NBA Live 16 News Post

NBA Live 16 Demo Available For Xbox One and PS4, Post Your Impressions

10:22 AM - September 15, 2015 by Steve_OS

The NBA Live 16 demo is available now for Xbox One gamers and is scheduled to release at 1:00 PM ET for PlayStation 4. We will update this post when it officially arrives on the PS Store.

UPDATE: It's now 2:00 PM ET, no sign of the demo on PS4, we will post when it is available.

UPDATE: The NBA Live 16 demo is available now on PS4. Click here if you can't find it.

The demo includes the new LIVE Pro-Am mode, featuring both the competitive LIVE Run and cooperative Summer Circuit. For those of you looking for an offline experience you can play exhibition games in Tip-Off mode. Users can choose from the Cleveland Cavaliers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Golden St. Warriors, Washington Wizards, Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Clippers. Players can adjust sliders, difficulty level, play up to 12 minute quarters and more. It also includes tutorials.

Download it, play it and post your impressions.

Game: NBA Live 16Reader Score: 5.5/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS4 / Xbox OneVotes for game: 4 - View All

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Member Comments

# 161 swac07 @ 09/16/15 06:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bateman11


	If you play realistic basketball you get excellent results.

I'm not knocking anyones experience with the game....but man I can play all the realistic basketball in the world with this game and its still not going to hide these legacy issues....Heck I was playing realistic basketball until d.rose decided he wanted to do a double jump rocket boost in mid air during a hopstep( "its gotta be the shoes”

) and lay it up...stuff like that really kills ANY kind of thought of realistic basketball

....the game isnt that bad but its like my uncle used to say "Its still a **** sammich...just not a soggy one now"

# 162 Walt Frazier @ 09/16/15 07:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The 24th Letter


	Late game A.I https://vid.me/bzkN Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Honestly, I can barely believe they have not fixed this after THREE YEARS.

For anyone considering the game to play USER v CPU...basically it is the ultimate game killer.

The CPU late game AI...watch them take a 2 ball when 3 down.

Watch them dribble for 8 seconds as the buzzer sounds.

Watch them walk it up and not get a shot off when down 2.

Absolute game killer for offline USER v CPU players.

Honestly can't believe they have left this in again. Forums will be full of new users complaining about this within a week of release.

# 163 bumpyface @ 09/16/15 07:40 AM

My report is totally different from what I'm seeing here.
Presentation
I love the presentation. You will notice an immediate improvement in visuals and the atmosphere feels like a basketball game. I also like the commentary but my opinion is biased because I'm a fan of JVG.
Gameplay
The gameplay is fast.
Some of the animations are off and the shooting needs to be tuned down along with dunk success.
I also did not see as much contact when contesting the basket from dunks and lay-ins but I played Clev vs OKC and I had at least 5 blocks.
I was also able to intercept passes in the passing lane. While on the subject of passing, it could use improvement but I like the overall speed of the passing game. I would like to see a more diverse range of pass-types tho throughout the gameplay.
Post
I like the post game. I had Kantar going in down low but the success rate of contested shots was too high.
I'm going to try out the online portion once the game finishes downloading. Again, I will say that I think some people are being a little too critical with the gameplay thus far but of course that is my opinion.

# 164 WTF @ 09/16/15 07:47 AM

If you all want less floaty passes, I encourage you to use the passing stick. You'll see a ton of new animations too.

# 165 benefactor @ 09/16/15 08:16 AM

As someone who played 14 for 9 months and 15 for 10 months I can confidently say, this feels like Live 15.5.

I enjoyed 15 and like the improvements here but it seems aimed at those who never gave 14 and 15 a chance. A lot of the positives mentioned so far already existed in last year's game.

Other than that, the small improvements definitely help.

Positives:
- Graphics are simply outstanding. Anyone saying it looks like a mobile game deserves an instant ban for trolling to be honest. The arena lighting, the courts, the players and their skin tones, textures and lighting are second to none.
- The backdown controls actually work this year and you can properly spin left or right, go into a turnaround with more control than before or spin and drive, also with much greater control.
- The Euro-step cheese has been toned down a lot. You can't (for the most part) just double tap in any inch of space and get to the hoop
- The hand off pass looks great and actually works to help give the receiver some space to create or pullup. Props for the person/team who came up with this.
- The touch passing is back and works quite well.
- Good look and feel to the court spacing and player size (something many bball games struggle with)
- Lots of off the ball movement and animations

