NBA Live 14 Next Gen First Impressions

Feature Article

Submitted on: 11/20/2013 by Jayson Young

After spending eight hours playing NBA Live 14, the best thing I can say about my initial experience is that it's mercifully over.

Professional obligation is all that kept me from turning off NBA Live 14 after experiencing EA Sports' buggy, sub-standard rendition of professional basketball.

Misses

Passing: Despite offering three different control methods for passing, simply moving the ball from player to player is a huge hassle in NBA Live 14. Lengthy throwing and receiving animations make passing a slow and sloppy experience.

Directional aiming often sends to ball to the wrong teammate, with no real difference in accuracy between the left joystick and the right joystick. The additional finger gymnastics of holding down R1 while aiming the right joystick make that method even more impractical.

X button and O button passes take far too long to "charge up" to full power, with the ball coming out slow and floaty even at a full charge.

Icon passing is more accurate and fairly useful when coming out of the backcourt, but it's still far too cumbersome to use during half-court offense, where passing lanes open and close quicker than your fingers can react.

Off-Ball AI: Don't believe the hype behind NBA Live 14's "Synergy DNA." Most of your AI teammates remain stationary on offense unless they're specifically told to move via one of the game's unwieldy d-pad commands.

CPU teams are equally simple-minded, spending most offensive possessions with a star player in isolation while his teammates look on idly.

Broken Overhead Cameras: NBA Live 14 offers two preset, non-customizable cameras for gamers who prefer to play from a top-down, overhead perspective. Both the "Baseline High" and "Baseline Low" cameras stutter constantly, fluctuating between 15-30 frames per second, depending on the arena and the current crowd state. Gamers wanting to play NBA Live 14 at a steady 60 frames per second have no choice but to use one of the side-to-side broadcast cameras.

Buggy Live Moments: The Live Moments feature lets gamers replay top performances from recently completed NBA games. In about half of the challenges I tried, an audio glitch completely muted the crowd noise for the opening minutes of each challenge. The crowd noise would then suddenly return to normal after a few minutes of play. Another, more severe glitch occurred once, where everyone on screen froze as soon as the challenge finished loading. The game then crashed back to the dashboard, giving an error code "CE-34878-0."

Online Latency Issues: Of my five online sessions, four were completely unplayable due to latency. Online games literally look like they're moving in slow-motion, with inputs registering on screen several seconds after a button is pressed. Playing basketball, a sport reliant on timing and technique, is impossible when the lag is this bad. Not even NBA 2K1 ran this poorly on the Sega Dreamcast, and it was communicating with 56K dial-up modems.

Makes

ESPN Presentation: Studio reporter Jalen Rose sets the stage for each game before handing the mic to commentators Jeff Van Gundy and Mike Breen. Van Gundy's blunt, no-nonsense delivery has been captured well, but after only a few hours of game time, it's discouraging to already recognize many repeated lines from Van Gundy and Breen.

NBA Live Mixtape: Of the 30-plus songs already included in NBA Live 14, at least half of them will have your head bumping. The few annoying tracks can be individually switched off. Live's soundtrack should continue to improve over time as more tracks are added throughout the year.

Menus: The different modes and game features are all easy to find thanks to a smart layout and elegant menu design.

It says a lot about the quality of NBA Live 14 that I had such a difficult time just coming up with three "Makes," whereas I easily could have detailed five more "Misses."

After only a few hours of play, it's already evident that NBA Live 14 is not the type of title gamers should rush out and spend $60 on. Keep checking Operation Sports for a full review of NBA Live 14 later this week.

NBA Live 14 Videos

Member Comments

# 21 Facts @ 11/20/13 11:47 AM

Glad they at least made a game. Honestly, you have to start somewhere in order to improve. Good luck in the future EA.

# 22 jpdavis32 @ 11/20/13 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Facts


	Glad they at least made a game. Honestly, you have to start somewhere in order to improve. Good luck in the future EA.

are you kidding me!! this is straight crap...people always make excuses or give them a pass smh

# 23 supermanemblem @ 11/20/13 12:45 PM

I played the demo and I think the game is closer to being competitive than most think. Live has some of the same warts that 2K has with souped up cpu-player abilities, dumbed down human-cpu abilities, bad passing, cpu contacts affecting human shots, etc. 2k just does a better job of masking these. This reminds me of about 10 years ago, when Madden had the sizzle but 2K had the fundamentals. I can see Live getting there in two years. If they work on the laggy controls, improve all AI (human and cpu), and loosen up the collision detection and they may have something.

# 24 Optik @ 11/20/13 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Profit89


	Imagine EA does what they did in Football and scoops up an exclusive license for the NBA. We would all be doomed. Exclusive deals and anti-competitive practices.... The loser is always the consumer.

