Other well-designed additions include separate controller commands for performing dunks, layups, and long-range jumpers, and the ability to quickly switch to an off-the-ball player by pushing the R3 button. The new 'Pro Hop' jump-step move makes driving through the lane easier and flashier, and you can now alter your shot midflight to avoid getting stuffed. Last season's impressive Live showing breathed new life into the stagnant series, and its path down the comeback trail continues with superior on-court control.

Unless the prospect of seeing each NBA player wearing the brand of shoes they use in real life excites you, stick with Live 2003. This makes it another case of being a game that's better on a console. But where it suffers most is the more complicated controls, with more buttons needed which just serve to confuse things. The slower pace should make it better, but it's still too fast for any tactics. Yet despite the changes, it still feels much like the same game.

However, Live 2004 has slowed down a bit and introduced some control changes in an effort to distinguish itself from its predecessor, and the result is yet another highly polished title. A goal is an event, a basket is a forgettable and flickering instant, like gulping one of those white balls in Hungry Hippos. Now, most Brits can't stomach a game of back and forth scoring, both the simulation and its real-life counterpart, as we're too used to the fine tactics and hard graft of football. That's because there was no Live 2002 for PC, and there were no other basketball contenders, so Live 2003 was a welcome return for a spectacular and often overlooked sport sim. Last year's edition of NBA Live had the unusual advantage (for an EA Sports title) of not being another incremental improvement on a previous version.

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