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Sony Corp.’s NBA 08 is a solid basketball title that offers plenty to play in 1080p high-def resolution. While the game includes a few fouls, the new personalized elements, realistic defensive collision detection, and week-to-week online games keep the game competitive for the new season.

NBA 08 features a range of game modes including Quick Play; League for Exhibition, Season, Playoffs, and Mini-Games; NBA Replay to play virtual past season games or Games of the Week for brand new downloadable games each week; and Online for Quick Match, Exhibition, and Leaderboards.

New to NBA 08 is the Progression System which allows players to customize a basketball player and include him on the team. As games are played players earn progression credits to build the character’s abilities and unlock new items. Custom options include forehead height, eye aperture, and even lip fullness. With points, players can further customize with brand name shoes, headbands, tattoos, and more. The new feature adds a new personalized dimension to the game and likely one that will stay in future editions.

Also, NBA 08 includes Key Control, a new option that allows players to set a focus player to perform two-man mini-plays with the D-pad. The addition offers more strategic control offensive and defensive control. For example, players can pick-and-roll, choose a direct player for an alley-oop, or double team the offense.

The control system in solid in NBA 08. Players can pass with precision, trick and speed burst their way to a shot, add speed burst to a pass for a quick throw, shoot with a workable meter system, and dunk and lay-up in key spots indicated on the court. The fast play leans towards a more arcade-style play than full simulation.

On defense, NBA 08 carries decent momentum-based collision detection to put the pressure on the offense. When a player pushes against the opponent, various animations will indicate added pressure to the opponent, which can be enhanced with a speed burst. However, steals tend to move through the offense hands and rebounds can be overly tough to retrieve against the CPU.

The game also expands on motion-sensitive controls called Free6 in which each twist and turn of the controller will execute a juke move, spin move, or hands up and hands down motions. The motion controls work, however they can feel unorthodox in the heat of a play. Players can also perform the same moves with the right analog for better precision.

AI can be challenging on various settings, including Veteran and All-Star. At times the defense simply won’t cut players a break on any juke or spin move to force the offense to recalculate their strategy.

There are some faults with the engine. At times a controlled player or AI player can be facing the entirely wrong direction, which forces them to eventually perform a slow ice-rotation toward the correct player. Also, when the offense stands at the basket, both team AI and defense AI can look like a field of deer caught in headlights with little movement.

The graphics engine is excellent in NBA 08, with full 1080p high-def resolution and insane character models. Characters carry realistic builds and facial expressions, including eyes that widen and mouths than open when a lay-up or dunk is executed, and a full set of rendered teeth. There are some collision problems when players approach the basket. At times, heads and hands can move through the backboard. The title does feature broadcast quality presentation with a TNT sponsorship, with plenty of in-game highlights.

The sound engine is good with crowd ambience, buzzers, and sneaker squeaks that emanate off the court. The in-game commentary often repeats certain phrases and can be a few seconds too late in calling the play.

NBA 08 is a solid basketball title for the PS3. It features plenty of options from personalization to online play, and the Games of the Week feature will ensure repeat plays until the next season. Motion and defensive faults aside, the latest entry relays sweaty, high-definition basketball action.