PlayStation 2

NBA 2K8

Une suite sans surprise qui peine à élever le niveau d'une série qui n'a plus rien à prouver sur PS2. Une sorte de fin de cycle en beauté que l'on conseille à tous, possesseurs ou non de 2K7. La raison ? Un prix des plus abordables (30 euros) pour un produit d'une grande qualité.

Plus fin que son prédécesseur, NBA 2K8 se présente sur le fond comme la meilleure simulation de basketball actuelle, notamment grâce à une I.A. qui ne fait pas banquette, et un réalisme bien prononcé. Le titre n'est pas mal non plus sur la forme, puisque la réalisation, déjà excellente la saison dernière, s'est améliorée grâce à quelques ajouts visuels agréables. Le gameplay parvient à contenter aussi bien les rookies que les anciens de la discipline. Le jeu en ligne, quant à lui, ne commet aucune faute de goût, et on est déjà curieux de savoir ce que nous réservent 2K Games et Visual Concepts pour la prochaine édition. Bref, si NBA 2K8 n’a pas encore atteint la perfection, il s’en approche.

NBA 2K8 is this year's version of an already very accomplished basketball series with an updated roster and some additional enhancements that, whilst not court shattering, add to the overall experience. I would recommend it even if you have NBA 2K7, but you need to realise that it's a game that needs a lot of time and effort put in; make that investment and you'll reap dividends of enjoyment in return.

While it may not sport All-Star Weekends, FIBA World Tournaments, or hoops-flavored soap operas like its competition, one thing is for sure - NBA 2K8's got the best on-court basketball experience on the PS2 this year. That's enough for us to declare it the champ.

NBA 2K8 is a decent game of basketball, but it has to be taken with a grain of salt. With very few enhancements to the gameplay, dated visuals and old shooting issues still plaguing the title, NBA 2K8 one of those titles that barely escapes being a mild roster update. As long as you're willing to accept its flaws, you'll find an enjoyable basketball title here for your PS2.

If online play is your thing we suggest you rent the game first. We experienced disconnect issues in four of our first seven online games and have seen roster validation error messages. Lobbies and ranked games remain almost identical to last year's version, and lag is not an issue during the game. Of course you might be wishing for lag when somebody posts Kobe up and does a spin/dunk animation on every offensive series. That's not a knock on 2K8 as much is it is a statement about online sports games -- people determined to cheese will find exploits, no matter how hard the dev team tries to create a "sim" environment. Shortcomings aside, we harken back to our Vince Carter analogy. Carter's star is fading, and the "next-gen" is already here in D-Wade, 'Bron and Melo. The PS2 version of 2K8 faces a similar challenge.

If you own last year's game, and you're cool with dropping 30 dollars for what amounts to little more than a patch and some new rosters, you'll be reasonably satisfied with NBA 2K8. Just don't buy the game expecting any of the new features from the Xbox 360 and PS3--they aren't here.

Overall, you get what you pay for with this one. It's half the price of the stellar new-gen version of NBA 2K8 -- and pretty much half the game.