Basketball isn't exactly the most popular sport on this side of the Atlantic, yet year after year we are inundated with new releases across the majority of major formats. Over the past few years, short of the arcade styled NBA Street franchise, the only two basketball titles really getting a look in have been EA's NBA Live series and 2K Sports' NBA 2K series - and with good reason. Much like in the case of the ongoing battle between FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer, both NBA Live and NBA 2K have built up strong user bases thanks to their individual strengths and unique gameplay styles; NBA Live, unsurprisingly taking the road much walked by FIFA, is all licensing, razzmatazz and an incomparable sense of atmosphere and TV style presentation, while NBA 2K is all about fluid animation, pinpoint gameplay and a feature list that would make the latest i-phone blush.

Well, with all bases seemingly covered, it comes as quite a surprise to see Sony's own NBA 08 making an appearance on these shores. Saying that, with NBA Live's continuing inability to put together any kind of credible gameplay to go with the series' staple of excellent presentation and with the 2K series stuck in a bit of a repetitive rut as of late, maybe NBA 08 can sneak in with a balance between gameplay and atmosphere that is lacking from the other two titles.

Anyone who had the misfortune of playing NBA 07 on PS3, a game mercifully unreleased on these shores, will not have the highest expectations when it comes to the release of Sony's latest baller; the game was clearly rushed to make the PS3 launch in the US and was subsequently full of bugs, also suffering from some pretty glaring omissions that did little to justify the games pre-release hype on the part of Sony. Well, before anyone starts panic, I can assure you that NBA 08 is a much better game than its predecessors. Sadly however, it's still far from good enough to worry the two big hitters currently dominating the market; it doesn't match NBA Live for sheer good looks or atmosphere and falls miserably short of NBA 2K in regards to both gameplay mechanics and features. Needless to say after that damning statement, NBA 08 is unlikely to be worth your time or your money.

The first thing you will notice upon starting up NBA 08 is the sheer paucity of game modes and features on offer. There is no franchise mode at all - an almost criminal offence when considering its competitors. There is also no opportunity to manage your team's finances in any way - no contracts, no salary cap and you can't even draft players into your team. Okay, so you can trade players, but with no negotiations at all you are free to swap your poorest players for some of the best in the league with zero competition or consequence! This might have been acceptable back in 1997, but basketball games have moved on quite a bit since then and the Sony team don't have the excuse of rushed development to fall back on this time around.

In fairness, lack of franchise mode aside, NBA 08 does have some redeeming features when it comes to game modes. Beyond the basic Quick Match mode, Season mode does throw up some interesting ideas thanks to its player progression and achievement points. By completing certain challenges, be it your first double-double or scoring a set amount of points from a certain position on court, you get to upgrade your created character or - better yet - you can use the points to unlock new jerseys or court patterns. You can also attain these achievement points by completing or impressing at the mini-games available in NBA 2008. Own the court is a timed shooting competition that is reasonably fun and the three point shoot out is as fun as ever. Sadly, the skills challenges are once again hugely disappointing; although they may sound great on paper, with shooting, passing and dribbling around an obstacle course sounding like all kinds of fun, the reality is, for lack of a better word, pants.

Beyond the Season mode and the hit-and-miss minigames, there is also the now obligatory Online mode. Although it does cover the primary bases (quick match, lobbies and leaderboards etc.) there has been little effort to push the online modes beyond the most rudimentary of features. The game does run smoothly and is largely lag free but, with the competition so fierce, NBA 08 really needed to deliver something a little more in the online department this time around.

Without doubt NBA 08's most unique feature comes in the shape of NBA Replay mode; if NBA 08 has a trump card then this is certainly it. The game takes some of the highlights from last season and puts you into that game, tasking you with replicating what happened on the court. These include scoring a set amount of points within a time limit to scoring from particular spots on the court to name but a few. These scenarios do give a new dimension to the challenges presented within the game, and with new scenarios available via download in the not so distant future, suddenly NBA 08's feature list starts to look a little rosier.

As much as I would love to say that the rather compelling NBA Replay mode saves the day for NBA 08, I just can't. As good a concept as it is, NBA Replay grows tiresome long before all of the sixty-eight currently available scenarios are finished, thus making the future content downloads largely null and void. This isn't down to poor structure or even from being overly repetitive - no, the problem, I am sad to say, runs much deeper - it's all down to the gameplay.