Negatives:
- As I said, I played 15 for almost a year and this game so far doesn't really feel new. The additions are more like polish you'd expect on a much more solid product, like I would have expected in maybe 2018. The base game needed a lot more before EA worried about their Pro-Am and other stuff.
- The funky animations we all know and hate. These really kill the flow, kill the positives and will be responsible for many, many, many lost sales. It's as simple as that.
- Simply not enough post moves or proper shots around the paint.
- The great looking size up dribble controls and animation seem to have been removed. If this is true, I'm clueless why.
- Pointless automated behind the back dribbles when bringing the ball up court. They look silly and actually make you player change direction slightly and move him out of position (and make the ball look like it's on a yoyo)
- Bad CPU AI yet again. The exact same strategy has worked since Live 14. Way too easy to drive around a screen, way too easy to get a wing player an open 3 and even when you do the same play 10 times in a row, the CPU doesn't learn or adjust. The late game AI is as bad as ever also.
- From what I can tell, the collision/ragdoll reactions have been toned down. I saw more scripted contact animations than random physics create one's from my few hours with the demo. Again, if this is true I would be disappointed because there was great potential there.
- A bunch of little things like the same celebrations re-used for 3 years now, the silly '1 more' pointing animation, the skipping back on D animation. Us fans have keen eyes and notice these things.
- As I mentioned a few times after the first official screenshots... the most famous face in the world of basketball and you can't get his beard looking right.

I've gone from a definite purchase to a really unlikely purchase at this point. Not because the base game isn't enjoyable, but because there really isn't enough different on offer for a loyal, long playing fan of 15.

I'd like to know how much input the EA Game Changers ans what the pre-requisites were to get on board to be honest.

# 166 Gosens6 @ 09/16/15 08:19 AM

Honesty time. I'm playing it, and I'm having fun.

If you go in and play this game for what it is, and attempt to play realistic basketball, it can be fun.

The live team still has a LONG way to go, but I can definitely see the year by year improvements.

Positives:

- graphics look good
- some of the shooting animations look nice
- you're rewarded for playing real basketball

Cons:

- shooting is WAY TOO EASY. Especially for the AI. If they get even a little bit open, it's a guaranteed shot. Sliders are needed for sure

- animations can sometimes be really really bad. Especially on layups, dunks, or anything else happening in the paint.

- there doesn't seem to be any sort of defense or physicality anywhere on the court

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

# 167 Walt Frazier @ 09/16/15 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by benefactor


	As someone who played 14 for 9 months and 15 for 10 months I can confidently say, this feels like Live 15.5. Negatives: - As I said, I played 15 for almost a year and this game so far doesn't really feel new. The additions are more like polish you'd expect on a much more solid product, like I would have expected in maybe 2018. The base game needed a lot more before EA worried about their Pro-Am and other stuff. - The funky animations we all know and hate. These really kill the flow, kill the positives and will be responsible for many, many, many lost sales. It's as simple as that. - Simply not enough post moves or proper shots around the paint. - The great looking size up dribble controls and animation seem to have been removed. If this is true, I'm clueless why. - Pointless automated behind the back dribbles when bringing the ball up court. They look silly and actually make you player change direction slightly and move him out of position (and make the ball look like it's on a yoyo) - Bad CPU AI yet again. The exact same strategy has worked since Live 14. Way too easy to drive around a screen, way too easy to get a wing player an open 3 and even when you do the same play 10 times in a row, the CPU doesn't learn or adjust. The late game AI is as bad as ever also. - From what I can tell, the collision/ragdoll reactions have been toned down. I saw more scripted contact animations than random physics create one's from my few hours with the demo. Again, if this is true I would be disappointed because there was great potential there. - A bunch of little things like the same celebrations re-used for 3 years now, the silly '1 more' pointing animation, the skipping back on D animation. Us fans have keen eyes and notice these things. - As I mentioned a few times after the first official screenshots... the most famous face in the world of basketball and you can't get his beard looking right. I've gone from a definite purchase to a really unlikely purchase at this point. Not because the base game isn't enjoyable, but because there really isn't enough different on offer for a loyal, long playing fan of 15. I'd like to know how much input the EA Game Changers ans what the pre-requisites were to get on board to be honest.

Great post. I agree completely with all the above points. The cpu AI is terrible...no adjustments at all...score with the same play over and over = nothing happens.

I also have gone from likely purchase to unlikely...and definitely not unless they publicly address the late game AI issue.

# 168 Walt Frazier @ 09/16/15 08:38 AM

One major positive is the new camera...best camera in a basketball game.

# 169 The 24th Letter @ 09/16/15 08:45 AM

It's going to be rough for my post center in Pro Am as far as random go....any OS'ers play on PS4? I want to play with some guys who will play some ball!

A retail copy made it�s way to Charlotte so I got to play some of that as well as the demo- I�m assuming it�s the same build as the demo? Any way here are some random tidbits�.

-The Live team has stepped up the contextual animations a great deal and there are significantly less awkward motions that take you out of plays

-I love the way the CPU gambles on certain passes taking them out of position�that�s slick. Any way to stop your CPU teammates from randomly doing the same?

