NBA Live 15 Review (PS4) - ADG24's Blog

ADG24's Blog

NBA Live 15 Review (PS4)

Posted on November 11, 2014 at 11:19 AM.

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Much like everyone else I finally caved in and decided go get Live 15 a try. I fell in love with the demo mainly due to the realistic courts, size of the players, crowd reactions and arena sounds.

The graphics in Live 15 are getting to that next gen level but when compared to 2K15 they are obviously behind. So far I have seen some players look better in Live 15 but overall 2K wins this battle. The presentation is phenomenal. I have not tried Live since 2010 so the commentary is all new to me and I am loving it.

The arena atmosphere is the most realistic I have seen in a video game. The crowd reacts instantly to what is happening on the court, the chants sound amazing and the crowd simply looks involved. The arena announcer is way too generic to my liking with phrases like "LeBron Jamesss... for two" in the NBA arena announcers do not sound like that. Also seems like every team gives pizza to the fans in attendance if the team scores more than 100 points?

Game modes as we all know are not very deep. I am a franchise/dynasty player and while the presentation of it is refreshing coming from 2K15 the mode itself is too plain. I simulated one season and offseason and there was not much action. I was not able to find anywhere the latest transactions around the league (trying to see how the CPU handled trades), I cannot fire/hire my head coach and I did not receive a single trade offer from the CPU. What I did like is that the CPU seems tough to tradw with and they give you a reason as to why they rejected your trade offer. If Live 16 can feature a more in depth Dynasty mode and an online Dynasty mode (online leagues) watch out NBA 2K16!

Finally it comes down to what really matters... the gameplay. From the get go you can feel that NBA Live is just a different game and I do not mean this in a bad way. NBA Live 15 is FUN plain and simple. The most realistic part to me is the pace of the game. Players walk up the ball up court after a made basket and the CPU mixes their offense nicely. In 2K the action seeems rushed with players running up court through out the game and the CPU scoring most of the baskets inside the paint by attacking the basket. In Live there is a definite lack of post game, but to me this is not a big deal. Most post players in the NBA either shoot a hook, a fadeaway or a layup or dunk in the paint which is what can be done sucesfully in Live 15. On defense I feel like I can actually stop someone. In NBA 2K15 this is one of the toughest things to do but in Live playing defense feels realistic and most importantly doable.

The final note I wanted to touch on is signature animations. In NBA 2K15 each player shoots, dribbles and shoots free throws like his real self. In Live 15 some players do while others seem to have a generic jumpshot. I am a Vince Carter fan and I quickly noticed that his jumpshot, free throw animation and dribbles do not look like his in real life. This is another area that if an improvememt is made in Live 16... watch out 2K16.

I cannot say this enough... this game is FUN and if you have an open mind to try something new you will have a good time.

PS. Try it out with TOMBA settings it makes a HUGE difference.

Final Score: 7.5 / 10

Comments

# 1 dsk1317 @ Nov 11

Good review, I think you summed it it quite well.

# 2 tril @ Nov 14

good review. I need depth and challenge in my sim games.
Live in my limited time with the game, is a quasi-arcade game masked in a sim shell.
fun isnt enough to translate into re-playability with Sim-heads.

absolutely love the atmosphere. but I personally need more.