NBA Live 10 comes out looking as good as it ever has. Many of the star players look great, but it has to be said that they aren't necessarily as accurate as one would like. The faces of all players could certainly use a bit more work, but in general, you'll be able to immediately recognize all of the stars. The environmental fx are also pretty well done, including the arenas and crowd animations. Even most of the coaches are immediately recognizable, although they certainly didn't receive the same treatment as the players.

When it comes to audio, NBA Live 10 also does a decent job, but really doesn't stand out as being the best on the market. The commentators, once again Marv Albert and Steve Kerr, are decent in real life but don't come through as well on the videogame market, mostly due to choppy statements and an unfortunate amount of repeated color commentary pieces that end up being forgettable after a while. These tidbits of information about certain players are absolutely interesting, especially for those who like to play as different teams. However, once you get into a season and keep hearing the same thoughts nearly each and every game, you may feel like muting the television.

On the court, the players sound great. You'll hear subtleties of players groaning, the squeak of the shoes on the polished floor, and the whistle and other audible clues that help you know the shot clock is going down or that the play clock is about to tick out. You'll also feel the vibration of the controller as the ref counts down your 8-second violation if you don't get across half court in time. The players have a host of great animations as well, from standard shooting, layup, and dunk animations, to double clutches and diving for the ball as it heads out of bounds followed by the potential injury animations after doing so.

NBA Live's gameplay has always come under scrutiny in recent years when compared to its biggest competitor, but this year's game has really stepped up and improved greatly in this department. In fact, NBA Live 10 is quite easy to get into, although there are still many moments of shock that occur when the computer does something that seems to change the course of the game... which usually becomes a frustration moment.

However, the overall gameplay of NBA Live 10 is vastly better than in previous years, especially on the defensive end. This year, defenders will generally find their positions and update their matchups quite quickly, even when switching defenses on the fly (a very cool way to mix it up when you feel you can't stop your opponent, by the way). There are certainly times on the court when the defense breaks down, but it's generally much better than in previous years. On offense, however, it gets very frustrating to see your teammates not keep the floor spread out through spacing, as often you'll find two or even three offensive players occupying the same area, which essentially breaks down your play. Defensive stealing has been tweaked as well to balance out the game, but now the ball will often pass through defenders on truly bad passes instead of being knocked down, which isn't exactly a good thing.

As far as ease of use goes, NBA Live 10 does have a fairly complex toolset to perform moves (both offense and defense), but the controls still feel very intuitive and simple to use. Also, this added control makes playing the game a lot more fun and not having to remember certain controller combinations is a blessing for newcomers. Instead, the Right Analog Stick does all of the dirty work for you.

The presentation has been generally amped up as well this year, giving more options with the Dynamic DNA, for example, to pass up to date information of the real NBA to your console. You'll be able to go in and see not only current stats and attribute shifts, but also trends that real-life players are performing on a daily basis that directly affect gameplay when transferred to your game.

One of my favorite features is the ability to use Freestyle Passing, a quick way to perform more accurate passes, as well as no-look passes that surprise the defense. While Freestyle Passing will sometimes have you throwing to a player that you didn't intend to hit, for the most part it works very well, especially on fast breaks when a fast-twitch reaction is more conducive than bringing up the passing icons or taking a chance at hitting the right man with the normal pass button in a crowd, which in general doesn't work all that well.

Like its competitor, NBA Live 10 has a host of game modes ranging from your basics like Quick Match and Franchise to the adidas Live Run (online squads) and Online Leagues. The newest feature for this year's foray is the Dynamic Season. Here, you'll be able to play along with the real NBA season by playing "Today's Games" or rewind to a moment in the past and change history. All of the computer-controlled team scores and game stats will then be downloaded and merged into your season.

One of my favorites to play online is the team matchups. When you get with a bunch of random players, it usually feels a bit like you're back in elementary school and everyone goes toward the ball. However, once players begin to get acquainted with each other (either as Friends or even within a single gaming session), players generally develop more spacing, will set picks for each other, and pass the ball rather than being a ball hog. When this happens, it's like being on the playground without all of the sweat.

It should be said that I did encounter some very severe framerate issues (see Game Mechanics below) while playing NBA Live 10. There were also smaller graphical glitches that were annoying. However, features like the ability to quickly call in coaching decisions on the fly are great and can really change the course of the game. Other game modes like jumping straight into the Playoffs or creating a Fantasy Team are pretty fun too, but they are more cosmetic than implemented into the meat and potatoes of NBA Live 10.

I have to admit that for a great portion of the beginning of my review time, I was getting more and more frustrated with NBA Live 10's gameplay, with a majority of that frustration due to the game's default difficulty. Of course, the difficulty was more of a sidebar from the real problem, and that was the "cheating" A.I. There seem to be way too many instances of fumbled balls during drives and missed shots that should have been gimme layups.

However, after more playtime and adapting to some of these annoyances, one adjusts his or her gameplay techniques to avoid (or at least minimize) these faulty situations. There is also a little thing called "calling a timeout" that can really be a game changer. When you find yourself up against a 10-0 run, calling the TO will help settle your players a bit, just like in real life. Another technique that I've found to be highly effective is to switch up your defense every once in a while, and thankfully, NBA Live 10 offers a very fast way to do this through Quick Menus. So when you're up against a 3-point shooting team, for example, switching between man-to-man and a 3-2 zone can confuse the opponent and pressure them to adapt enough to affect the outcome of their possessions.

NBA Live 10 is really a much more pick-up-and-play game than other titles on the market, yet you still retain the ability to perform impressive moves once you get more acquainted with the controls. Anyone should at least be able to enjoy playing as long as they stick with it and work through the annoying frustrations that may happen at the beginning of play.

Before getting into the controls, it should be noted that I have occasionally encountered poor framerate issues that don't necessarily last for the entire game, but will continue for a few minutes. When this happens, the game is so choppy that it may be worth restarting, unless you have a healthy lead, because your timing will likely be off on everything from shooting to D-ing up. I've also had similar issues with the instant replay, where all in-game cut-scene replays and Pause Menu Instant Replays are broken. This actually happened to me in the first game of being in Playoffs Mode, and as such, continued throughout all of my playoff games. It was highly annoying, at the very least.

The actual game controls are a bit more complex than just moving your players around because of the use of the Right Analog Stick to control both ball movement on offense and defensive stances on the other side of the ball. However, this extra control, which I should mention is very intuitive by using the Right Analog Stick, is also the reason for a more fluid gameplay than in the competitor's game. Because of this, more people will likely not only be able to control their players better, but have a more fun experience in doing so.

Being that EA Sports' NBA Live franchise has struggled a bit behind its competitor for a number of years, I would highly recommend careful consideration for anyone looking to only purchase one or the other. The gameplay of NBA Live 10 has been greatly improved upon from years past, and alone it is worth the price of admission. Adding to that the rich game modes and features, including the daily real-life stats and ability to play along with the real NBA season, and you have yourself a heavy contender in the battle for supremacy. For full coverage, you'll want to also check out Game Vortex's review of 2K Sports' NBA 2K10 and put the two titles to the test in our side-by-side comparison in the news story, The Ruling on the Court.