SCEA, differentiating its NBA product from the competition by offering its unique “The Life” game mode, which is like a basketball soap opera, continues the saga with NBA 08 the Life v3. In this year’s edition, the story focuses on the coach’s imminent retirement and the team’s goal of sending him out with a championship.
You begin "the Life" by creating a rookie that was drafted by the team (you can choose any team you like for the basis of the story and this fictional team replaces that roster). Your height and weight are fixed, but there are traditional options for altering your character's appearance, like skin color, hairstyle, gear worn, and so forth. No matter what name you give yourself, you'll be called "the Youngblood" throughout most of the story. It begins with training camp, where through cut scenes and mini-games (mostly shooting and passing drills) you get to know a little about your teammates, your coach, and how to control the on-court action.
At first, this mode seems to offer potential as an interesting behind-the-scenes chronicle of a team's chase for glory, but unfortunately, long load times, incongruous cut scenes, and redundant mini-games bog it down. The in-season games are basically nothing more than mini-game scenarios, where you're given a list of basic goals to accomplish, which will advance the story, and "showtime" goals, which will unlock collectible jerseys and player cards (not for game use, though). No matter what you do in the mini-game, as long as you accomplish the goals, the story moves forward.
To top it off, the goals often focus on achieving certain individual statistics, instead of just winning. For example, you're given the ball with three minutes to go in the half, and your job is to get Blanton 11 points, making sure to hit one three-pointer and one basket coming off of a screen. Showtime goals might include going into the half with a lead, not turning the ball over, or holding an opponent to certain statistics. Winning and teamwork doesn't matter; just get the numbers, baby! You can get frustrated by having to abandon sound basketball principles just to get one player his numbers. Once you complete those goals, you don't learn the outcome of the game, or get to track your place in the standings, you simply move to your segment of the next game, after a cut scene or two and the occasional mini-game, of course. Rinse and repeat.
Ultimately, the premise has promise, but the script is too sophomoric and the filler too redundant to draw you in. The story changes focus from the coach to the other players on the squad, so you really don't have any attachment to the character you created. Lastly, you play no part in the outcome, because the story trudges on, no matter what you do, as long as you meet the mini-game goals.
Other game play modes include Single Game, Season, and online play. The Single game mode offers a unique and fun "Own the Court" multiplayer shooting game, the standard two-on-two playground action, plus a collection of mini-games that teach you the controls (that are identical to the ones you do again and again in "the Life” mode). Season mode lets you jump straight to the playoffs, or play up to 82 games with your favorite squad, but there are no franchise options. It's one and done, which also means that there's no draft, no salary considerations (a major part of NBA decision-making), and skewed trades. In addition, there are no injuries, and the computer teams never sign free agent.
Another major anomaly is high shooting percentages for both teams and players. The team percentages you can live with, but when Tony Parker shoots over 74% from the floor in every simulation, that's a problem. There aren't any game play sliders available, so you'll have to live with flawed statistics and unrealistic transactions in any season you play.
Aside from doing a pretty good job of finding the open man, your computer opponents don't play a great game of hoops, either. In a lot of instances, if you apply backcourt pressure, the point guard will try to initiate the offense with a 50-foot pass from behind half court to the wing. Most of the time this pass can easily be intercepted. Also, defensive players off the ball will fail to help when you drive to the basket (this goes for your AI teammates, too), resulting in an overabundance of lay-ups and dunks. Wide-open fast breaks off of a missed shot or a steal happen regularly, turning the game into a run-and-gun, YMCA-ball, over-thirty league scoring fest. There are no plays to speak of, and almost any player can handle the ball effectively with great quickness on the perimeter. All of these factors lead to a pretty homogenous arcade game of basketball, regardless of the players on the court.
