely counter-intuitive manners. And of course, they refuse to mark their man and stop the fastbreaks. I mean, it's really ridiculous. A last comment. Have the developers done all these "mistakes" on purpose?
Yes, most of them. I cannot believe that they can't program the damn thing not to go on fastbreaks all the time. I refuse to believe that they couldn't make a game where scores would be realistic in the "Simulation Mode" (scores are too high). They are just unable to appreciate real basketball (or don't care enough to).
But there are also mistakes that show programming incompetence. The "10 player awareness thingy" (or whatever they call it) is just poorly programmed. So...why did I buy this game again? Oh, yes, there is no competitor for PC, and wanted a basketball game to play. Too bad for me, I guess.
In conclusion, if you hated Live 2003, you are going to hate this one too. If you have never played Live 2003, you are a lucky man, do not play this one either.
Rating:
Summary: NBA Live, good game or not?
Review: So many people say that NBA Live 2004 is a bad game. This is not true. Yes, it's true, there are some flaws to the game, but overall, the game is extremely well put together. However, here are some things that the people at EA Sports need to work on. 1. Players need to be able to get back on fast breaks better. When I say this, I mean your players, not the computer's players. It seems that the computer can always get back on fast breaks much quicker than you or your team mates can. 2. The people at Ea Sports shouldn't do stupid things, like making your player miss a WIDE OPEN DUNK, and the computer hitting a completely contested shot. This does happen when you go up by 10 or more points, so just remember this. 3. The people at EA sports need to understand that when a man gets beat, another man can't come out of no where to block a dunk. Yes, it can happen sometimes, but with this game, it happens frequently. 4. EA Sports needs to create a downloadable patch to this game so that people can update their rosters and make the season exactly how it is now.
5. EA Sports developers need to find a way to get the crowd sound more realistic. They need to make them sound like they are actually at a basketball game. This needs to be done, especially when the team that you are controling makes it to the playoffs. If your team does bad, the developers should make it sound and look like there are less people at the game. This , and all of the other things that I have mentioned so far would make the game much more fun to play. Everything else about this game was done extremely well. The commentary was good, and the graphics are also very good. The only other thing that the people at EA Sports need to work on is finding a way to do the starting line ups in every game and make the anouncers shine the spotlight on which ever player they want after the starting line up is finished. They also should try including pre-season games in dinesty mode. And when you substitute a player, you should be able to see him coming off the bench. It would make it look more realistic.
Rating:
Summary: NBA live rocks the house
Review: This game keeps me going I could be happy playing this game all day and still not get tired of it. This game sucked me in and I have mastered it in less than one month. The fact that it has different skill levels makes it easy to start off at but provides challenges even for me and I consider myself very good.
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