Leon
10-10-2002, 05:29 AM
If you are one of many people trying to decide which one to get, hopefully, I can help you out. A lot of games sites have reviewed both and liked both. However, I haven't seen any head to head reviews as of yet. I just played two games of NBA2K3 and a single game of Live 2003, and can give a brief overview of both.
They are both pretty good games, but they are so different from each other, that you can buy both and not feel like you just wasted your money on buying two basketball games.
NBA2K3: Like the previous 2K titles, it is solid is extremely realistic. I popped in the disc and set the difficulty on "pro" which is the 2nd level (there are three levels of difficulty total). 5 minute quarters are default. I chose to be the LA Lakers and I played against the NY Knicks. My goodness, that game was HARD! NBA2K3 is about setting up plays and strategy. You cannot use Kobe and just blow by your opponents all the time. You can use your crossover to juke them, but it's not 100%. You will need to use pretty much everything at your disposal like fakes, posting up, give 'n go, crossovers, steals, etc. in order to win. The final score was something like 48 to 49 Lakers. I won by a three point clutch shot from Kobe with the clock going to zero. Pretty exciting, I must say. Kobe was my top scorer with around 17 points.
The graphics were nice and clean and bright. They were pretty much like the ones from NBA2K2 on the PS2, except with better detail. The sound was in Dolby Digital 5.1 and it did sound like I was in an arena. The commentators were decent. Pretty much the same from 2K2.
Live 2003:
Next, I popped in the Live 2003 disc. They got some big name artists to provide the music. I personally don't care about those things. Nice touch, but it's all about gameplay. I started an exhibition game and thought, "look, I barely won in 2K3, so let me choose a crappy team for the computer." So it ended up being Memphis versus the LA Lakers. The difficulty was set at "pro" again which is the 2nd level of difficulty (Live 2003 has 4 levels of difficulty). How was the gameplay? Well, I think these endgame stats will tell you that.
Stats`````````Memphis````````Los Angeles
--------------------------------------------
Points````````54`````````````105
Bench`````````0``````````````0
FG````````````22/61``````````51/59
FG%``````````.361```````````.864
3FG```````````6/30```````````1/3
3FG%``````````.200```````````.333
FT````````````4/7````````````2/2
FT%```````````.571```````````1.000
Reb```````````4``````````````27
Off```````````0``````````````0
Def```````````4``````````````27
Blocks````````3``````````````13
Steals````````7``````````````14
Assists```````15`````````````35
Turnovers`````18`````````````19
Fouls`````````4``````````````4
Umm, yeah... The player of the game was Kobe with 80 pts with 39/42 shooting. 95% of those were dunks. Oh, he also had 8 blocks. This is with 5 minute quarters, guys. So does Live 2003 suck? No, but it is very different from 2K3. It's more of an arcade basketball game. The game's pace is so fast that The Flash wouldn't have been able to keep up.
EA Sports introduced something I thought was quite clever in LIve 2003. They call it "Freestyle Control." Basically, you use your right analog controller to control things like dribbling, and posting up, and some defensive moves. For example, if you wanted to try some killer crossover moves, you would move the right analog stick from side to side quickly. Pull the stick back and you will step back quickly. Tap it forwards and you will fake a step. I thought that it was a pretty ingenious idea that really gives you a lot of control over your players.
The graphics were a little softer than 2K3, so it didn't look as crisp. That doesn't mean Live had inferior graphics, but it was a little different. The sound is also in Dolby Digital 5.1 and the commentators were a little bit for lively than the ones in 2K3.
Overall Which one should you get? It really depends. If you liked 2K1 and 2K2, you will like 2K3. Visual Concepts went out of their way to create one of the most realistic basketball games ever programmed. The version I have is for the XBox and it does support online play, which is a huge plus. You can even download updated rosters if you sign up for XBox Live. Live 2003, sadly, does not support online play for the XBox.
NBA2K3 is best described as a basketball simulation, whereas Live 2003 is a basketball arcade game. You just gotta decide which one is best for you. If I had to only go with one, I would probably choose NBA 2K3.
