NBA Live 15 and First In-Game Update Available Today, Post Your Impressions

[sroz39]

I've played three games now, one as the Cavs in the opening game on Pro with 5min quarters and then two as the Raps in a home and home with the Celtics. I've lost every game LOL. A lot of it is due to playing 2K for years and years now, but some of it is due to some issues I have with the gameplay. That sounds awful but it's not as bad as it may seem. First, the positives in random order:

- unbelievable sound, great graphics, top notch jobs on the arenas and lighting just like I saw on Twitch all weekend. Doesn't disappoint.

- the commentary is better than I was expecting, obviously could use a little work but overall, good.

- menus are simple and slick

- soundtrack is awesome

- feels AWESOME to make a big shot or go on a big run. The crowd, the commentary, it all leads to getting your blood pumping

- love the simplified control scheme. Everything that 2K does that's important to me is available here too but just easier to do

- as I'm getting used to the controls, I'm really pulling off some great plays on the PnR and PnP's. Especially with Kyle Lowry, I feel deadly.

- love how if you try and post up a stronger player, you remain just as far away from the basket or at times even get pushed away a bit. In 2K, I feel like with enough persistence, I'll eventually back a guy down and then the game compensates by me missing 4 footers and whatnot. This game, though overall lacking in the post game, at least it's difficult to play in the post.

- love having pro hop and euro step on the Triangle/Y button. I shouldn't have to think too hard when I want to pull some of these moves off when the situation calls for them, in 2K it feels like I'm trying to do the hokey pokey at times. In Live, it's a lot more intuitive.

- love the R3 being a quick replay button. It's a contextual replay, so sometimes it shows from the start of a fast break, other times it just shows a post up from the backboard cam. But I found myself clicking R3 OFTEN! What a great mechanic.

I've yet to dive in to the other modes too much, just playing exhibition games but the gameplay so far is a blast.

The negatives:

- the dribbling options available to you seem a little limited at the moment. I wish there was a bit more contextual decision making involved when it picks a dribbling animation. It's a lot better than in the past but has a ways to go.

- the blocks are probably the only terrible thing this game has. There's things that are just average, like some passing animations, but the blocks are kinda poor. From the sound to the unrealistic nature in how they're performed to the sheer amount of them, they need a lot of work.

- along these lines, defence still needs a lot of work. It's definitely great playing on the ball perimeter defence, you really feel like you can make a difference. The interior D is very underwhelming and there's not enough animations to convey the different ways you can make it tough for guys taking inside shots. This should definitely improve over time but right now, it can be frustrating at times.

- further to that, controlling the help defence is frustrating as well. I like to play on the ball defence so when I get beat, I switch to the help defender. Often times though, it's like I'm not even there because the offensive player starts an animation that I can't prevent no matter what I do. I feel as the RTP system gets fleshed out in coming years, this will turn into a huge strength because when the physics DO activate, it's a thing of absolute beauty and something 2K can't touch. But right now, it can be frustrating to try and be the help defender and have the offensive player continue on his path like I'm not there.

- something I hope can be tuned with a patch is the rigidity of the open/guarded shot system. Obviously, for lesser lights in the NBA, any pressure is enough to throw their shots off. But I find that guys that are good shooters, if there's someone nearby, it affects their shot too much. I had a heck of a time with LeBron, after creating a little bit of space, to make a shot that he makes consistently in real life but because I was in the yellow for guarded, it didn't allow me to make a shot. The better and especially elite players, make shots with a lot of pressure but even more so when it's just average pressure. This system needs tweaking a little bit but I like the instant visual cue it shows with the meter.

- one of the things I loved about Live 10 was how easy it was to call a player-specific play and unless I'm missing something, that mechanic doesn't exist in this game. I hope it makes its return next year because I don't wanna fumble around with a bunch of button presses and it was one of my favourite things about Live 10.

Thats really it. I'm sure I'm going to come across more positives and negatives as I play more and try different modes. And maybe it seems like I'm being harsh but I would give this game a solid 7.0-7.5 with the potential to get even better depending on patches. It's a lot of fun, animations need the most attention going into Live 16 and beyond but I bought the game for a bunch of reasons but the main one was this: when I come home from work or had a rough week or whatever the case may be, I know my game of choice is going to be Live 15. I love my Madden, my Fifa and my NBA 2K15 but those games ask a lot of me some days. The art of simplicity (don't confuse that with easy) has long ago been lost in the sports game genre. This game is plenty "sim", plenty challenging but also simple to play while being very engaging. And it's a beautiful game to look at on top of it all.

Welcome back, NBA Live. We' ve missed ya.

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[nick_sr]

So I drop 49 points and 23 assist and go 5th in the draft?!?! Just going to request a trade home as long as its not for derozan lol

[WTF]

Quote: Originally Posted by nick_sr

So I drop 49 points and 23 assist and go 5th in the draft?!?! Just going to request a trade home as long as its not for derozan lol

You can select who you want to be drafted by.

[swac07]

Graphically which looks better is subjective...you cant go wrong with either..live looks colorful and vibrant...but cartoonish (not a bad thing) 2k looks darker not so vibrant...but resembles human flesh tones better...both have hit n misses on face scans..just enjoy both art styles for what they are..because both have their times when they look beautiful in motion

There are no losers visually for fans of either

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[The 24th Letter]

I'm also not a fan of getting a foul called when I'm stationary holding L2 in front of a jump shooter. If I was jumping or moving toward the shooter I could see that....but it doesn't really make sense to me for that to be called a foul...seems like a bailout

[JKSportsGamer1984]

I don't want to knock anyone's enjoyment for the game, but this game is still YEARS behind where it should be. Animations & player movement have been a sore spot in Live for as long as I can remember & that is still the case with Live 15. To me the best part of the game is the ESPN broadcast package. The game still has that wonky arcady feel that Live is known for. Some may prefer this type of game but it's not up to par in my opinion. If this were Live 11 then it would be jugded differently but being that it's almost 2015 we should expect better. I personally feel like some are burned out from not having competition in so long that they are willing to overlook a lot of the games issues & over hype the improvements. This game looks & feels like a PS3 game to me. I want Live to succeed but they need some drastic improvements mainly with the animations & AI.

[BL8001]

Yeah 24th to me that seems post patch.

I didn't see that happen much before the patch last night but then 3 times in the first game I played post patch.

And the same way too, just standing there on D, no contact. I watched the replay because it was a crucial time when the CPU was up 2. Couldn't find a foul. They went up 4 on the two made free throws.

To me this means they should be able to fix this, and hopefully turn on the occasional cpu reach in foul. I haven't even seen the CPU go for a steal in early access or full game.

[sroz39]

Quote: Originally Posted by The 24th Letter

I'm also not a fan of getting a foul called when I'm stationary holding L2 in front of a jump shooter. If I was jumping or moving toward the shooter I could see that....but it doesn't really make sense to me for that to be called a foul...seems like a bailout

Something I missed in my write-up is that there's too many fouls on jump shooters in general. Would love to see in a patch where they make it a little tougher to get to the hoop still, decrease fouls on jump shooters and increase fouls on drives.

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