The game was met with generally positive reviews, with praise for its graphics and new gameplay features, though the Saturn port was criticized as being a slipshod conversion.

New features include the "Total Control" system, that allows players to choose between a dunk or layup or pass to any teammate with the press of a button.

Motion capture work was done by NBA players Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond, Larry Johnson, Joe Dumars and Christian Laettner.

With the introduction of 3D players, courts, and jerseys came an opportunity to patch and update these aspects of the game, including with the EA Graphics Editor software.

Critics praised the detailed player graphics,[9][11][14][16] new animations,[9][11][16] interface,[9][11] music,[9][16] and the full motion video sequences.

[9][11] GamePro commented, "What makes Live '98 so enjoyable to play is its fantastic mixture of NBA realism and wild arcade action.

For example, Jay Boor of IGN found the dunks were not as dramatic as they should be, but still concluded NBA Live 98 to be the best basketball game presently on the market.

"[9] As with NBA Live 97, critics reported the Saturn port to have much lower-resolution textures and jerkier frame rate than the PlayStation version, to the point where the action can be hard to follow.