NBA Live 10 Demo Available, Post Impressions Here (360)

[seanbarkley]

Quote: Originally Posted by Stumbleweed

Not over-the-moon with this, but Czar's thought that it wasn't as good as the final reassured me a bit. Positives: Love the movement, I feel in control of basic dribbling (the wide backwards turn when you jam LS the opposite direction and slightly back is a little wonky, but that's about it), the RS dribbles are responsive, and I love being able to explode out. My favorite part so far is the collection of moving, stepback, and running jumpers -- using Kobe and nailing the stepback fade from the elbow is a thing of beauty. I didn't have any problems getting what I wanted, including a fading bank shot with VC that was really pretty. The driving layup and dunk control will take a little getting used to, mainly because I'm not used to having the 2-step/Euro step options as well as having to focus so much attention on LS when shooting. I like all the options though and it felt good the few times I was able to Iso and drive into the paint then finish on the side I wanted to. The overall look of the game is very nice. I think I'll probably adjust my TV settings a bit to tone the brightness down, but everything looks very crisp and I didn't have a problem with any of the player models. Kobe looks amazing IMO and the skin textures are FN-esque. I actually didn't have too hard of a time playing defense on perimeter players. Like Czar said, if you use the angles and feather the LS instead of jamming it in different directions, don't reach, don't (for the love of god) use the RS "hands-up" pose, you can prevent penetration and force them into a tough shot. Sometimes it seems like you can't prevent them drawing a foul (don't contest or anything but they still get a shoulder into you and get the whistle), but I didn't feel the need for a defensive lock button or anything. Contesting felt good. Off-ball control and passing is easy to use. I don't know what Ray is complaining about really, I was able to icon pass fine with LT -- just hit the button quickly and you can even continue holding LT and make multiple passes. I had to get used to LT being the button, but other than that, I didn't have much problem. Direct passing is still pretty crappy, but I don't think there will ever be a solution to that when you point the LS at 2 players.. inevitably it'll be the wrong one about half of the time. I love being able to quickly control an off-ball man and run him to his spot... had some really nice catch-and-shoots with Pietrus and Lewis just by using that quickly and rubbing the defender off of Dwight or someone. Negatives: Don't like that you can't really use LT passing when you're running a playset. Seemed like it would cancel the play most of the time when I'd icon pass to the correct man. Having to use normal passing for plays would be a bummer because it still kinda sucks... I think a good idea would be making it so if the left stick is neutral and you press 'A' when it's glowing above the designated man, it passes him the ball. That would eliminate the confusion the other poster mentioned as well. Is there a "defensive switch" button? This was driving me crazy -- in fast break situations/pick and rolls when you get switched off, there was no way to reliably get back on your man. Even when I would get up close to my designated man (i.e. Kobe on Vince), the previous defender would often stay there. I was tapping LT and RB (thinking maybe defensive assist would take me to the right man) but no dice. This is a MUST for team play online and just in general IMO.. can't run a smart defense without the ability to call people off and get back to your original man. That's especially true since matchups are such a big part of this year's game. I found it very hard to play defense when the offensive player was moving quickly. Granted, that may be realistic, but it seemed as if every time they had a running start in the fastbreak, they managed to weasel around me and score. Sometimes it was contested, but it just seemed like you can't move nearly fast enough backwards (even turning around to run properly) to stop the break. This is another one where it's probably me not being used to it, but it stood out to me as annoying. Few too many offensive boards for my liking (the CPU). Again, might not understand the boxing out mechanic.. probably my fault. Gotta get used to pick and roll control -- seemed like they rarely set the screen correctly and I had people like VC occasionally setting screens (which was probably my fault since you can choose) instead of bigs. Just a little confusing and didn't work as well as last year (which is probably a good thing I suppose, since it was a money play). Animations are still not entirely natural-looking... warping on rebounds and blocks is the main issue, but also the post-play cuts and running back (as has been mentioned from the other videos) look a bit strange, like they fast-forward briefly. I didn't have too many head-scratchers in-game aside from a VC standing dunk under the rim, but in the hangar, there were definitely some weird dunk animations. Loose balls and rebounding is not as tight as I'd hoped. There were several times when a ball would get deflected or stolen and my players would be in position but would just kinda stand there... I'd see some amazing-looking hustle sequences, but then randomly nobody would go get the ball after all that effort. I think I just don't completely understand how rebounding works -- I thought it was "Hold Y to box out, release to jump" and it seems like that sometimes.. but like on free throws as soon as you touch Y they jump for it. Devs, can you clarify the rebounding controls a bit for us? Overall though I had a good time with it. I know I'll be playing the hell out of it in the next few weeks, so I think a lot of the issues were due to me not really knowing what I'm doing. Also, I recognize that it's a demo and not the ironed-out final... Czar's thoughts reinforce that, so I'm not worried that I won't be as happy with the game as I thought. Seems like a lot of the appeal is watching how the different players and teams react to matchups, etc. and we don't get much of that at all in an 8-minute game with the same 2 teams and few subs. The core mechanics seem very good and it definitely forces you to run an offense rather than just dribble your way to the rack. Gonna spend some more time with it this afternoon, but probably won't be able to capture and psot anything until very late tonight or tomorrow.

