The very well revered history of EA Sports NBA Live, which stretches well over 2 decades and several generations of platforms, came to an abrupt stop shortly after NBA Live 10 for the PS3 and Xbox 360. Soon after the Live 10 gaming season came to a close, and months after a new direction being filed for the EA franchise, the demo for NBA Elite came out to less than stellar reviews. ShortlyThe very well revered history of EA Sports NBA Live, which stretches well over 2 decades and several generations of platforms, came to an abrupt stop shortly after NBA Live 10 for the PS3 and Xbox 360. Soon after the Live 10 gaming season came to a close, and months after a new direction being filed for the EA franchise, the demo for NBA Elite came out to less than stellar reviews. Shortly thereafter, Elite was shelved and that began the 3 year hiatus for the storied franchise.
Fast forward to Live 14, the next generation of consoles were in our possessions and glimpses of hope and optimism were quickly subdued upon the release of the demo. The game released to poor reception, and quickly Sean O'brien came to tell us of the trials and tribulations that they had faced. Broken teams, shuffled development cycles, new technology. He and the Live team promised updates throughout the season which would help fix some of the core gameplay that plagued the early release. They held true to their word, adding several patch updates to the game throughout the season, even going as far to add a new practice mode for gamers to learn the new controls for Live.
I recently picked up the latest version of Live on the PS4, NBA Live 15. One of the first things that you'll notice when booting up the game, is how much more "finished" the title looks. From the Intro video, to the splash screens, it screams of a more quality title than Live 14 presented.
After the initial boot screen, you'll be greeted with a sorely needed tutorial and onboarding process. I have never been a big believer in tutorial modes nor onboarding processes, but when a game has been absent for several years, your mind is trained to play any basketball title as if you're playing the competition's game. Mission 1: teach new and old players alike the nuances of the new dribbling and control mechanics for NBA Live. One thing that you will come to realize during the onboarding process is how much control that you have at your disposal. You will need to learn the new fast break controls, shooting, as well as pick and roll mechanics. If you fail, prepare to be mocked by the cover athlete Damian Lillard.
After the onboarding process, you'll be greeted with an updated menu system. If you're a Madden player, then you'll easily be able to navigate the game's menu system.
Hopping onto the Hard court, you'll notice one of the biggest differences this year right out of the gate. The game truly looks like a next gen experience. Everything, ranging from the player faces, right down to the uniforms, accessories and shoes have been scanned and given the details that they deserve. We've seen the Visuals Trailer, we've seen shoe blogs, and we've seen stadiums and player screenshots. The media released this far does the game an injustice, which you'll get to see on your own high definition television. You can tell that the art team for NBA Live 15 is pushing the envelope and trying to bring the Live community a truly next gen looking experience.
Shortly after release, the NBA Live & EA Sports has already released 1 Title Update that added in the new courts that were just revealed for the season, as well as some new player face scans. This will be constantly updated as the season progresses, and the art team gets more and more player scans.
Once the whistle blows and the ball is thrown into the air, you'll notice that this is no longer NBA Live 14 as well. The game is a much more polished and fluid experience. Existing animations have been redone and a ton of new animations have been added. Player movement and explosiveness is captured with the fluidity and responsiveness that you would expect out of an NBA Superstar. One thing to note, is that with Live 15, if you spend time in the training facility, learning the moves and honing your "stick skills", you will be rewarded with a nicely animated game that you are controlling each precise movement. On the same token, if you want to play the game without knowing the controls, it'll work, but don't be surprised if your players take shots that look like they belong at the YMCA Little League Rec League. After the initial release of the GameStop Expo footage, I read the comments about the animation from George Hill, dribbling into traffic and throwing up a heavily contested, awkward fadeaway. That's the beauty of the game. If you want to do just that, the game will allow it. You're controlling it. The game isn't going to force you into an animation to keep the gameplay "pretty". That's up to you.
Venturing on into the gameplay, EA touted a collision system in the paint. Those of you who played Live 14 will consider this a savior. Often CPU opponents or online opponents in Live 14 would spin baseline from the post and get an easy bucket which was widely uncontestable. That is no more. If you go into the paint, be prepared to have your shot contested, altered, or blocked. The beauty of this is that the limbs are released to physics, making for some beautiful contests at the rim. No more predetermined outcomes. The play at the rim will be a direct result of your actions vs the opponents reactions. I can't tell you how many times I have went into replay after a play in the paint and marvel at the beauty unfolding in slow motion.
