Visually the game looks pretty nice standing still. The player models are detailed and even resemble some of the NBA's finest. The courts are also very well done with polish on the hardwood and accurate modeling of the stadiums. The bad comes when the game goes into motion. The animations are jerky, the transitions between moves aren't smooth, and in game (even at 60fps) it doesn't even come close to stacking up to its opposition. What's more is that the players faces are "dead". Sure the heads move about to follow the ball, but the eyes and the faces show no emotion whatsoever. Even the crowd is unimpressive with a low polygon count and repetitious movement (as compared to those in Live and 2K). The only flash this game has is the TNT presentation which is nice, but not enough to capture any real fan's attention.

NBA 08 finally features commentary that was sorely missing from last year, but Mark Jackson and Kevin Calabro call the action with little enthusiasm as if they knew this game was a stinker. The crowd ambiance is as lifeless and repetitive as the visuals with looping cheers and not much reaction to what is actually going on during the game.

The game plays a fine line between arcade and sim, but not great in either way. The A.I. is too aggressive at times and is always crashing the boards. I mean even fast paced teams show a little downtime throughout a game. This makes the pacing quite weird and hard to really plan your attack or defense on the fly as everything is go, go, go. Controlling your players is simple and easy to do, but little variety in the shots, dunks, and transitional moves leaves for stale game play after a few games into your season.

Speaking of season, that's all you get if you want something lengthy to do. Sure there's online, quick game, and NBA Replay that allows you to imitate the best performances of last year, but what you don't get are any of the extras. There isn't an All Star Weekend mode, so no dunk competition, no 3 point shoot out, and no rookie game. The biggest hit comes when you notice there isn't a career or franchise mode to be played. This is 2007 right? This should be common place in sports games now, no excuses.

In the end you are left with a less than mediocre title in all categories from visuals, sounds, and game play which results as a brick off the front of the rim. With 2 other fine quality NBA titles on the market there is no reason to even give NBA 08 a thought, let alone a 60 dollar purchase. Sony, just let this one go, it isn't worth the embarrassment.