I'm going to be honest - before playing this game, I had a severely limited knowledge of basketball. It encompassed supporting my parochial roots, being the Perth Wildcats and the team that shared my (nick) namesake, the Dallas Mavericks. As a consequence of my limited basketball understanding, I'll be reviewing this from the perspective of a casual gamer.

For basketball fans, as is the case with ice hockey, there is a choice between EA Sports' NBA Live 07 or 2K Sports' NBA 2K7. At the risk of creating a binary opposition, 2K Sports' games have traditionally reigned supreme over EA's. This year appears to be no different, with the average review score of NBA Live 07 being 61.9%. However, this is not to say that NBA 2K7 is without its faults, as there are many frustrating and annoying aspects to it. Most of the gameplay is rock solid but there are a few frustrating, niggling issues and when combined with the fairly aliased graphics, a few people might be put off.

The gameplay, true to all of the 2K Sports games is mostly fantastic. There are incredibly in-depth sliders that you can adjust to play basketball how you want it - whether you want an ‘arcadey', fun experience or a true-to-life, simulation experience, you can adjust the sliders accordingly. The default settings are a nice mix of both. However, some of the physics have left me scratching my head. Dirk Nowitzki, a tall Dallas Mavericks player (who is clearly taller than most other players) can run into the D and yet a tiny guy can get right in front of him and just stop him cold. Realistically, having all the momentum behind him (and I'm using the right trigger which makes him more aggressive) he should be able to charge through and risk getting a foul. This sudden stopping while trying to attack is confusing and frustrating. It also leads me to another issue I had with the game - the invisible barriers around the players. What I mean is that when you are trying to attack and get your player in to score points, many times I seem to be magically stuck on other players, unable to move around them, as if there is some kind of invisible wall. Even when I can clearly see a gap or I want to 'deke' around someone, I just can't because of this invisible barrier. I'm unsure as to whether it's supposed to represent a defender marking me or if it's just a bug.

Gameplay issues aside, the graphics in this game are quite up and down. In some respects they are great, yet in others they seem to have taken a step backwards from the 2K6 edition. The courts for the individual teams look fantastic, they are all individually detailed and aren't merely a wood texture applied to a flat surface with the home team logo on the top. The courts are reflective and the framerate is rock solid. However, there are quite a few jaggies (player models that have jagged outlines) which somewhat ruins the experience. I don't know whether or not this is because of my standard definition TV, but in my version of the game, there are a fair few jaggies (compared to what I've seen in previous 2K Sports games). On the upside, the models have many varied animations - an example being LeBron James' many different dunking moves which have all been captured and are present in the game which is a nice touch. It is also of interest to note that the players clothing is dynamic – it moves realistically while they are running with the ball and shows perspiration as the game progresses.

The presentation on this game is generally well done – the on screen overlays look great, credible and realistic and this, combined with the realistic and unique stadiums makes you really feel like you are there (of course, until you look at the players). Unfortunately, 2K Sports tried to implement an innovative new menu system, ditching the tried and tested ‘main menu' style system. I have a feeling this will be a love it or hate it option. The new system allows you to open up the menu anywhere at any time giving you access to everything traditionally kept in a main menu (such as starting new games or a franchise), rather than just the ability to change in-game options as in standard games. This sounds great on paper, but its implementation has been rather poor – certain sacred menu conventions have been broken. For example, you can't quit the menu with B or the start button, you have to move the right trigger – there is simply no button. This was quite annoying but hopefully next year this will be refined to create a much more effective system.

Another attempted innovation to the game is the single player mode, 24/7 NEXT. This is in addition to the already robust franchise mode (called ‘The Association') and is an attempt to add depth to the game. Unfortunately, it turned out more like an unused plot for a Disney movie – ultimately pretty corny. You see Shaq practicing and challenge him to a free throw competition. This gets you an invite to an NBA charity tournament where you ultimately need to beat other aspiring teams to take over ‘territories' by completing different challenges (such as first to 11, one on one and only being able to score by slam dunks) to ultimately break into the NBA. On the whole it's a bit tacky but it's ultimately good to see single player innovation in a sports game.

Audio in the game is great – the commentators are rarely repetitive and it's realistic – another hallmark of the 2K Sports series. You can hear the screeches of the rubber soles on the court, the fiery crowd and all the ball related sounds (be it the satisfying swoosh of a ‘swish' or the hold-your-breath clunk of a ball hitting the rim). Unfortunately, the accompanying soundtrack was a bit of a letdown – I'm not a fan of really corny rap. For example "2K7, it's finally here” and "2K7 fans everywhere” are lyrics in one of the songs – I don't know if he's rapping about the NBA season or the game itself but it still made me cringe.

All of the traditional multiplayer modes are there – both online and off. You can play with 3 other friends on the single Xbox and this is good fun, with the option of playing with street rules or full NBA rules. This is where the adjustable sliders come in handy – you can make it easy or difficult to score (depending on the ability of you and your friend). Online is good fun, albeit sometimes laggy (even Australian to Australian) to the extent where it's almost impossible to defend because you aren't receiving the data fast enough to realize what they are doing and hence they can score a few quick goals (unless you're unlucky enough to drop out completely). There is a decent online feature set, with leagues available; however, there are a few issues. The league system has no way of determining who is supposed to be the home team, so if you are the scheduled home team and you play as the away team and lose, you'll actually get the win according to the league. When you can find a good, lag-free game (and you make sure you're on the right team) the game is good fun online and there's a good mix of achievements to reward consistency, player stats and team rivalries.