At Electronic Arts' swanky UK headquarters yesterday, NBA Elite 11 producer Nich Channon outlined the problem with the current crop of basketball releases. However I think we knew them already - both EA Sports' and 2K's offerings are still stuck in the world of unskippable animations and a lack of player involvement. Recent basketball games have felt you were just along for the ride.

EA Sports has worked hard to remove these problems from the FIFA franchise which now is rightly lauded as the best football game around. Last year similar work was done to the NHL line of ice hockey games. This work succeeded and sales in the US have been very strong, despite the sport being a minority interest there. The key to EA's strategy, Channon explained, is making something that's fun to play so it doesn't matter if the gamer is into the sport. The success of NHL across the Atlantic has shown this to be the right approach.

Similar attention is now being paid to EA's long running NBA series. The new approach brings a new name - NBA Elite - and talk of redefined controls, AI, animation systems and more depth to the gameplay. I've been writing about games for over ten years now and one gets used to hearing such things, every game in a series is a redefinition, an acknowledgement of past mistakes yadda yadda.

Would this be the case here?

Before I tell you, let me explain a little why I feel basketball games have failed to keep the interest of gamers and certainly why I've got very bored of them. The main problem is lack of involvement. As Channon readily admits, despite all the stats in the world and a perfect player button press, historically basketball games have always rolled dice behind the scenes to decide your success. Basketball games haven't traditionally rewarded player skill.

Good timing might be rewarded with the game warping a rebound towards the player. A pass may be intercepted if the game decides so just as it leaves a player's hand. It's all very canned, canned decisions fed into long canned animations that were impossible to skip. The result was a lack of control for the player - especially in defence, where the only real way for players to succeed were perfectly timed button presses and the luck of the draw.

So Nick Channon says, we've thrown all that out. Instead the new system is entirely physics based, with skippable and morphing animations that mean the player is in control at all times. The goal is to put the gamer completely in charge of what's happening on the court, so they feel when they score a difficult shot, they know it's because of their skill. And when they miss, they know it was down to them, not some virtual dice rolling.

So far so good. But will it make a real difference.

I pick up the joypad to play the Xbox 360 and within a minute or two I'm a believer. The new control system feels so right, so natural and so involving that one wonders why it's never been done this way before.

The left stick controls player movement, the right stick controls the ball. So it's easy to keep the ball away from a defender, cross it over, spin, and dribble. And then to shoot one simply pushes the stick forward. Now this is where it really gets clever.

In tutorial mode we're granted a glimpse of the shooting mechanic via visual onscreen indicators. One circular indicator looks something like a radar screen and tracks the movement of the right stick. You'll see a dot move around it as you move the stick. From the centre of the circle to top edge is a wedge like a radar sweep. Stand close to the basket with no defenders nearby and the wedge is large - pushing the stick up anywhere in here will result in a perfectly aimed shot.

Next to the circle is a linear bar, reminiscent of the shot indicators you see in Tiger Woods golf games. This is your power, as you push the stick up to play a shot this bar increases. Let go of the stick in the sweet spot and your shot will have the right distance on it - which coincides with releasing at the top of a jump.

The size of the direction and distance sweet spots vary based on a number of factors such as your player’s skill, game difficulty setting, defender pressure and distance to the basket. But if you get the distance and power right the ball will go in the hoop - always. This is a revelation, complete a long shot and you immediately feel the satisfaction of knowing this was down to you. Miss and you know why, often before the ball has even reached the basket.

And if this all sounds terribly technical then don’t be alarmed. In the regular game these indicators aren’t even on the screen. Once you’ve spent a few minutes with the new shot dynamic it becomes completely natural. One may even dare to use the word perfect.

This direct player involvement in the controls extends across the board and includes defending. Blocking and swiping are no longer canned, with the console deciding whether you’ll receive a rebound or not and changing the ball direction to get it to you. You’re in charge now. If a swiping hands hits the ball it will break free, if your hand is in the way of a shot, that shot will be blocked. Simple, natural and again a revelation.

EA Sports has taken this heightened player involvement and used it as a mantra for the rest of the game. The commentary team (which unusually includes a three man team with two colour commentators) will praise the player for their gameplay achievements in addition to the regular narration. The menu system highlights what the gamer has achieved in the various modes so far. This may still be a proper licensed NBA game, but the focus is on you rather than lanky millionaire superstar.

Other improvements include deeper game types and the introduction of Legend Mode, similar to FIFA’s Be A Player. Interestingly you’re not limited to success in the traditional on-court positions. You can define your own success. A couple of hours didn’t really give us the chance to try out these new modes - we focused on playing some two-player matches, but if the attention to detail from the new control method is extended across the board we have no reason to doubt NBA Elite 11’s success.

Those online five vs. five matches are going to be really entertaining. As is the bundled new version of NBA Jam, but we’ll tell you about that tasty arcade treat on Monday. Suffice to say I was very impressed with the work EA Sports has carried out on its NBA franchise, the gameplay is compelling, thrilling and involving - putting the player in control and creating a game that looks like it will win plenty of fans even among those who don’t follow the real sport.

NBA Elite 11 is set for release in October on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.