NBA Elite 11 Demo Roundtable - Operation Sports

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NBA Elite 11 Demo Roundtable

Submitted on: 09/25/2010 by

1. Best thing in the demo?

Christian McLeod - Kevin Durant's intro movie. While watching this all I could think was, "Why can't Elite actually look like this?" Durant is one of my favorite young talents, so it was nice to see him get a chance to showcase his virtual skills as the game begins.

Steve Bartlett - I'm thinking the same as Christian here. The intro movie with Durant throwing one down is sick. I would have to say that the J. Cole official theme song to NBA Elite is nice, too. I was actually having a good time shooting jumpers in the practice gym while listening to it.

2. Biggest Disappointment?

Christian McLeod - Everything else. Honestly, the last time I was this disappointed in a basketball game was after I played NBA Live 07 for the first time on Xbox 360. I absolutely loved NBA Live 10, and I was extremely excited when I heard about the new physics additions and control scheme. l figured that the solid core of Live 10 would have been kept intact, and these new elements would have been added to that foundation. Boy was I wrong. The controls don't work, the physics are terrible, the graphics are nothing special, and even the ESPN presentation looks to be hastily thrown in.

Steve Bartlett - J. Cole delivers some truth in the chorus of his theme song: "We ain’t on but we try, now holla back and reply." NBA Live is gone. As sim ballers, I think we're all disappointed. There are some remnants of Live left in this NBA Elite title, but I was feeling NBA Live last year. It's interesting to me how EA Sports can put out some quality arcade basketball titles in NBA Street Homecourt and NBA Jam, and then throw up a brick with this title.

3. The gameplay is _______ (fill in the blank).

Christian McLeod - Frustrating. Who thought it would be a good idea to change the default pass button to the right trigger? What's even worse is that there seems to be an extreme amount of lag between when you pull the trigger and when your player actually passes the ball. Dribbling and taking jumpers feels good, but everything else feels like I'm playing a basketball game for the original PlayStation. I had to force myself to play this demo for this article -- even with this in mind I found myself shutting the demo off three or four times in utter disappointment. The gameplay is that bad.

Steve Bartlett - Awkward. Disappointing. Lacking signature style and personality. I do like the creativity behind the controls. Shooting feels nice and fluid on the right stick. I just don't think the rest of the controls make much sense for a basketball title. This title plays into an isolation one-on-one style of game. The teams are not acting in concert out there. The spacing is off. Should I go on?

4. Any other things catch your eye?

Christian McLeod - I really like the idea of the Become Legendary modes, specifically the matchups portion where you need to shut down an opponent. Unfortunately, the demo plays so terrible on the court that I wouldn't even consider investing time into this mode unless I was a complete masochist. Also, defense is downright impossible to play against the CPU. Every attempt I had to man up against my opponent led to the game's clunky physics engine forcing me to overcommit -- or the laggy button commands would cost me a chance at a block.

Steve Bartlett - The Become Legendary mode is straight out of the NBA Street Homecourt campaign mode mixed with a bit of 2K My Player. The hip-hop instrumentals, the presentation and graphics, all of it is done with a dramatic theme. A journey from the streets to the bright lights. It's cool.

5. Overall is Elite's stock up or down?

Christian McLeod - Neither, the stock has completely crashed. If this demo is any indication of the final product, I have a hard time believing the title will garner enough sales to stay alive for NBA Elite 12. Based on the demo, this is quite possibly the worst basketball game I have played this generation. Here's hoping, as a fan of EA hoops, that drastic changes are found in the final build of this game.

Steve Bartlett - The Elite stock is crashing fast. EA's marketing team is the only reason why this game will sell.

NBA Elite 11 Videos

Member Comments

# 141 Halfamazing @ 09/27/10 04:21 AM

The game is sick for me looking pass some of the bugs.
Fact is if shootin is to easy theres a slider to make it harder.
Only thing I dont like are the oops working to much, and cpu play, everything else is good enough to pass........ Game is addictingly fun if you appreciate it.

# 142 Dantecamp21 @ 09/27/10 05:11 AM

Let's hope the development team stands by its vision and keeps supporting the product post launch, otherwise this whole dev. cycle will be lost. I'll take rEAnimator being here through all of this struggle as an indicator that they'll do just that.

A lot of people that don't like the game as it stands right now, will buy it anyway just to put their hands on NBA Jam. If the patch really improves things, then those who bought it won't have nothing to loose trying to give it a second chance since they already own the game.

# 143 lebron6_james @ 09/27/10 08:18 AM

@dante i don't know man, since elite demo comes out like you i gave this game a chance, i even stop playing the competitor's demo to be comfortable with the control. the control is not that revolutionary, its better but not ground breaking. man im trying to feel what other people are saying about this game. may be czar is right if you are really a hardcore sim gamer you will have a hard time understand what's ea are trying to do. respect to you man for giving a chance to this game, i'll continue to play it until the competitor's game comes out. i think that's fair enough for this game. may be just may be, ill buy elite if the price drops soon.

@rEAnimator much respect to you man for answering all our post. i salute you man. i hope you continue what's your vision bout bball games, i dont understand it right now but if you just continue to believe what you think is best for this game everybody will follow. man i hope you still here until that 3 years plan if your not and ea scrap it all over again i'll hunt you down...nah i'm joking man.lol respect to you fam!

