NBA Live 14 was a start, though a bumpy one. It showed that EA Sports was trying to bring some decent competition to its NBA 2K rival, but it never quite got it together by launch to prove that it was a worthy competitor. With what looked like unfinished graphics and clunky gameplay, Live 14’s experience never felt complete.
Another year goes by and now we have another go around with the franchise and it certainly does repair some of last year’s woes, but it still isn’t quite there with NBA 2K15. Let’s start with what everyone is dying to know about — the visuals.
The presentation in NBA Live 15 has been improved. For starters, LeBron James actually looks like LeBron James, which is always a good thing. The faces still have that dead eye look and the details are still a bit short when it comes to expressions and emotions. It’s not like NBA 2K15, where the players seem to react and look proper in regards to what’s going on. Having said that, the character models feel a bit more complete and certainly look and act like NBA players should act, especially on the court. When up close, you can see the improvements. When far away, you can see the nice fluid movements of the players and the precise animation when it comes to how a player is supposed to react on the court. In short, the looks are getting there with the players, but aren’t quite to the NBA 2K level in terms of details. Probably another year will bring some much needed NBA player improvements, hopefully the series gets another year. It certainly does seem like it’s moving the right direction in the character presentation department. Although, the uniform fluidity needs some major work — especially the all star uniforms, which look like moo-moos (I’m not sure if this is Tiburon’s fault, though).
Moving on to environments, the arenas are gorgeous, with little to no flaws in their presentation. You can see some nice reflections coming off the floor and some really gorgeous lighting to boot. An NBA game these days is like a light show on the hardwood, so that is replicated splendidly in Live 15. EA Tiburon knows how to make an environment pretty and it proves it with this game. As you will always find with me when it comes to environments and sports, the crowd is vital for these places to come to life. I’m about 60/40 with NBA Live 15 when it comes to satisfaction in that department. I like the crowd noise, love the crowd reaction and I especially love how the crowd is rowdy during a free throw shot (obnoxiously slapping together those stupid blow-up sticks). However, I do not like how the crowd is patterned. You will always find an individual on the left, middle and right standing up. They’re in different areas, but they’re the same model. We’re at a point in gaming where the crowd should be somewhat randomized and not be so patterned. It might seem like a petty complaint, but if you look at a game like NBA 2K15, the crowd reactions in the stands are nuts. I’m sure there is a pattern with that, but it’s not as obvious. Mix it up a bit, Tiburon. Crowds matter.
Overall, the presentation portion of NBA Live 15 has improved. It is much better than last year’s visual disaster. It certainly is improved in areas like players’ faces, but not quite there in comparison to its rival.
What is a significant improvement in the game is how the gameplay flows. Last year’s game promised fluid stick-to-stick action on the controller — that never fully came to fruition. This year’s game simplifies those promises. It asks you to survive with simple controls that you’re used to having and requests that you once in a while think about dunking, euro-stepping and pulling off signature moves when you remember, and when the time calls for it. The majority of the time on the court you will be pulling off moves or guarding relentlessly with controls that come natural to you. For example, when you play the game you can lock down an offensive player by pressing L2, swipe at the ball by hitting the square button and quickly get back on defense using the left thumbstick, if you can’t get the ball. The left stick controls the player movement, so you can easily get from the guy you’re defending to a double-team, then back to your guy again. All of this will feel natural and will come off quite easily.
That’s how the initial controls feel when you’re playing the game and you honestly don’t have to break away from that and survive pretty well.
Should you want to try something bold, for example, you can drive down the lane with R2, press the triangle button twice to eurostep and then put up a shot with the square button, you can. Depending on the situation and the positioning of the defense, pulling off unique moves can be quite easy or a disaster, which is appropriate. The point of this is that you have special moves at your leisure, but you can survive on the simple basketball control techniques, if you need to. The game does a great job with keeping it simple and allows you to get as complicated as you feel comfortable with getting. For a game like this, it’s nice to have options in the gameplay controls department.
A huge plus, and something that NBA 2K fans know about, is how the shooting works. Instead of a meter that gives you a percentage for making a shot, the square button simply is pressed and let go at your disposal and your determination on whether the shot flow is right for a ball release. You won’t have to find meters onscreen for that, nor will the game give you any solid indicators when that release should happen; it’s simply up to the player to determine that moment. I like that, especially during free throws. Shooting feels very natural and, much like real basketball, you start understanding what a good shot feels like and what a total miss feels like.
Having said that, there is circular icon underneath the player that tells you when the best moment is to take the shot. Most of the time it’s accurate (green = best, yellow = 50/50, red = bad decision), but on occasion you will prove it wrong. That is an additional indicator in the game to help with shot selection, but not a necessity to guarantee shot success. In that same circle is stamina, which is vital for a game and for shot selection.
Anyway, the shooting, moving and maneuvering in the game is simple. You will be pleased with the control improvement — for the most part. There can be somewhat of a price to pay with the control simplicity.
On occasion the controls can turn on you. For example, defenders tend to be far more aggressive during the later minutes of a close game. That aggression can turn into really odd turnovers. For example, I was playing the Raptors close (I was the Jazz) and my player, despite pressing R2 for a burst of speed to try to turn the corner on the defender, continually bumped into the chest of the defender and fell back a step or two. This animation repeated and repeated until I crossed half-court, and then it repeated one more time and caused an over-and-back call on my player. Every time I would push against the defender, my player would stumble back. It was irritating to watch happen and it was an animation that continually happened on possessions beyond that one. It was a cheap in nature and there was absolutely no variety in what I could, so I ended up ultimately passing to another teammate. No matter the controls, it kept me in a defensive loop that had no solution other than to pass it.