NBA Live may not have the best gameplay mechanics in the world, but it has a heritage, built-in user-base and some truly amazing production values to fall back on - NBA 08 does not. Similarly, to say that NBA 08 falls short of NBA 2K's stellar gameplay mechanics might well be one of the biggest understatements of the year and is testament to just how greatly NBA 08 is likely to struggle in the UK market. Although NBA 08 does come as an improvement over the 07 edition, many of that game's flaws are still inherent in NBA 08's makeup. The first thing you will notice is just how tightly defenders stick to you. Seriously, it's like they have tied themselves to your players, giving zero chance of escape! These close markers also make any pass over ten feet almost suicidal; it really is amazing how often the ball gets picked off. To make matters worse, thanks to these superhuman defenders, the game always feels bunched up and overly claustrophobic, thus loosing the free flowing style that is a staple of the sport. If you are lucky enough to escape your markers, maybe with a quick break, things are once again slowed down thanks to the inability to take a pass on the run. All of these problems add up to the same thing - stilted gameplay.

Even defence becomes a chore, thanks to bugs in the game design - really, how the hell are you supposed to defend when the ball can pass through your body?! "With difficulty" is the answer. One positive about being on defence is the fact that you rarely have to wait around for the AI offence to get at you. Unlike the majority of other basketball titles on the market, the AI doesn't waste time making unnecessary passes - they want to get to the hoop and get there fast. This aggressive AI comes as a pleasant surprise and is something that all other basketball titles on the market could learn from. Just as I sing the game's praise though, another aspect of the gameplay brings me crashing back down. Although not unique of this title by any means, the SIXAXIS control methods one again feel tacked on and largely pointless - honestly, why would you want to spin or, God forbid, raise and lower your hands on defence by tilting and shaking the controller? It just doesn't work at all and once again proves how a thumbstick can do the same job without feeling detached from all other aspects of the control method.

One aspect of the control method that works just fine is the shot meter though; it gives a visual indicator of what kind of shot you are attempting while also indicating the timing needed to pull off the shot perfectly. This may sound obtrusive on paper, but it isn't - in fact, it is probably the best shooting mechanic on the market and serves as one of the few aspects in which NBA 08 successfully betters its peers. Rebounding is also another of NBA 08's triumphs, with an indicator of where the ball will drop, combined with tight controls, making for some pretty fierce and very responsive battles when the ball comes crashing off the boards.

As you can see, there really are some positives to be found in NBA 08. It just seems that every time you find one, there are a handful of negatives to accompany it. This is the case once again when it comes to player momentum. While the game detects a player's momentum as they come together, be it when challenging a rebound or driving to the hole, this feeling of weight and momentum (surely something that will be expanded on in all future NBA titles), is largely ruined by amateurish clipping and some downright poor animations and transitions.

These poor animations and transitions also have a huge knock on effect when it comes to NBA 08's visuals. It may move as smoothly as the Fonz on roller blades at 60 frames per second in 1080p, but the lack of finesse and believability in player movement brings the whole visual experience down. The screenshots of NBA 08 look a far sight prettier than the most recent outing in the NBA 2K series, but when the two games are up and running side by side there is only one winner, thanks to NBA 2K8's almost flawless transitional animations and fluid motion. This really is a shame, as NBA 08 is an undeniably pretty game; from the way the uniforms move to the detailed player models and beautifully rendered courts, NBA 08 is a looker. Sadly, when the game starts moving, everything just falls to pieces thanks to those poor animations.

When it comes to audio, those who have followed the series will be happy to hear that NBA 08 does have commentary (yes, believe it or not, NBA 07 had no commentary whatsoever beyond the bland PA announcer). This year sees Kevin Calabro and Mark Jackson brought on board and they do a pretty good job for the most part. Like the majority of sports title though, they do tend to miss the big plays and get a touch repetitive after a while. Beyond the passable commentary though, the audio in NBA 08 is just bland; from the quiet crowds to the general lack of that all-important NBA atmosphere, NBA 08 just never pulls you into the game in the same way as NBA Live does.

The release of NBA 08 won't worry either EA or the 2K Sports team in any way. It may have a few tricks up its sleeve, but this is a series that has a long way to go before it can contend with the big boys. For every positive there is a smattering of negatives and for every innovation there is a collection of glaring omissions. You can see what Sony are trying to do - they are trying to fill that middle ground between NBA Live and NBA 2K. For the time being however, they simply aren't anywhere near achieving their aim. There may well be a very solid game of basketball somewhere in NBA 08 but, for the time being, searching for it is a little too much like hard work.

Reviewed by Liam Pritchard for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).