# 144 convince @ 09/27/10 11:58 AM

Where are the people with the game already? I want to see videos. Every year a game or five slip through the cracks early.

# 145 ccoaxum @ 09/27/10 01:31 PM

i doubt any EA games is going to slip, cause they are doing alot of up dates there bball game and once it comes out as you can see they going to have to put patches up for the game as well. So i seriously doubt anybody got EA's game early.

# 146 parkinson @ 09/27/10 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dantecamp21


	while I'll conceive that they indeed look strange, at least they aren't broken from a functional standpoint. What I'm saying is: you can go up for a board/block and succeed.

I like your expression. That's why Elite 11 has amazing potential cause it's harder to develop an engine which is the most important for gameplay than to make motion improve which ppl are asking for right now. Actually not only it works fantastically but also we can see ton of variety in block.

# 147 arthorton @ 09/27/10 04:24 PM

The demo is cool. I really like the new controls. Can't wait for the complete game.

# 148 stlstudios189 @ 09/27/10 06:44 PM

Dear EA I am not buying your game this year but, don't change your plan, stick with it and see it through. The constant changes in vision need to stop. I feel that the same thing that happend with NHL can happen here. The NBA 2k series has me hooked but, last year the wow factor is fading the ELITE model is very interesting. One thing I would like is the ability to play a shorter season in NHL or NBA games from EA any chances.

# 149 Blessin @ 09/30/10 01:24 AM

wow all i could say is EA Sports tried. The game ISN'T coming out this year anymore, i guess it was that bad. NBA Live was fun but it's nothing compared to NBA 2K. NBA2K11 is AMAZING! I already pre-orded it! But anyways IF there's a demo for the next NBA Elite/Live i'll try it but i can never go back! 2K is my home sweet home.

# 150 YUNGMONEY GAME @ 10/01/10 02:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Halfamazing


	The game is sick for me looking pass some of the bugs. Fact is if shootin is to easy theres a slider to make it harder. Only thing I dont like are the oops working to much, and cpu play, everything else is good enough to pass........ Game is addictingly fun if you appreciate it.

wow really? i dont know how but ok im just saying

# 151 YUNGMONEY GAME @ 10/01/10 02:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blessin


	wow all i could say is EA Sports tried. The game ISN'T coming out this year anymore, i guess it was that bad. NBA Live was fun but it's nothing compared to NBA 2K. NBA2K11 is AMAZING! I already pre-orded it! But anyways IF there's a demo for the next NBA Elite/Live i'll try it but i can never go back! 2K is my home sweet home.

im with you on that one.... 2k all day

# 152 dirtypuppet @ 10/01/10 02:37 AM

I konw where not supposed to compare the two games here, but I still feel this post fits here...

After initially being blown away by how bad the demo looked, animated and even played it really grew on me. It was most definitely an unfinished product and could be improved in so many aspects, but what was preached about by the Devs in terms of control and feel, IMO is ultimately true.

Now that the game has been delayed (or possibly canned for this cycle) I'm gong back to the 2K demo to brush up my controls and get ready to play it again. What Elite lacks, 2K has in spades but I've got to say, now that I'm accustomed to the controls in Elite, 2K feels so sluggish. I still love it, and ultimately I'll always buy any NBA game on the market, but I've got to say that I tottally agree with the devs on the end direction........ they just should've taken baby steps so they didn't have to skimp on so many other areas.

# 153 YUNGMONEY GAME @ 10/01/10 02:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaanyr Vhok


	Ive had Rondo ripped when I was just bringing the ball up facing the defender. It didnt matter what hand it was in. And it shouldn�t because this isn�t something you cant accomplish in one year or maybe even 10. Basketball players protect the dribble with very intuitive, and subtle skills that you cant possibly imitate with a controller unless you cheapen it to something like Madden�s protect the ball function. I have another idea that might be more complex but still nothing like real life and even then on ball steals on a PG should be rare when you are just bringing it up one on one. Its stuff like that, that cheapens the team game. If the PG has to do through the leg and around the back dribbles to protect the ball at risk of it getting stolen how are you going to run an offense without something that looks like an And1 game? That was one of the main beefs with 2k10 online was that I couldn�t play a slow paced game and run plays because in increased the risk of on ball steals.

I had to comment on what you sad about online Play in nba2k10. YOUR PLAYING ONLINE!!!!! Almost everyone online when you play them are going to try to steal the ball every chance they get. why because they want the win so of course you would have to dribble like that to avoid being ripped. I play team up online all the time and that's what a lot of people do is try to rip you

# 154 jmarcguy @ 10/03/10 12:05 PM

Innovations come easy early on. I remember in Live 95 you could pass out of a shot! That was huge! Live 96 I believe had "accurate" stadiums. Each year EA was able to add some small feature that seemed to make the game more realistic. They didn't do alot to add depth to gameplay depth however. Part I'm sure was because of hardware limitations. Took years to be able to post up. Instead we got one yr where players had faces that showed emotion. Really angry faces that chewed gum like crazy!

I never once complained about those games back then. I just think as each new generation console came out, EA hasn't added enough depth to their games. Being able to do great dribble moves & freethrow line dunks would have rocked in 97. I think they need to address deeper issues. Live 10 was a good step. Elite felt like a throwback.

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