Visually SCEA San Diego has done a very respectable job with NBA ’07 on the PS3. This does not mean that it looks as good as a next-generation sports game should, because it does not. After seeing such games as MLB 2K7 and even NBA 2K7 you can immediately tell that NBA ’07 is outclassed in the visuals department. The game does look good in 1080p, but it is still pale in comparison to its competition. The player models are represented fairly well but they do not perfectly match that of their real-life counterparts. This goes for their appearance as well as their animations to an extent. They also exhibit a great deal of sweat during the game. You may be thinking...oooh sweat, nice! Wrong.....there is way too much sweat. Players do sweat yes, but not two minutes into the game. In NBA ’07 you will see their arms begin to look like plastic they have so much water running down them, and that is only after your center jumped up for the tip off.

The arenas are done fairly well but again more detail could have been put into them. The presentation could also use work as things such as the dunk replays need more polishing. Crowds could use work with more detail being added to them with possible crowd cut scenes in the future. One thing that was done very well though was the on-court detail as all of the bench players and coaches are extremely animated. The same can be said about the introductions pre-game giving a very flashy NBA feel to the entire experience.

The sound cannot be talked about all that much because of the fact that the franchise still has not implemented any type of commentary at all. This means that the sound effects and soundtrack have to take the entire load on their backs, which they do respectively. The soundtrack has a hip hop vibe to it to tie into the whole NBA theme. With no commentary though you would think the developers would put more time into creating a more wider range of audio cuts during the games to keep you interested with fresh sounds. The sound effects on court are done fairly well but things such as chatter between players is lacking. The squeeks of the sneakers and sounds of the ball going through the net though are all done very nicely.

NBA ’07 can be seen not as a full-out next-generation game for the PlayStation 3, but as a building block for future NBA games on the PS3. SCEA San Diego has laid out the groundwork here and can build upon it in the years to come. They have a solid visual presentation to build off of as well as some innovative gameplay modes including the NBA Replay Mode and mini-games. With the addition of a deeper season mode, tones up A.I. and gameplay, and possibly bringing the story-driven "The Life" gameplay mode from the PS2 over to the next-gen PS3, NBA ’08 could possibly give Sony the hoops title. Until then though the king is still NBA 2K7 for at least one more year....