NBA Live 10 Review

Where have you been, NBA Live? As a previous long-standing fan of the franchise I would tirelessly play Live 05 on my Xbox late into the night. Since then, the franchise started on a downward spiral that few development teams would be able to recover from. If I had to pick one thing that was wrong with ’06 it would have to be the camera and the ability to dunk the ball from behind the backboard, teleporting the ball through the backboard as if it were never there. They’ve improved little by little each year, however, it seemed as though their focus was solely on graphics and presentation and not necessarily on gameplay. Last year they made a huge jump with Dynamic DNA, where you got updated stats and tendencies daily. The only problem was that the game was just too easy, I got online and played with my Jazz, the one game I played I hit probably 15 of 20 three pointers I took with Kyle Korver. On a good note, Dynamic DNA was so good that NBA 2K10 took a page out of their book and signed up with 82games.com to make their version of the same thing. This year they’ve forced me to choose between NBA Live 2010 or NBA 2K10; yes I have to choose just one. I’m not talented enough to manage multiple control schemes and game tendencies.

Gameplay

EASports took great care this year to improve NBA Live’s gameplay. Having lost mine and many others’ trust in the franchise the past several years, they had a mountain of a task ahead of them with 2010. I am happy to report that after spending some time with the overhauled control scheme that this year’s NBA Live has caught up with the other NBA titles. Although not perfect, the pros definitely outweigh the cons. I’ll walk you through my observations and give you a better idea of the efforts EASports has made to revive the NBA Live franchise, as well as where efforts must be placed for an NBA Live 2011 to be successful.

The first notable feature would definitely have to be the new directional passing system. One word: awesome! Driving the lane and kicking has never been so easy. In order to perform this action you merely hold down the left trigger (L2 for PS3 owners) and use your right analog to pass it to your teammate in that direction. Words can’t do it justice; you’ll just have to trust me on this one.
The quick strike ball handling moves have also been reworked and now are able to be executed more easily than 2K’s similar feature, Isomotion.

It seems like EASports’ big focus this year was trying to appeal more to the “sim” style baller. In some ways that was achieved and in others it’s still lacking. “Sim” ballers will really like the new directional passing feature as it will improve the playmaking/passing ability of the point guard. The teams also are quite a bit more efficient when running sets and plays. One thing I think a lot of players may have an issue with is that unless you’re a pro with the dribbling system your players tend to be turnover prone.

If you’re a fan of low post game and not so much run and gun, you may want to go to NBA 2K10 as I was much more impressed with 2K’s rework of their post game. The post game in Live 2010 seemed to really lack depth and options. The only moves I was ever constantly able to perform were either a turnaround jumper or a baby hook shot. 2k’s system seems a lot simpler and user friendly.

Another thing I really like about 2010 is that they have finally combined the shoot buttons. For those of you that have never played NBA Live, for the longest time you had two separate buttons for a dunk/layup and a jump shot. I can’t tell you how hard it was to get used to that. This year, like I said, they have remedied that by combining those two actions. The layup system gives you complete control over where and how you put the ball off the glass. To perform a layup off either side of the hoop you simply hold your left analog to the side you’d like to attack and tap your shoot button.

Presentation

The games’ presentation has been upped considerably this year. The commentary is still done by Steve Kerr and Marv Albert. One of my favorite sayings, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. The reason I say that is the presentation hasn’t been the feature that was lacking in past years; it was purely the lack of good game play. This year both basketball games focused on making their commentary very conscious of the real league happenings and comment on those events appropriately, i.e. say Carlos Boozer gets traded to Chicago or Miami before the trade deadline(fingers crossed) they’d notice that and comment about it.
The soundtracks on EASports franchises are always pretty good this year is no different (as long as you enjoy yourself some hip hop/rap). The Sound of the arenas in this year’s product is very immersive, when you turn up the volume it’s almost as if you were there in the arena. Although I wish somebody would perfect the sound of a Lebron James dunk, that is a thing of beauty.

Graphics

Just a few years ago, updated graphics were enough to carry a sports franchise. With today’s hardware, most visuals are pretty impressive and it now requires depth and effects to carry a game graphically. This year NBA Live had a lot of catching up to do still, so they had to pull out all the stops in order to compete. The player models, stadiums, and crowds are nothing short of impressive; they even have Deron Williams’ minor bald spot on the crown of his head. Compared to their yearly rival NBA 2K10, the graphics trophy goes to Live 2010.

Online/ Adidas Live Run

Online play hasn’t changed much, the only real addition was the Adidas Live Run, which is basically the same thing 2K did last year with their Team-up game mode. The difference is that players on each team can choose the player they want from any NBA team roster and it’s more of a street ball style. This format is much better because everyone has their favorite player and it’s hard to find a team that all five users can find a player that they can have fun representing.

Final Thoughts

NBA Live has come a long way since its next gen debut in 06 and still has tons of potential. I feel strongly that the only way they’ll go from here is up. While it is hard to get used to NBA Live after a few years of playing 2K, this year my choice is NBA Live 2010. Hats off to you EA, welcome back to the party.

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