The EA Sports franchise machine has become something of a monster these days. The layout on each game is the same, the special features that are kept inside them are also very similar, and it’s a bit on the hard side to review them all without feeling a real sense of déjà vu.

That’s not to say this is a bad thing, especially this year, as almost every single update that has been rolled out over the past 6 months, from Madden and Tiger to FIFA and the already rated NHL, have been above their class in a way even I never thought possible. NBA Live last year wasn’t really the best it could have been, with some rather choppy frame rate on occasion and a real lack of any encapsulation into the game.

This year we see a whole new ball game (no pun intended), with a nicely slick and more up to scratch effort, which does away with the drab feel of 12 months ago. The NBA franchise is huge, so the software advertising the sport and its wares has to be also. There is such a feeling of glossy American presentation with this, as even on the practice court that welcomes you to actively press the start button to begin you get little snippets of the ESPN Sports Center network, giving you highlights and news about what’s going on in the B-Ball world.

Once into the menus themselves we begin to see what we’ve now become accustomed to, with the menu layout having that “worn in pair of slippers” feel as you navigate through things the same way you’ve done for the past 2 or 3 years. All of the main game modes are still present, but the season has had the FIFA tweak of keeping up with the current scores and real life scenarios that play out alongside your own.

The Dynamic Season mode is accessible via the code included on the manual and allows players to re-write history by changing score lines that didn’t necessarily go in the favour of their beloved team. This is a nice touch, but my fear is that it goes down the line of the soccer sim and is simply trying this out for free this year and then pulling the rug from underneath you when you’ve just gotten your feet and charging you for the privilege with Live 11. This is already the case if you don’t have a code (maybe you bought it second hand) and simply feels a bit on the stingy side, especially when you’re forking out the best part of forty quid every year for an updated game.

There is a normal season though in the Dynasty Mode, which allows you to get in depth with your team as you look through the draft picks, train players in various exercises and, of course, play through the entire 09/10 calendar, with playoffs and finals should you do well. Even without the Dynamic stuff this feels very immersive, but be warned though. If you’re not an NBA fan who leans towards the serious side of things, you may start to get a little lost.

The rest of the play modes give you the playoffs without the hard slog of the months leading up to them and a nice little dream team feature, allowing you to create your own dream team from the entire roster of players and play against a similar squad, unless you want to cheat and put in a load of old duffers who couldn’t hit a barn door, but the choice is yours.

Be-A-Pro has also sneaked into the game, but here it’s called the Adidas Live Run. This does what we’ve now become accustomed to in the other franchises by letting you and your mates line up as a team and take on whoever wants to give you a match. The fact EA have had two full years to perfect this makes for a really well met system which keeps everyone involved without excluding (unless you have someone on the squad who wouldn’t pass if their life depended on it, but that’s not the coder’s fault). For those of you who have already tried this on FIFA and NHL, you’ll know how good this can be, but for those fresh to the game, this will come as a pleasant surprise.

So, to the game itself. The work done this year can be seen immediately. For the most part everything is running crisp and smooth, but there will be the odd time, in replays especially, where the horrid ghost of Live’s past will raise its ugly head again. The frame rate does have a knack of dropping when we see playback of the good points in the match, and although this isn’t directly in the match (and therefore not affecting your control or play) it can be a little disappointing when you look at how nice things actually move when you’re fighting for the win. The likenesses are, as always with EA Sports, pretty sweet with some decent textures without going overboard. When you look out to the stadium as well, you can see huge crowds, cameramen, photographers and mascots all bundled together to create what can only be described as a cracking atmosphere. This is also helped by the once again awesome job in the audio department. It does have to be said that if there is one company that knows just how to deliver the best sounds in sport gaming, it’s these guys. I’m not saying for one minute that I’m a fan boy (fiver is in the post – Ed.) but I’ve yet to experience a game from outside the Electronic Arts sporting stables that can encapsulate people quite as easily and not sound like a manufactured set.

Control wise it is a very simple setup, but to master it is something else. The right analogue stick allows shoulder drops and fast movements past defenders, giving you more passing options or even a dunk or lay up opportunity if you wish to go it alone. Other than that it’s as easy as X to pass, Square to shoot and the other stick to move your player. There are tactics available using the D-pad, but for a novice like me, thankfully, you don’t really need to use it.

Online is also your usual lot, with lobbies, custom league setups and lobbies to grab yourself a ranked or public match from a list of other competitors. The Live Run is also included in here, so there is a fair amount of choice to those who wish to take their skills out there into the open world.

Overall, NBA Live 10 is a good improvement on what we got last year. Everything seems to have been tweaked and cleaned up and although there are still little parts of it that could be ironed out to get this running just that little bit better, you still can’t fault what it gives you, which is a solid, very entertaining game of basketball. The Dynamic Season thing does worry me a bit and I do hope it doesn’t become a ‘pay only’ extra next year, but we’ll have to wait and see. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going back to the Palace of Auburn Hills to get the Pistons into the finals…. GO DETROIT!!!!

VideogameUK verdict: 8/10