Yeah, I hate it when people complain that PES 2014 hasn't got the licences of the German or English league like FIFA, and use it to bash PES. What the hell do these people expect Konami to do? EA have a bottomless pit of cash and have exclusive licences with those leagues, which allows them to get away with not having to innovate their game, which has looked the same for at least 4 years now.

# 25 yungflo @ 11/20/13 01:19 PM

anyone see holbert's feed?

its not a CAP

# 26 elprez98 @ 11/20/13 01:40 PM

When you wait as long as they did to release gameplay/features, we all already knew what was up.

# 27 strawberryshortcake @ 11/20/13 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlterEgoDuane


	Why is anyone surprised by this game? Look at who is making it. EA sports refuses to acknowledge or understand the idea of Real-Time Physics in sports games. They continue to use canned animations with scripted outcomes. Whatever happened to creating player models from scratch and using physics to create the animations? Why is this so hard to do? I don't understand why motion capture is still acceptable on a next-gen system, with any sports game. And no one has been able to give me an answer yet. I mean, we saw backbreaker figure out the real-time physics so that no two plays were ever the same. THAT is truly next-gen. But, scripted animations and motion-capture are totally 2005. While madden on ps4 is an improvement over ps3, it still uses the same canned animation and motion capture. Where is the REAL-TIME PHYSICS? And when will we get these in a sports game? Also, NBA 2K14 does this same thing. How come some small, independent, EUROPEAN company can figure out real-time physics and create non-scripted outcomes and yet American companies either can't do it or refuse to do it. It doesn't make any sense to me. Is it really that hard? I know backbreaker was not a great game, but that was mostly due to the camera angle and the inability to change it. And I'm not saying that basketball games or any sports games should be like that game. All I'm saying is that the technology is clearly there to use real-time physics and non-scripted outcomes. How come no one is using that for next-gen games?

A completely physics based sports game is great in theory, but motion capture technology will always be needed if "signature style" movements is a want.

When gamers continue to harp on someone's shooting motion, or dunk packages, and the fact that they don't resemble what it looks like in real life, real time physics is never going to solve this problem. Backbreaker requires both physics and canned animation. Example: QB throwing motion and the runners juke move were both canned animations--all players had the same running, juking, throwing motion. Every movement was utterly generic, unfortunately.

Real time physics will not give you signature style gameplay, and that is important to gameplay. How do you replicate the running style of Adrian Peterson, the elusiveness of a Barry Sanders. How do you input "personalities" without motion capture tech. Real physics can only get you so far.

Real time physics would work when we're talking about contact in the paint or contact anywhere on the court.

# 28 Rebel_INS @ 11/20/13 01:44 PM

I'm not here to troll...just speak the truth - and I'll keep it short and sweet (sour depending on your position). I feel, knowing Live's recent history coupled with the minimal vids, screens and info we were provided leading up to it's next gen launch, if you still went and shelled out $65 for the game; you have no right to complain at all. They say a sucker's born every minute so go look in the mirror cause you're it. Common sense will take u farther than u think in life and all it took was a small dose of it to realize that this game was gonna be trash.

# 29 jyoung @ 11/20/13 01:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yungflo


	anyone see holbert's feed? its not a CAP

I saw this guy come in off the bench for the Memphis Grizzlies as well in a Season Rewind game.

His name shows up as "Point Guard," and he's always a generic white guy wearing #0.

# 30 TalenT @ 11/20/13 02:00 PM

Very disappointing. I didn't exactly have high hopes for the game, but I was very hopeful that it'd be at least playable. I figured they'd incorporate the basics of basketball and build upon that foundation. I think they tried to do too much in too many areas. My question is why wouldn't they just work on the game until they felt like they had a solid build and THEN announce a release? I wouldn't have felt comfortable releasing this game. Should've skipped this year. SMH.

# 31 chi_hawks @ 11/20/13 02:08 PM

Sounds like EA should be paying us 60 bucks to play this turd. Probably more.

# 32 AlterEgoDuane @ 11/20/13 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by strawberryshortcake


	A completely physics based sports game is great in theory, but motion capture technology will always be needed if "signature style" movements is a want. When gamers continue to harp on someone's shooting motion, or dunk packages, and the fact that they don't resemble what it looks like in real life, real time physics is never going to solve this problem. Backbreaker requires both physics and canned animation. Example: QB throwing motion and the runners juke move were both canned animations--all players had the same running, juking, throwing motion. Every movement was utterly generic, unfortunately. Real time physics will not give you signature style gameplay, and that is important to gameplay. How do you replicate the running style of Adrian Peterson, the elusiveness of a Barry Sanders. How do you input "personalities" without motion capture tech. Real physics can only get you so far. Real time physics would work when we're talking about contact in the paint or contact anywhere on the court.