Another oddity with the controls is how if you’re over-aggressive as a defender, you are going to most likely shoot past the player your guarding and never recover. For example, I was trying to lead the player I was guarding by locking them down with L2 and moving them into a crowded area down low with defenders to help out. My nudge with L2 became a catapult with my player, basically having over-shot him and never recovered. Could that happen in a real game? Yes. Could it happen continually over and over again? Probably not. There are some canned animations with the controls that can really frustrate.
Overall, the controls are better. They can become a hindrance (like the above examples), but they are certainly more collected and natural than they felt in last year’s game.
Staying with the gameplay, one enormous frustration I had with NBA Live 15, and one that just drove me bonkers through out my entire review time, is how the court doesn’t zoom out to allow you set up on defense when your opponent is bringing the ball up. If you’re guarding the point guard, I have no complaints with how the game is, but if you’re guarding the shooting guard or someone else, you lose track of them. The onscreen indicator of where your opponent is when they’re off screen is simply not there. I lost my man so many times when I wasn’t guarding the PG that I had to guess which side they were on. The onscreen arrow, which I assume is supposed to point to your opponent, simply didn’t help. My guessing was far more accurate than the indicator was. If I wasn’t on my man when the ball got to him, he was almost certain to make the shot. Again, this was very frustrating and this has to be refined and corrected before NBA Live 16 hits the shelves.
Another frustration is the artificial intelligence of your teammates — especially during the Rising Star mode (we’ll get to it in a second). Your teammates are not dependable when it comes to picking up your man. Half the time they watch him drive right into the lane after he blows past you. They don’t try to pick him up and their block attempts are generally late. Having teammates you can depend on in an NBA game is vital. Madden does it well, so I know it can be improved in NBA Live. This has to be corrected, otherwise you’re a one-man show in this game, which is not as fun as you are imagining it right now.
Shifting gears a bit, let’s talk what gameplay modes are waiting for you in NBA Live 15. Here’s what you should look forward to seeing:
Rising Star — This is basically your career mode. This mode allows you to create, shape and bring up to stardom your very own player. It’s something that is common in games these days, and just as fun as you would imagine it being. I’m a huge fan of this mode, as I loved playing it in games like Madden and MLB The Show. In NBA Live 15 the Rising Star mode works well and the progression system that accompanies it is easy to use. As you play and progress in games, you earn XP. The XP can be used to upgrade attributes of your player, such as dribble technique, shooting or defense. There are multiple categories for improvement, so you can pick what you deem is important and go from there. Each game you play starts you off at a 50 point scale and allows you to earn points through various ways (like defending, stealing the ball, getting to the free throw line, etc.). It’s a fun way to make a player vital to a team. I spent the majority of my review time in this mode and will continue to do so once this review goes live.
Rewind— You have certain challenges put forth to you where you can re-write NBA history and how games turn out. For example, the first one you’ll run into is trying to beat the Spurs in San Antonio as the Miami Heat…without LeBron James in the line-up. That is tough. You are graded on how you complete these challenges and you have the potential to earn XP by completing them. There is a large amount of these and they’re fun. The times and challenges vary from event to event. I like these challenges, they were truly difficult at times, but they’re so short (at least most) that replaying them won’t feel like a chore.
Dynasty — You’ve played this before in pretty much every EA Sports title (especially Madden). It’s deep stuff and made for true NBA lovers out there. You can start an NBA dynasty as a general manager of a team. You go through drafting, games and whatnot. For me, I had no interest in this, but I can see how folks out there would adore this mode. It’s pretty intricate and methodical, though a bit more hands-on than I prefer. This is like playing Sega’s Futbol Manager, minus the falling asleep while doing it.
Ultimate Team — That Pokemon fan in you will love this mode. You build your own team through cards. You have seen this before with Madden, and it’s more of the same. You obtain more packs of NBA cards and improve, replace and use your card team to succeed. You can have certain coaches, players, etc. in the cards. It’s another level of different enough entertainment in NBA Live 15 to keep the title interesting. I like this a lot.
Tip-off — This is your favorite (or non-favorite) team against another. True players with real-life attributes attached to them. This is a one-time-through game, almost an exhibition.
Online — Enjoy this one. It’s everything you wanted in an online basketball experience. It has an interesting leveling system attached to it, but truly built for those hardcore NBA fans.
This collection of modes gives NBA Live 15 some longevity without gumming up its offerings into a cheap experience. I like what Tiburon has done here and I think there is certainly enough entertainment to equal a healthy purchase. With that said, I still think the developers have some work to do to truly catch up with the good folks at 2K. I believe that Tiburon has certainly righted the NBA Live ship to get to that particular destination, but they will have to think about patching up some of the above holes to make the trip smooth. This reviewer isn’t going to give up on the NBA Live series, as I think they can get to that NBA 2K level — and competition is always a good thing when it comes to sports games, as it breeds inovation. I’m just hoping that EA doesn’t lose hope too quickly.
