hen I first played Lakers versus Celtics on Sega Genesis, I quickly dialed up my friends, offering an invitation to see something extraordinary. As I foolishly claimed, a visual presentation this good was deserving of more eyes than just mine. Back then, we didn’t expect players to look exactly like their real life counterparts. We were content with blocky pixel players that could only be recognized by their name. For 15 years now, developers are looking for new ways to harness the realism of the players. Oddly, no one has actually looked at how each player peforms differently than the others.

With the introduction of Freestyle Superstars, EA is finally bringing this important aspect to the court. Through eight different star player types, the league’s top talent will now be able to tap into their signature arsenal of moves. Duncan is a force inside; Shaq can power his way into the lane; Wallace can bat balls away like flies; Nash can freeze a defender with a behind-the-back toss. Although limited to only the league’s biggest names, this aspect opens up a wealth of offensive and defensive strategies for each team.

Unfortunately, this is the only aspect of this year’s game that really got my blood pumping. With each passing release, the gameplay continues to unravel, favoring frantic run-and-gun action. The defensive AI is all over the place, and your teammates would rather run into each other than spot holes in the D. Additionally, I still feel that the dunk contest is a migraine-inducing bore.

EA is definitely focusing on an area of the sport that I feel that all developers should be, but the series has fallen far behind NBA 2K6 in nearly every category.