NBA Live 09 Demo Released, Impressions Here 360 & PS3

[garnettfan]

the players look like they are being forced to play ball game is not fluid at all
dont fall for the hype 60$ is an investment spend wisley

[HMcCoy]

Quote: Originally Posted by Vinngadd

But just because something like banked shots, or the ball nicking the rim as it goes in isn't there just for the sake of it being there, I don't think that's a reason to complain.

Alone, those types of little things aren't much to beef about, but when all of those touches come together they make a game much more immersive. Live is crazily imbalanced at this point. IE, one moment you come off a very nicely animated PnR interaction...the next moment you cringe at the weird jumpshot with it's very floaty ball and rim physics.

The Live team should look at every second of a given possesion, isolate the moments where awkward animations or physics break up the "illusion" and squash those instances. No game will be perfect, but right now Live doesn't reward those who work hard to play in a way that looks and feels realistic like the competition does. With practice, you can execute flawless plays that look exactly like reality in the other game. At this point you'd never confuse Live with real life at a glance like you can with some sports titles, even tho Live has really does have great grafx.

We all want these games to be as great as possible right?

[stizz]

Has anyone ever encountered this glitch, where the players on defense gather in the centre of the court and stand there until the other team scores? I've had this happen twice in one game, I hope it's fixed before the final product is released.

[Vinngadd]

Quote: Originally Posted by HMcCoy

Alone, those types of little things aren't much to beef about, but when all of those touches come together they make a game much more immersive. Live is crazily imbalanced at this point. IE, one moment you come off a very nicely animated PnR interaction...the next moment you cringe at the weird jumpshot with it's very floaty ball and rim physics. The Live team should look at every second of a given possesion, isolate the moments where awkward animations or physics break up the "illusion" and squash those instances. No game will be perfect, but right now Live doesn't reward those who work hard to play in a way that looks and feels realistic like the competition does. With practice, you can execute flawless plays that look exactly like reality in the other game. At this point you'd never confuse Live with real life at a glance like you can with some sports titles, even tho Live has really does have great grafx. We all want these games to be as great as possible right?

I smell what you're cooking. And I'm not talking about the large things that really stick out like awkward animations and things of that nature. I want the game s to be as great as possible as well, but some of us put a magnifiying glass on the game and base our opinion of the quality of the game on things that don't really matter that much in the grand scheme of things. The little touches are nice, they add to the realism of the game, but after reading some of these posts, some people say they hate the game based on some rather insignificant things. Fluid animations, good physics, and mechanics are all well within reasonable expectations. But complaining about not having some shots banked in? Unless we're talking about Timmy D, come on! I know everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and I'm not bashing you for yours at all, but some of us need to pull the game out from under the microscope.

And I think we should also try and give NBA Live some time now that they look like they are really trying to make some steps in the right direction. They look like they are actually trying to compete now. It felt like in years past that they were just trying to give us an alternative to the 2K series but that's not what we want. We want a comparable game. Now that they're actually making moves, I don't expect them to get it all in one shot.

[LAKE4742]

It's too bad we can throw alley-oops but can't receive 'em.

[sportyguyfl31]

The 1st initial reaction I ahd when I played the demo, was, "This finally feels like NBA Live again."

What I mean by that, is for the first time in maybe 5-6 yrs, possibly longer..the game feels smooth, and isnt painful to look at and play.

The game felt fun again, and combine that iwth NBA Lives, traditionally excellent commentary and arena environment. I think I'm sold.

I'm glad that they FINALLY gave use a full complement of on the fly playcalls, which has been missing for years and years.

NBA Live used to have everything you could possibly want: individual coaching profiles, team specific plays-I remember running the Utah High Post sets and the Princeton sets with the Sacramento Kings in NBA Live 05.

Of course, EA is 100% responsible for STRIPPING the game of everything that once made it great.

Ive been playing 2k for the past 5 years, since it has been the superior product across the board.

This year, Live may finally have brought me back. I dont know why, but as Ive gotten older, I dont sweat as much. Give me a reasonabley accurate representation of the sports I like, combined with fun gameplay, features that work and arent just extraneous tack ons. That is all I want.

I will need to see th 2k demo before making final judgement.

I can only afford to drop my money on 1 basketball game this year, with all of the football games Ive bought this year lol..but for the 1st time in about 5-6 years, Live is seriously in the discussion.

[Muzyk23]

Oh I've finally downloaded the demo..

- there is no responsiveness on the defensive end, players are flying in every direction but the guy with the ball when trying to block a shot; it looks horrendous and makes it difficult to play defense;

- I don't know why but I can't get the shot off any time I want, because my player pump fakes all the time;

- the above point brings me to canned animations, which are plentiful; it's shocking, becuse in my opinion Live has always been free of it;

- animations look nice, but there are many which look awful; faces are waaaaaay off and I don't dig the graphics..in my opinion the crowds and cheerleaders animate at 15 frames and generally look decent at best( those foams wtf);

- sound, commentary and atmospere are phenomenal, the best I've ever experienced in a sports game;

- playcalling is done brilliantly and I love the fact that players are always on the move after having called a play.

It hope that the unresponsiveness will be fixed when the retail version is released, because right now it is definitely a game killer for me.

The good thing is, it's only a DEMO.

[KG]

Quote: Originally Posted by Vinngadd

I'm not talking about Duncan's shot. They actually had that in the game last year if I'm not mistaken. The patented shots are one thing, those are signature shots. But just because something like banked shots, or the ball nicking the rim as it goes in isn't there just for the sake of it being there, I don't think that's a reason to complain. I think that there are more important things to concentrate on. But I agree that Tim Duncan's shot off the glass should most definitely be a part of the game. Those things are huge and very important. It's refreshing to have a discussion/debate with someone about these kinds of things without having someone bash the others' preference. Question for you. And no particular reason for it, just your thoughts. Do you think that you would be more inclined to purchase this version of NBA Live if you had stuck it out with them instead of purchasing NBA 2K for all this time? I myself left the Live series for a little while but then came back.

I definately feel you on that point. While I love the little things for all the reasons that Mccoy stated a few pages back I want the major issues to always be addressed first. I'm usually one of those people in the "Wishlist Threads" that say things like "dont concentrate on refs on the court, sideline crews, chaing gangs. Give me better AI, etc..."

That's a good question. I would lean towards yes but keep in mind that I've never owned a Next-Gen Live game, only played the demos. The last one I actually owned was on the PS1 I believe back when Rip was on the Wizards. I know the consensus was that the first 2 next-gen Live games were horrible but I was busy playing the competition. Just by comparing the Demo's and reading impression threads it looks like Live is heading in the right direction, heading towards being more "sim" which is incredible given EA's history.

It seems as if the Live crowd is excited which means that they're doing something right.