Speaking of collisions and contests, shooting fouls and contact are much more prominent this year. This will lead to some very interesting decisions in how you defend superstar players. James Harden is the first guy that I came to who really torched me, as I was unsure of how to properly defend him. If you back off of him to keep him from taking you off of the dribble, he'll have an easy look as a shooter. If you defend him tightly, be prepared to get James Harden'ed, as he'll use freestyle moves to get to the basket for the finish or the foul (or both). If you try to back off of him and contest the shot by jumping, watch your momentum as it may carry into him for the cardinal sin of fouling a jumpshooter. The contact on shooting is extremely well done as well. If you jump into the shooter from the side, be prepared to see him stumble or flop to the side. If you jump into them from behind, they'll fall forward. Jump into them straight on, and well, you get the point. Shooting fouls are very well showcased in this year's game.
Defensively, the game is flat out fun. If you lightly tether the player movement stick, instead of mashing on the defensive assist button, you'll likely have better results. Angles and forcing towards help will yield the greatest results. The games help defense is well represented as well. Helping the helper on various rotations is also represented in the game. You will have to work to get open shots in the game, which should be expected in an NBA release. Be prepared to see some weak side block attempts if you're playing the Clippers or Hornets as well. DeAndre and Anthony Davis will play to their strengths, coming over and swatting a shot from the weakside.
Moving on to working to get open shots, there are several ways to do that this year. How you do that, depends on your playstyle? Don't like calling plays? Using the pick system, you can choose which player to come and set the strength, and you will have a variety of options once they set the screen. Do you want them to roll, fade, pop or slip the screen? Your choice. Each team that you face, will have their own unique settings on how they'll be defending your pick n roll screen attempts, so this should dictate your offensive strategies as well.
One of the new features this year for offense is the use of the L1/LB modifier to call a quick action play. The game will prompt you to press L1 if your offense is stagnant, and you want to get some movement. You'll see a variety of quick cuts, back screens, and players moving with a purpose. This option is very nice to have because a lot of gamers want to run Isolation plays, and don't want unnecessary movement without manually calling for it. This is the perfect option for that.
One of the biggest complaints that I'm seeing so far is the lack of off ball movement altogether, until the L1 button is pushed. This was my biggest complaint last year as well, until we ventured into the menu system into settings, and turned on a little feature called Auto Motion. By default, the game has it set to manual. This is why the movement is so lackluster out of the box. My suggestion, upon first getting the game, go into settings and turn Auto Motion on, so you will get the best results out of the box. Utilizing auto motion, you'll see guys sprinting off of screens, using hard baseline cuts, popping out trying to get free for an open look. It's a thing of beauty to see a quick baseline cut off of a screen, and hitting a guy for a wide open baseline mid range jumper. What's even more beautiful is seeing the defender trying to catch up to him on the baseline, jumping to contest the shot, and having his momentum carry him into the shooter causing a collision for the "and 1" scenario.
In closing, NBA Live 15 is a HUGE step in the right direction when you get on the court. A few tips to help you get the most out of your experience:
* Make sure you turn on Automotion to see the off the ball movement
* Make sure you go through the onboarding process with Damien Lillard
* Learn the games controls, and practice with them to get familiar with how each player performs
* This is not the competitions game, so don't try to play it as such. The result of doing that will likely yield results such as the Gamestop Expo leaked video.
* Don't be overly reliant on the Defensive Assist button. It's best used to "bump" someone if they're close to blowing by you, to prevent a straight line to the basket.
* Use the defensive strategies for each individual player, as well as at team level. Want to run a 2-3 zone, with a specific way to defend James Harden (play tight, go over screens, etc)? Set it up. Want even more strategy, set it to pressure shooters as well. There are plenty of options to help contain even the strongest of players. The tools are there, use them to your advantage.
I'm not a writer, I'm a gamer. Give the game a chance, use the tips above, and I'd say you'll be more than surprised at the outcome. The game is flat out FUN. It feels like Live 10 on Steriods, and that is a great thing. Live is Back.… Expand
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