I've tried to be nice to NBA Live. I put many hours into the 2005 version of that game for GameCube, to be fair. But these days, it has been lapped completely by NBA 2K. This is why.

Dirk Nowitzki

NBA Live turned Dirk into Nicholas Cage. This is horrifying. pic.twitter.com/wSWY04KOz2 — Tim Cato (@tim_cato) September 18, 2015

Dirk has always been hard for video game designers to render -- I guess because of his hair? -- but seriously, come on.

Chandler Parsons

to be fair, NBA Live nailed the "Chandler Parsons after a 10 day bender" look pic.twitter.com/HuofySQ4mT — Tim Cato (@tim_cato) September 18, 2015

Compared to the others, this is basically a life-sized replica.

J.J. Barea

LITERALLY NO WORDS FOR THIS ONE pic.twitter.com/4jVSt1l94E — Tim Cato (@tim_cato) September 18, 2015

Mix Barea with a hobbit and Gandalf the Grey and this is remarkably accurate.

he looks like a moon landing truther https://t.co/FQwPxCRfId — Austin (@garooya) September 18, 2015

"Kill...me..." RT @tim_cato: LITERALLY NO WORDS FOR THIS ONE pic.twitter.com/SY1Ruiwa3c — Greg Wissinger (@gwiss) September 18, 2015

Raymond Felton

Oh, Jesus. This made the jokes too easy.

@_Zeets @tim_cato that might just be his face/neck weight — Ivan Baekatic (@bucketsdntlie) September 18, 2015

With that in mind, I tried to at least fix the rendering weight.

Dwight Powell

[NBA Live designer leans back in his chair, nods with satisfaction] "nailed it" pic.twitter.com/wn63EVvp9r — Tim Cato (@tim_cato) September 18, 2015

... like ... well ... uh ... guys ...

@tim_cato These all look like the work of a man on a 19-hour bender of burning heaters and drinking Red Bull vodkas while designing. — Casey Greene (@cgreene_30) September 18, 2015

I think so.

Full ratings

Jump to 4:43 to start the Mavericks.

The ratings are surprisingly normal given the renderings. Maybe ranking Wes Matthews and Deron Williams the same is a bit off and Sam Dalembert beating out Zaza Pachulia seems slightly strange, but whatever.

But the player pictures ... I think I'm still in shock.