@strawberryshortcake.

Thank you. This is the best answer I have received yet on why RTP are not being used in games. Fair enough with the comment about signature styles. But, I still have a couple of questions. How did backbreaker make it so that no two plays were ever the same and the outcome was different on every single play? And the players' bodies, etc. contorted so beautifully and physics were actually used to determine outcomes.

Isn't there a way to use motion capture for signature styles AND incorporate real-time physics? For example, if LeBron James is Mo-capped and he is driving to the lane in traffic, isn't there a way for his animation to be interrupted in an infinite number of ways through physics and collision detection and what not in the lane on his way to the basket to make the outcome completely random and determined in real-time based on the calculations of the animations and the physics? Like, if LeBron was hit in a certain area of the body that caused him to try and lay it in from a certain angle at a certain velocity, it would be a miss because of physics, and also a foul. Is there any way to do that? That's the kind of stuff backbreaker was able to do and what I am looking for. There is just zero realism in collision detection and player movement or ball physics and everything is so pre-determined.

# 33 strawberryshortcake @ 11/20/13 02:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlterEgoDuane


	@strawberryshortcake. Thank you. This is the best answer I have received yet on why RTP are not being used in games. Fair enough with the comment about signature styles. But, I still have a couple of questions. How did backbreaker make it so that no two plays were ever the same and the outcome was different on every single play? And the players' bodies, etc. contorted so beautifully and physics were actually used to determine outcomes. Isn't there a way to use motion capture for signature styles AND incorporate real-time physics? For example, if LeBron James is Mo-capped and he is driving to the lane in traffic, isn't there a way for his animation to be interrupted in an infinite number of ways through physics and collision detection and what not in the lane on his way to the basket to make the outcome completely random and determined in real-time based on the calculations of the animations and the physics? Like, if LeBron was hit in a certain area of the body that caused him to try and lay it in from a certain angle at a certain velocity, it would be a miss because of physics, and also a foul. Is there any way to do that? That's the kind of stuff backbreaker was able to do and what I am looking for. There is just zero realism in collision detection and player movement or ball physics and everything is so pre-determined.

I'm going to say probably yes because that is what Backbreaker did; what you're describing is contact between two objects. It would probably even make developers lives easier as well considering they wouldn't have to motion capture falls, small bumps, contact in paint, posterization dunks if the tech was employed.

If you look at the Natural Motions' technology Euphoria and Morpheme, and what people have been able to do with it (as seen on youtube), it's definitely possible I think. Imagine if one of those youtubers decided a perfectly create a Lebron James model and use Euphoria/Morpheme. This technology is about self preservation from bodily harm.

One of the faults with this engine as seen in Backbreaker is the lack of weight. Some of the hits, contacts would result in bodies flying high in the air. If only they could move the center of gravity on the models lower to the ground towards the knee caps or shin, that might have stopped these strange flying in the air effect.

When you said no two plays were the same, aren't we simply talking about the tackles?

Morpheme with Euphoria combines all the power of Morpheme with the intelligent, self-animating AI of the Euphoria engine.

Quote:

Originally Posted by http://www.naturalmotion.com/middleware/euphoria/


	Euphoria allows characters to dynamically synthesise motion in response to events around them. For example, protecting themselves from a heavy fall or reacting to gunfire. This unique, ground-breaking system allows developers to create responses and characters that simply isn't possible with traditional approaches to animation, and is fully integrated into Morpheme.

# 34 onetongwa @ 11/20/13 02:45 PM

Ok.....True Thoughts right here.... After time with NBA live 14, I honestly feel they have promise going into the future. They have great features and post game and half time shows that you can skip forward and backwards through. Top plays is great. They have tons of extra play type features. NBA Live needs to immediately fix all player animations and improve graphics overall, I wanted to have more fun with this game and to some extent, I was able to force my own true gameplay into this game for more fun. I am discouraged and pleased at the same dang time. I love how the game constantly updates itself every time you play. The game plays best as a herky jerky type of skip through animation and some player models look better than NBA 2k14, and overall they still need a more realistic and less plastic polish look to some of the players faces. The soundtrack is good also and you have the option eliminate play of music you hate. If EA sports has honest hardworking and in touch people working on NBA live 15 then I can foresee a better game. As of now its back to my NBA 2k 14 game. its just way way better even though it too has its faults. These words are from an original NBA live fanatic and a true basketball gamer. I tend to move towards the better looking games and great gameplay. Game on!!!!!

# 35 hall31 @ 11/20/13 04:01 PM

I wanted to find something to like about it... at least a mode or some kind of foundation for the gameplay. I couldn't find anything at all. Even tried the remote play on Vita, but glitches cause the Vita to be picked up as player 2. I've been a fan of 2K since Dreamcast, but I always hope to see Live come back since it brings back memories of great times during the PSX days.

