NBA Elite 11 Impressions (Kotaku)

[Steve_OS]

Kotaku has posted their impressions of NBA Elite 11.

Quote:

"The simplicity is seen in the new shot motion, which is brings a skill basis to jump shots and takes the dice-roll out of making them. Shooting is accomplished by pushing up on the right stick within a "sweet spot" direction that gets wider the better rated your shooter is. You have to release it within a certain window, too, to put enough distance on the ball to go in. After half-a-dozen bricks I started getting the release down, and was complimented on picking up the shooting mechanic so early. The complexity will be in how you move with the ball, to break down your defender or to chart a path to the basket. In past versions of NBA Live, the CPU would pick the appropriate animation from a set of ankle-breaker moves you activated with the right stick. Now your right stick is going to be used to manually key them. A crossover dribble's motion is different from a between-the-legs or a behind-the-back dribble, all of which have different purposes and liabilities. Knowing which one to use and how to put it in play will take a patient tutorial and work in the game's gym setting. Novell Thomas, NBA Elite's gameplay producer, assured me the game would have both."

[RayDog253]

Nice read, all though nothing too exciting.

[akiracy]

The shooting mechanic sounds like a combination of Sony's NBA game and the 2K's shotstick

[mz3v3ry504]

it sounds a lil too complicated...i think the focus on which buttons to press and which way to direct the analog stick will kinda take away the enjoyment of the actual game... but we'll see

[Teebone21]

nice skill base shooting = advantage over casuals= fun to me.

[bigsmallwood]

Sounds promising. Time will tell how revolutionary (if at all) this shooting feature will be...

[loadleft]

Quote: Originally Posted by Teebone21

nice skill base shooting = advantage over casuals= fun to me.

At this point I'm like whatever, but I think you may have things reversed. With skill based shooting the focus could go away from good basketball fundamentals and towards good stick skills. That's what a lot of the "basketball heads" are concerned with. I finally have put down Live 10 because the focus was a challenging game not necessarily a realistic ones in terms of on the court gameplay. That's not to say it isn't sim but watching Boston's offense revolve around Rondo taking 18ft jumpers off the dribble and Paul Peirce spotting up for 3's w/very little mid range just wore on me after a while. Sure both guys are capable IRL but that's not what they're about, even if that's what the D was giving them. That kinda stuff makes winning challenging but not realistic gameplay. If Shot Stick controls are so critical that one must master them before understanding basic pick and roll offensive plays then in my opinion we have the same problem all over again. I like the idea of all this new stuff but one thing that worries me is the advertising push is all about the controls and what they allow you to do and not about we finally got game play right and Boston plays like Boston, you'll struggle to keep Rondo out of the paint while containing Peirce's mid range game and Allen off screens and so on. Obviously I am hoping to be 100% wrong but hey this is EA after all!

[Jano]

Quote: Originally Posted by loadleft

At this point I'm like whatever, but I think you may have things reversed. With skill based shooting the focus could go away from good basketball fundamentals and towards good stick skills. That's what a lot of the "basketball heads" are concerned with. I finally have put down Live 10 because the focus was a challenging game not necessarily a realistic ones in terms of on the court gameplay. That's not to say it isn't sim but watching Boston's offense revolve around Rondo taking 18ft jumpers off the dribble and Paul Peirce spotting up for 3's w/very little mid range just wore on me after a while. Sure both guys are capable IRL but that's not what they're about, even if that's what the D was giving them. That kinda stuff makes winning challenging but not realistic gameplay. If Shot Stick controls are so critical that one must master them before understanding basic pick and roll offensive plays then in my opinion we have the same problem all over again. I like the idea of all this new stuff but one thing that worries me is the advertising push is all about the controls and what they allow you to do and not about we finally got game play right and Boston plays like Boston, you'll struggle to keep Rondo out of the paint while containing Peirce's mid range game and Allen off screens and so on. Obviously I am hoping to be 100% wrong but hey this is EA after all!

I understand exactly what you're saying loadleft you want the game to be about basketball knowledge first then stick skills next. Well IMO its that type of thinking that has kind of trapped the basketball genre.

Everybody that plays basketball games always have some type of complaint about them not playing out realistically. They may look real in some cases but that same level of realism doesn't really extend to the controls and gameplay itself.

Sometimes I think we forget that these are still videogames so skill is important to have. In a lot of basketball games your skill level in the game doesn't have to be high to be successful. Just give it to the best player and just shoot.

With Elite EA is trying to eliminate that ease of play and make stick skills important too. What this does is now those that have a lot of basketball knowledge and good stick skills will come out on top. And that's the way it should be because if its all about bball knowledge then you can just cheese your way to a win.

If you combine the two the one that has a strong understanding of the game will be able to use his players properly. So if his team is good at running pick and roll he will use it.

But because stick skills are in the equation now just understanding the game of bball will not be enough. You will also have to practice and put in work to be good at the game.

One thing that i loved about Live 05 was the fact that I could beat my friends at it not just because I understood bball but im also good at the game too.

I used to frustrate them when they tried to bowl into the paint by drawing charges. This forced them to have to really play ball and think while they played. With Elite I see EA trying to get back to that level of play where the best player wins and thats the one who has it together mentally (bball knowledge) and physically too (stick skills).

Basically what I'm trying to say is that stick skills is what will make basketball knowledge important. B/C if there's no reason for the player to be skilled at the game then why should he use bball knowledge.

If you can just chuck up threes or run around till you get a dunk why should bball knowledge be important. THe fact that EA is trrying to put skills back into the game tells ME that they are trying to get to the simulation level you and I want the game to be at.