Live 08 also benefits from tons of sweet animations, particularly in the paint, where guys push and shove each other to gain position before snatching rebounds. You'll see plenty of great stuff all over the court, from signature player moves to rituals at the free throw line. Furthermore, you won't rely on some newfangled and impossible to guard super moves. Instead, you utilize Quick Strike ball handling, a feature assigned to the right analog stick that lets you pass the ball between a player's legs and cross over by tilting the stick in various directions. It takes some time to master, in part because it's more subtle than EA's previous innovations, but it enhances the game, allowing you to break down defenders and get to the rim.

Even with these improvements, the game has its quirks. The aforementioned frame rate stutters at times, and you'll see the ball pass through players instead of said player catching it. On occasion, guys will suddenly rocket to the rim with a burst of superhuman speed; another will stop during a fast break (thus ruining the give-and-go) and referees will call an offensive foul when it was clearly a defensive one.

Those issues are miniscule, however, when you take the quality gameplay into account, as well as all of the features. The usual suspects, such as Franchise and NBA All Star Weekend return, but EA added some new additions, such as the FIBA World Championship (complete with international teams such as Spain and Italy), Online Leagues and Quick Pick Play, where you can create a personal all-star team by selecting players from all teams. And of course, the game supports online play to go along with those leagues, giving you the opportunity to play people from all over the world as well as digest tons of ESPN branded content, including sports scores, podcasts and video.