Of the many modes available, Dynasty Mode has been the most enthralling. The game allows the non-purist to draft their own team. I have found myself drafting and re-drafting to toy with different possibilities. Eventually, I managed to assemble a team that features Shaq, Lebron James and, through a trade, Steve Nash. My formidable dream team has provided me hours of entertainment, with only one drawback: the real NBA rules.

Salary caps may be necessary, but they are quite annoying in a sports franchise simulation. As a result of my clever drafting, I am thirty million over the cap and completely hamstrung in terms of player personnel moves. My goal all year was to bring in a power forward to compliment Shaq up front, but I could not do it. One of my late round picks, whose salary I did not check, eats up eight-million alone and never plays. The one flaw with the out-of-game aspects of Dynasty Mode is the occasional difficulty in checking how much people make and how long they are signed for when trying to negotiate the cap.

On the court, I am my own worst enemy, but having a blast nonetheless. I find it exceedingly difficult to play the post-up game (when you throw the ball near the net to a tall guy, who then tries to dunk or shoot close range) despite having Shaq on my roster. As a result, the perennial MVP candidate is averaging less than six points per game. He has become a glorified shot blocker and rebounder. Instead, I rely mostly on Steve Nash and a few role players to shoot from outside the three-point-line, while James and Jerry Stackhouse give me good fast break and dunk opportunities.

NBA Live 2005 also features plenty of ways to play. You can do special spins, attempt alley-oops, perform a nice range of dunks, back down your opponents, shoot fade-aways, call plays and much more. There was never a moment while playing, even with my casual knowledge of basketball, that I felt as if there was something the real NBA player could do that my version of him could not. Is there anything more can you ask for in a sports game?

Other than the actual head-to-head competitions, there is also a nice all-star weekend feature. Perhaps more than any other pro sport, the NBA All-Star Weekend has become an event. The rookie vs. sophomore game, dunk competitions and three point contests, as well as the actual game itself, are all available to be played on their own or as part of the Dynasty Modes. My favorite remains the three-point shootout, as it is quick, fast and fickle. One time you can win by a mile, but another you may have someone come out of left field and knock you off. The game presents it very well, making it feel like you are watching the real thing on TV.

On the other hand, the game heavily touts the new slam-dunk competition and the tens of thousands of possible dunks you can do. It sounds great from a marketing standpoint, but as a player, it left me overwhelmed. The game simply required too many precise motions and sequences of button mashing. I often found there were only a couple dunks I could pull off, and even when trying to do a different one, I would lose points for repeating a dunk. I also do not like how they totally abandoned the actual format of judged dunks, and instead moved to a head-to-head free for all where you must compete and do as many dunks as possible against an opponent. Rather than being scored by judges, players get artificial points for their work. Overall, I eventually got frustrated and quit playing dunk competitions.

The stock "EA Sports UI" that has earned my ire in games like NHL 2005 is present in NBA Live but, like Madden, it feels right. Occasionally it is clunky, but for the most part things are not hard to find and the front end does not really offend in any way. I really wish the EA Sports games were more individualized in this manner, but for an adapted generic UI, they have done a decent job.

The game has a myriad of other features, such as teams from past generations, create-a-player, and much more, but the meat of the game is on the hard-court itself. In most cases, EA has done a good job of representing the sport - at least from the perspective of the very casual basketball fan - and thus in my books earns good marks.