NBA Live 10 Impressions From Da_Czar

[SublimeAnarky]

@ Da-Man - not sure in which dev interview it was, but i believe the 'hopping up and down' animation you refer to (which the devs know as the 'JR Smith skip') has been taken care of.. so we should see a more varied response as far as celebrating a score is concerned..

@ Da_Czar - Love your work and congrats on junior.. just to touch upon what Infamous Jones said - any input you can share about 'in-game' coaching options ? i know that DNA allows play-running on the fly, but what about at the defensive end ? is it the same options that we've known so far ? Even if they are the same options - is the defensive side of the game play a.i. smart enough to enforce any changes we select (pressure/double teams/denial in the post) ?
Thanks for lookin out for us hoop game fans !

[JC DA KING]

Great Write up Czar as always and congrats on da little one

since u watched a little sixers footage I have 3 quick questions
1. Did they have AI9's jumpshot correct?
2. did philly play with an up tempo style?
3. What do the new unis look like (dis not really important just wanted to know)

Any info is helpful!!

[Da_Czar]

Quote: Originally Posted by Infamous Jones

Czar man...whats good boy!! Been meaning to slide over here and hit you up with a Q? What I want to know is how is the overall game presentation. Visual, controls, basketball in general. I know gameplay recieved an overhaul but I've have been skeptical of this years game due to the fact that I want that Nba "Sim" feel while playing a game. I'm talking bout' floor boys comin out. Players interacting after free-throw routines, signature animations and shots, heck even more in-depth options during the game. Last year the coaching contol during the timeout was ok...your select options of box-out (same in 07, 08, 09,) getback, and fastbreak, crashboards. This year do we have easy access to offensive options during the other teams time-out. So we have tempo control and more indepth team options as seen in 2k9. And lastly is there a new interface for the menus and screens during games and start up menu. Last year the presentation of these screens seemed so dark, and didn't suck you in to the "I wanna play this game" or "I'm phyched to play" this game feeling. This is much needed brother to get me hyped to play a game...if you know what I mean. If you can reply back it appreciated and I am an avid fan of your work. Your work is hybrid of Shaft and Bernie Mac Flavor with a whole lot of Steven A. Smith Professional Analytic Savor. If you know what I mean. Much Props Boy and your work is very much appreciated throughtout the diehard sim nation where the game is like a chess board played for strategy and go hard victory rather than recreation...yah dig. Signing off. -Sincerly Cortland "Infamous" Jones

Infamous.... You got the flavor family !!! Your words definitely do not fall on Def ears so Thank you for spreading love in a hate free zone LOL.

First off I know exactly what you mean as far as being pulled in. First things first 2k is beastly in that area. You can't take that away from them and I would not try. So in a comparative sense it may or may not be what you want simply because the competition is soo good and we have no idea what else they have added to that experience.

So now that I have said that. I didn't long for anything once I had my hands on the game. One thing I did not mention but that you are aware of is storylines. First off go back and look at those screen shots of camelo etc etc etc. And Imagine them running at 60 no 45 or 46 but 60 frames per second. Then think about that crowd with the signs etc etc.... then those camera cuts you have seen and believe me the intensity of those finals screen shots are all over the game.

The storylines only bring that out further. I had ones where they talked about a certain player's defense being the key to the game and then they track that. I guess what I'm saying is that seperate from 2k live 10 has its own bag of swag man and it was a very fulfilling experience. The end of quarter/game highlights and camera angles are the Bidness. has broadcast written all over them.

In game I only briefly looked at the coaching options but they have added things like being able to determine how your team plays the pick and roll... switch it, trap it... and 2 other options I believe. So they have improved in that area. I should have made a note of what exactly was in there but I felt I had what I needed and don't remember feeling i needed more (could just have been because the game was new to me)

I believe i know what your asking and what I can say is that all last year when playing live 09 i keep having thoughts of ... Dang I wish they had this like 2k or that like 2k....( replays were horrible, coaching options minimal, wanted 2k's lead pass... and the list goes on)

when Playing live 10 NONE of that entered my mind. I was totally into the game. One thing no review or preview can help you understand is how individual each player feels and what effect that has on the outcome of every possession. NO game has ever captured this like live 10 in my opinion.

Here is just one of a ton of examples. I had arenas being guarded by Gasol of memphis. On all star level I held the size up to go between the legs twice and blew right past him Saw the defensive help coming on my right and quickly crossed back left instantly rose and dunked.... Real basketball right... but depending on who is guarding you and the team your playing against that scenario could have went different.