# 36 AlterEgoDuane @ 11/20/13 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by strawberryshortcake


	I'm going to say probably yes because that is what Backbreaker did; what you're describing is contact between two objects. It would probably even make developers lives easier as well considering they wouldn't have to motion capture falls, small bumps, contact in paint, posterization dunks if the tech was employed. If you look at the Natural Motions' technology Euphoria and Morpheme, and what people have been able to do with it (as seen on youtube), it's definitely possible I think. Imagine if one of those youtubers decided a perfectly create a Lebron James model and use Euphoria/Morpheme. This technology is about self preservation from bodily harm. One of the faults with this engine as seen in Backbreaker is the lack of weight. Some of the hits, contacts would result in bodies flying high in the air. If only they could move the center of gravity on the models lower to the ground towards the knee caps or shin, that might have stopped these strange flying in the air effect. When you said no two plays were the same, aren't we simply talking about the tackles? Morpheme with Euphoria combines all the power of Morpheme with the intelligent, self-animating AI of the Euphoria engine.

@strawberryshortcake,

Again, thank you for the great answer. You have answered a lot of my questions. The intelligent, self-animating AI is EXACTLY what I am referring to. And even you said it would make developers lives easier to use Euphoria/Morpheme, or something similar. So, if it will make their lives easier from a motion capture standpoint and they can STILL have signature styles, what is the excuse for not having that stuff? And yes, the tackles were never the same, but the blocks were also different every play, and you are right about the rag-doll aspect. But, like you said, they could just lower the center of gravity, or raise it, or whatever they needed to do.

Why wouldn't these companies use it? It would seem, fiscally, to make sense, too. And not having to Mo-Cap the little small stuff, that would give them a lot less headaches and they would just have to worry about math and actual physics responses like rag-doll stuff. Good god, I'm excited just thinking about the potential of all that. lol. The potential for football is even greater than for basketball because of the larger level of small, detailed interactions.

Do you agree that it doesn't make sense that these gaming companies, EA and 2K are not using some type of technology like this?

This is what I get annoyed about. These companies claim to be making "next-gen" sports games, but what we are describing an independent European company figured it out last-gen and yet, they won't use tech similar to that with this generation of systems. To me, it's unacceptable.

But again, thank you again for all your answers, strawberryshortcake, and for putting up with me. lol.

# 37 hawley088 @ 11/20/13 05:29 PM

did people really go out and buy this game? I can for real see the sales being ZERO after the first week is over

# 38 TheHypeMachine6 @ 11/20/13 06:06 PM

Just hooked up my PS3 & PS4 side by side both on HD screens, PS3 playing NBA LIVE 10 & the PS4 playing LIVE 14 (Demo), and IMO opinion I'd have stayed with Live 10, I have no idea why they did what they did but its terrible, how can a game thats 4 years old out play a next generation game? Presentation wise with ESPN broadcasting Live 14 looks better, but everything else is over shadowed by Live 10, even the movement is better, I had a mate doing the same crossovers as me at the same time and Live 10 performed them better. I hope someone from the Live 14 team is looking at these boards because they should know how we all feel about the crap they tried to serve us, shm!

# 39 regroc88 @ 11/20/13 06:27 PM

Kyrie betta hurry up and get his face off this game.This could end his career! lol

# 40 regroc88 @ 11/20/13 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlterEgoDuane


	Why is anyone surprised by this game? Look at who is making it. EA sports refuses to acknowledge or understand the idea of Real-Time Physics in sports games. They continue to use canned animations with scripted outcomes. Whatever happened to creating player models from scratch and using physics to create the animations? Why is this so hard to do? I don't understand why motion capture is still acceptable on a next-gen system, with any sports game. And no one has been able to give me an answer yet. I mean, we saw backbreaker figure out the real-time physics so that no two plays were ever the same. THAT is truly next-gen. But, scripted animations and motion-capture are totally 2005. While madden on ps4 is an improvement over ps3, it still uses the same canned animation and motion capture. Where is the REAL-TIME PHYSICS? And when will we get these in a sports game? Also, NBA 2K14 does this same thing. How come some small, independent, EUROPEAN company can figure out real-time physics and create non-scripted outcomes and yet American companies either can't do it or refuse to do it. It doesn't make any sense to me. Is it really that hard? I know backbreaker was not a great game, but that was mostly due to the camera angle and the inability to change it. And I'm not saying that basketball games or any sports games should be like that game. All I'm saying is that the technology is clearly there to use real-time physics and non-scripted outcomes. How come no one is using that for next-gen games?

and they will gladly take your money for this ****!! it a Shame

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