Thanx for this man! it isn't easy to find many neutral opinions. too many fan boys defending their territory over here. LOl

[dat swag]

With limited time on the demo…I definitely like the LOOK and feel of the game. As noted the players all feel a bit different and that’s easy to see from the moment a player has the ball in his hands. Smooth and responsive are the words that immediately come to mind regarding player movements.

One area I’m very pleased with is the BASELINE EXPLOIT has been fixed. I tried it several times and even the animation is perfect causing the player to go out of bounds or get the rock stolen when forcing a play to the baseline. What that immediately tells me is that not only did the devs work on offense they worked on Defense too. It also tells me beluba is on his game because he told us the exploit is gone and now it is. Not just lip service but words backing up the product which is not always true for EA.

I can’t really start breaking down the gameplay but from the reps I had early this morning its feeling like a “THINKING MAN’S” basketball game…The court spacing and player movement are just about perfect. Defensively though I have a little concern about not being able to body up on players but I think it will simply take some time to adjust to how we can play better defense with the new tools they have given us. The small time I spent in a zone (2-3) I was very happy with the results. The close out D looks and feels right as well. I’m really looking forward to getting into the lab with this game and breaking down all the subtle nuances to make a great sim hoop experience. It should be fun.

Overall I’d say for the time being its time to “Believe the Hype” because my worst fear was the game would not live up to the early hype but so far this demo is very good…and I mean very good in a enthusiastic way. Great job EA!!

[Stumbleweed]

I really think they need to do something else other than that horrible RS up "hands up" pose. That's been in basketball games for years and does absolutely nothing aside from plant your feet so your man leaves you in the dust. Really wish they would've made that a moving contest kind of thing where you're just bring active and defending against the pull-up.

[ai2k2]

Rim sounds are muuuccchhh better than those trailers. Now its very believable they recorded these from an actual NBA Game.

[seanbarkley]

something to watch while we (PS3 users) patiently wait 7 more days:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIaVXpJmBFI

[dat swag]

Quote: Originally Posted by RayAP19

I think people on here overreact any time someone says "2K" on the Live boards or vice versa. I wasn't comparing, I was just establishing that it can be done without a crazy advanced physics engine.

I think what you say is true. people who feel one way about any given game tend to overreact often when they hear something negative.

I also have a funny feeling that you know this and you want to make it abundantly clear that LIVE will not be perfect like many would have all of us believe. I don't think you have to prove a point by addressing every pet peeve you have with this game. maybe just try to enjoy it for what it is and if its not your cup of tea maybe 2k continue to quench your hoop thirst. Nitpicking the game won't make 2k any better and vice versa. This should be a year when we FINALLY have two very solid options. lets celebrate that as opposed to peeing on each other's cornflakes.

Enjoy the demo bro

[sambowie]

Quote: Originally Posted by hokupguy

played 2 hrs with it like great improvement. Did take some time to get use to the controls. Might be best since Live 06 IMOP. But not feeling it enough to be a 1st day buy. Might do what i have done with most ea titles lately buy it used after a patch comes out. Like i did w/ NCAA and then keeped that one. Live does feel like its coming back , but not the whole way. One note why do they still have steve kerr?

Here's a better question: Shouldn't Steve Kerr be managing a basketball team instead of doing voice work? Sucks for you Suns fans.

[The 24th Letter]

1) d12 has a nasty crossover lol
2) cant run a fast break to save my life...

im assuming the latter is b\c I havent fully learned the game yet though....are you guys successfully running the break?