Now lets take another instance. Same game I switched sides to be the wizards. I had jamison with a mis match on Big Gasol. Jamison only has a dribble rating of 41 so despite the apparent mismatch if Gasol plays off him for the jumper and they are not in a full court situation Jamison should not be able to beat him to the basket right... That is exactly what happened. Gasol played off me and because of Jamison's limited handle i was unable to size up and cross him effectively jamison also had a few lose the ball animations in that sequence as I was really trying to abuse the size up's instead of just going quickly to use my speed. Game responded beautifully. ended up taking a challenged shot in the paint and missed.

two different scenarios two different outcomes. Now you and I know Jamison can bang that shot over the top of Gasol when being played off of so that would have been the smart play and if i release on time Jamison will hit his real world percentage from that area(synergy to the rescue).

From all appearances live 10 really represents that micro-simulation game where the culmination of all those little decisions that can happen in a game determine its outcome. I can't say yet that I have proven that to be the case. But there were several examples i could list like the ones above.

I say all that to say if that part of the strategical game of hoops interests you Live 10 "apprears" to have it in spades...Again I can't stress enough that i need more time to verify... but I don't recall any other game giving me those moments.

to get a feel for live DON"T look at it... Play it like you would if you were coaching a team in the league and it will do some things that will have you asking did that really just happen or was it a glitch or coincidence. that is exactly where I am at right now. I have to get the game here so I can see did they really make the game do that.

that is not hype that is exactly what I experienced and felt while playing.

that type of depth to me made the occassional slide or guy not looking very insignificant because i was trying to win the next possession if you get what I'm saying.

Presentation wise I was happy with what I saw. i know what you mean about the menus and i felt they were much better at drawing you in. Not ALL the flavor of the live 05's but I was very excited to choose jerseys and get the game started. So it may or may not be enough for you but to me it certainly was not the cold clinical menus that I hated in live 09 ( for the ones I saw anyway)

I hope I explained that clearly and that it answered your questions. if you love strategy live 10 does things I have not seen another ai do as convincingly ... all at 60 fps with responsive controls....

I mean I say all this knowing full well you all will have the demo in your hands thurs.... i wish it didn't sound so glowing to be honest. But if i dumb it down those will NOT be my honest feelings and I would do the SIM nation a disservice.

If i thought it was wack I would tell you..... But it AiNT'.

[Da_Czar]

Quote: Originally Posted by Da-Man

hey Czar after reading your impressions im sold man lol....... since you played the final version did u come across that problem that we saw in the demo video where the ball was hitting the side of the backboard and did u continuously see that hopping up and down animation after a made basket by all the players?

This was answered by sublime but i thought I would just say YES i did. thankfully it has been noted and they said they would address it in a patch. It wasn't after every basket but way more than we should see it.

[Da_Czar]

Quote: Originally Posted by JC DA KING

Great Write up Czar as always and congrats on da little one since u watched a little sixers footage I have 3 quick questions 1. Did they have AI9's jumpshot correct? 2. did philly play with an up tempo style? 3. What do the new unis look like (dis not really important just wanted to know) Any info is helpful!!

JC what up !!! I will be the first to admit I am not the all knowing master of jumpshots by any means. But it looked straight to me. Philly's tempo (only play a few qtrs and not a whole game with them) seemed kind of mixed. I remember a few possessions where Jrue would come down and iso and shoot quickly and then they would run some plays for ai9 but he would also ISO.

I LOVED playing in Philly though. Loved their away and home uni's also. AI9 banged on me a few times while I learned you can't play up on him with inferior defenders... I loved brand's jumper though i am not sure if it would pass your tests for accuracy...

Their uni's are Fresh. Jrue needs to work on his Defense however cause I lit em up like matchlite with cp3 ...LOL

[Da_Czar]

Quote: Originally Posted by SublimeAnarky

@ Da_Czar - Love your work and congrats on junior.. just to touch upon what Infamous Jones said - any input you can share about 'in-game' coaching options ? i know that DNA allows play-running on the fly, but what about at the defensive end ? is it the same options that we've known so far ? Even if they are the same options - is the defensive side of the game play a.i. smart enough to enforce any changes we select (pressure/double teams/denial in the post) ? Thanks for lookin out for us hoop game fans !

The coaching options are improved as i said in that infamous post they are finally allowing us to choose how we want to play the pick and roll which just adds another layer on the strategy battles being that mismatches can be exploited this year. I think they can and will expand on this area but i didn't think it was bad at all. The individual options were still the standard loose med and tight ( if the wording was different it was still the same meaning).

Its really timeout for that and we need some more indepth options. That said i will need more intense gameplay to see if what they have is adequate for the really deep gameplay you guys are going to throw at it.

From the small bit of playing i did with the pick and roll switch or trap options the cpu seemed more than up to the task. But honestly we won't really find that out until your really playing with purpose which is hard to do when your trying to get a feel for the controls and capture for a show at the same time.

[SageInfinite]

Great job on keeping up with this thread Czar

[seanbarkley]

Just one quick question Czar!
If you had to choose between you have seen in Live and Draft Combine in terms of gameplay which one would you choose?