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Last year, 2K Sports continued its dominance on the 360 court with a solid sophomore effort. Its NBA 2K8 faces tougher-than-usual competition this time around, as EA Sports' Live series has finally seemed to have gotten on track after an eternity of just plain badness. This year's Live is the best it's been in years, but 2K -- like the game's top ballers -- seems to raise its game to the competition. Simply put, you will not find a better way to do your 360 hooping.

On the court, the game's controls are really what make it stand out. Already tight last year, they're spot-on this time around. The key is the shot stick. Unlike EA's game, which splits the shooting duties between the X and the B buttons for jump shots and dunks, here it's all done with the right stick. (You can still use the X button to shoot, but once you get the hang of the stick, you won't. We promise.) It gives you an ultra-realistic feel of shooting the ball, and it forces you to get your timing down. There are very few more rewarding gaming moments than throwing up a three-pointer and knowing -- as soon as it leaves your hands -- that it's going in.

In addition to the overall more responsive feeling of the controls, this year's version delivers new post moves. These will help you either become invincible in the paint or force the defense to pay more attention to your big man and, as a result, give everyone else on the court a little more breathing room.

One thing we found a bit odd considering the relative complexity of the controls was the lack of any explanation of them in the manual. Last year's booklet spent almost 10 pages covering everything from right-stick defensive work to posting up to using the shot stick to dunk with style. This year's manual gives you your basic moves and that's it. It's an odd decision. Two of the biggest games of the year, Bioshock and Halo 3, are both 360 exclusives and will bring a lot of gamers over to the system. Considering how tight the controls can be in 2K8 -- if used correctly -- to send folks onto the court with just a bare-bones description of their capabilities is just goofy.

Another thing that's absent -- but in a good way -- from 2K8 is the 24/7: Next mode. In case you blocked it out, this was an oddball drama that had you make your way up the ladder earning cred by playing and interacting with pros and unnatural, lousy-dialogue-spouting locals. we recently replayed through a bit of it, and after having spent more than our share of time bringing it as Master Chief in Halo 3, having to go up against Shaq in an FPS free-throw shootout was laughable. If you really need an element of drama in your balling, check out 'The Life, Volume 3' in the PS2 version of Sony's NBA 08.

That's not to say that all goofiness has been exorcised from the disk. New this year is a dunk competition -- and you'll end up spending a ludicrous amount of time here. Like the dunk competitions in other games, the way you put it in the net bears little resemblance to the way you do it the regular game modes. Here, the dunk is broken into the gather and the in-air phase. Fiddling with the right stick lets you be creative during each of the dunk stages. For even more fun, the game lets you sky over props like benches, ball racks, and cars.

When you're not trying to do a 360 over a Toyota, you can run through a familiar line-up of gameplay modes. Some hit; some don't. The Association is the mammoth career franchise mode that'll have you hiring staff, managing a budget, and generally trying to keep all of your players happy. In a nice touch, you're given plenty of options when setting up the mode. We particularly liked the Trade Override option. Sony's NBA 08 has no such option, nor -- apparently -- does it have a commissioner. You can freely trade bench players for stars and put together an unstoppable juggernaut. Being able to implement a watchdog keeps things legal. Of course, if you do just want to thrash the competition, you can turn the option off and get away with that otherwise suspect Leon Powe for Gilbert Arenas trade.

You can also play through a single game or season, skip right to the play-offs, or set up any situation you want -- time left, score, etc. -- and see how well you do. The game also lets you square off in a Rookie Challenge that pits this year's rookies versus last year's. It's a quick way to see how developers view the strengths and weaknesses of guys like Kevin Durant, Mike Conley, and Al Horford. We purposely didn't put Greg Oden in since learning he'd be out for the season. That said, if you really want to get your Greg Oden on, here's a way you can let him torch a bunch of second-year players whenever you want.

The mode in which we predict you'll be spending the least amount of time is the game's version of street ball. Take the game's elite and have them go up against each other in pick-up games in places like Rucker Park and The Cage. The gameplay is a little bit rougher than in the regular game, but that doesn't necessarily translate into much fun. If you want to have street ball fun, you need to be playing EA's NBA Street: Homecourt. The blacktop game in 2K8 doesn't fly.

Online, there's no shortage of ways to light it up. Bang away in a single game if you just want to see how your single-player skills work against a live foe, or go into it for the long haul in a tournament or season.

As far as presentation goes, movement on the court seems more fluid this year, and players have definitely been given a makeover. There are far fewer zombie-looking dudes running around. Play-by-play is generally on the mark. You will hear the same comments about certain players over and over again -- especially if you play through a season or are in Association mode -- but you do get a strong overall sense of watching a televised game.

Sports games, especially, have been known to adopt an if-it-ain't-broke mentality about year-to-year development. Many top games (sometimes referred to as "Madden") have been known to slide along either because the competition was so weak or because there was no competition at all. 2K Sports could have done just that. Its NBA 2K7 dominated the hoops scene last year, and there was no reason to believe it wouldn't do the same this year. Fortunately, for the folks at 2K -- and for gamers -- they didn't just rest on their laurels. EA Sports' NBA Live 08 offers some serious competition this year. Tweaks like the tighter controls and addition of a dunk competition, though, made an already strong game a monster. The crown remains in place.

This review is based on a retail copy of NBA 2K8 that was purchased by the reviewer. He almost blew his money on "Magic Beans," but at the last minute, he came to his senses.