Note: Remember, this is pretty much a "first impression" type of review. I haven't been able to play them both in depth.
They are both pretty good games, but they are so different from each other, that you can buy both and not feel like you just wasted your money on buying two basketball games.
NBA2K3: Like the previous 2K titles, it is solid is extremely realistic. I popped in the disc and set the difficulty on "pro" which is the 2nd level (there are three levels of difficulty total). 5 minute quarters are default. I chose to be the LA Lakers and I played against the NY Knicks. My goodness, that game was HARD! NBA2K3 is about setting up plays and strategy. You cannot use Kobe and just blow by your opponents all the time. You can use your crossover to juke them, but it's not 100%. You will need to use pretty much everything at your disposal like fakes, posting up, give 'n go, crossovers, steals, etc. in order to win. The final score was something like 48 to 49 Lakers. I won by a three point clutch shot from Kobe with the clock going to zero. Pretty exciting, I must say. Kobe was my top scorer with around 17 points.
The graphics were nice and clean and bright. They were pretty much like the ones from NBA2K2 on the PS2, except with better detail. The sound was in Dolby Digital 5.1 and it did sound like I was in an arena. The commentators were decent. Pretty much the same from 2K2.
Live 2003:
Next, I popped in the Live 2003 disc. They got some big name artists to provide the music. I personally don't care about those things. Nice touch, but it's all about gameplay. I started an exhibition game and thought, "look, I barely won in 2K3, so let me choose a crappy team for the computer." So it ended up being Memphis versus the LA Lakers. The difficulty was set at "pro" again which is the 2nd level of difficulty (Live 2003 has 4 levels of difficulty). How was the gameplay? Well, I think these endgame stats will tell you that.
Stats`````````Memphis````````Los Angeles
--------------------------------------------
Points````````54`````````````105
Bench`````````0``````````````0
FG````````````22/61``````````51/59
FG%``````````.361```````````.864
3FG```````````6/30```````````1/3
3FG%``````````.200```````````.333
FT````````````4/7````````````2/2
FT%```````````.571```````````1.000
Reb```````````4``````````````27
Off```````````0``````````````0
Def```````````4``````````````27
Blocks````````3``````````````13
Steals````````7``````````````14
Assists```````15`````````````35
Turnovers`````18`````````````19
Fouls`````````4``````````````4
Umm, yeah... The player of the game was Kobe with 80 pts with 39/42 shooting. 95% of those were dunks. Oh, he also had 8 blocks. This is with 5 minute quarters, guys. So does Live 2003 suck? No, but it is very different from 2K3. It's more of an arcade basketball game. The game's pace is so fast that The Flash wouldn't have been able to keep up.
EA Sports introduced something I thought was quite clever in LIve 2003. They call it "Freestyle Control." Basically, you use your right analog controller to control things like dribbling, and posting up, and some defensive moves. For example, if you wanted to try some killer crossover moves, you would move the right analog stick from side to side quickly. Pull the stick back and you will step back quickly. Tap it forwards and you will fake a step. I thought that it was a pretty ingenious idea that really gives you a lot of control over your players.
The graphics were a little softer than 2K3, so it didn't look as crisp. That doesn't mean Live had inferior graphics, but it was a little different. The sound is also in Dolby Digital 5.1 and the commentators were a little bit for lively than the ones in 2K3.
Overall Which one should you get? It really depends. If you liked 2K1 and 2K2, you will like 2K3. Visual Concepts went out of their way to create one of the most realistic basketball games ever programmed. The version I have is for the XBox and it does support online play, which is a huge plus. You can even download updated rosters if you sign up for XBox Live. Live 2003, sadly, does not support online play for the XBox.
NBA2K3 is best described as a basketball simulation, whereas Live 2003 is a basketball arcade game. You just gotta decide which one is best for you. If I had to only go with one, I would probably choose NBA 2K3.
Note: Remember, this is pretty much a "first impression" type of review. I haven't been able to play them both in depth.