-On the subject of AI team mates, and I know mprice touched on this, but we have to clean up defensive rotations�.Looking at replays, it�s more than just over helping in some instances, some guys aren�t reacting to their man�s movement AT ALL and it�s leading to back breaking open shots�

-The CPU AI is so much better this year as far shot selection

-The game looks really good on Broadcast cam

-Rebounding seems very stiff, that�s the best way I can describe it

-Passing is a bit slow, but using the pass stick does help. What I don�t like is when you drive and someone makes contact it will queue your passing input until after the animation finishes�.by then the guy you are trying to pass too is out of position

-The post game is OK�.definitely looks a lot better, but as you can tell by how short the tutorial is, it�s not very deep

-The inside game may be worse than last year after the patches�they�ve added some nice stuff on the offensive end, but now there are even less ways to counter it. There�s almost more physicality on the perimeter than in the paint�.

-Man these games I�ve had have been waaaay to good for the END OF GAME AI to be the way it is�I know I have brought it up�but it�s a downer to us offline guys

-I actually intercept more passes putting myself between passing lanes then actually hitting the swat button when the ball is in the air�. There�s still a delay there for me most of the time. The issue comes in when humans are making way too accurate long passes over your head and you can�t react to intercept quick enough. If I am doing something wrong�I�m open to feedback..

-Some of the animations down low are so bad man, lol. I�m about to drop a damn mixtape in the mprice�s animation thread

Just some quick observations- will add more later- having a pretty good time though�.they�ve improved on a lot

# 170 fab4 @ 09/16/15 08:47 AM

Horrible online lag, like 10ms delay!
For the PRO AM you need a team, bc the arcade guys wont pass the ball, like ever.
Everyone makes an PG or SG and wants to be MJ. god damn!
I made a C but didnt get any teamgrade points for picks, how the hell am i supposed to get points as a center? nobody passes in the post :/

# 171 nova91 @ 09/16/15 08:51 AM

Interior defense is a joke. You can have the whole team in there trying to stop the ball and the offensive player will just push them out of the way and put up the most F'd up looking, high arcing layup and it will go in nothing but net or you will get dunked on.

Again, rebounding is bad. The animations are slow, unresponsive, and ugly. Yeah, ratings should play a factor but, if you're standing right there all by yourself and you time your rebounding attempt right you should get the ball, not look like Derpy McDerperson and miss and watch it bounce ever so slowly into the opponents hands.

Passing is a nope. They float far too often which makes them easily stolen.

Steals are another thing. I hardly ever see any on ball steals, like 2 in 20+ games. They always come from taking floaty pass. Unless you have a moderately low steal rating, then you look like Derpy McDerperson as your player reacts to your button press 5 seconds too late. The steal animations are bad as well, even good defenders look like a fish outta water flailing about on steal attempts.

Shot contest. In Pro-Am you get a shot contest directive, I contest every shot that comes at me and none register. I've blocked a shot and it didn't count. WTF counts as a shot contest?

Player movement is slow, clunky, unresponsive and forced. The game will take over and force your guy to run into a screen or post up.

I'm gonna keep playing the demo because I have nothing else better to do but, this game will be a no buy, AT ALL. Not $5, $10, $20 and definitely not $60. I'd have a hard time playing this even if it was given to me for free.

# 172 BellSKA @ 09/16/15 08:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nova91


	Match making is horrible in Pro-Am. I keep ending up on teams with all PGs except for me or teams of all slashing SFs.

THIS! I'm a larger SF who likes to set screens and crash boards. I'm playing as a post C a lot of times against PGs and SGs.

Maybe they are trying to match us up but there's just not enough players?

# 173 nova91 @ 09/16/15 08:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BellSKA


	THIS! I'm a larger SF who likes to set screens and crash boards. I'm playing as a post C a lot of times against PGs and SGs. Maybe they are trying to match us up but there's just not enough players?

My guy is 6'8". I get matched up with 7' stretch 4s that can knock down jumpers at will because shooting is so easy and shot contests are so slow.

# 174 BellSKA @ 09/16/15 09:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nova91


	Interior defense is a joke. You can have the whole team in there trying to stop the ball and the offensive player will just push them out of the way and put up the most F'd up looking, high arcing layup and it will go in nothing but net or you will get dunked on.

This was a problem for me from the first game I played. It needs to be remedied asap or it will ruin this mode for a lot of people.

I've logged a lot of Pro AM 5v5 the last couple days and the high percentage drive is blemish on this game.

If you are playing against someone who dribble chains all game, doesn't pass, and drives to the hoop and scores at will you make it a 5 on 1 game. What ends up happening is that person spams pass until the cpu gives them the ball. They are usually playing with one other person and 3 cpu teammates. What has started happening is the person not being involved leaves and it boots all users from the game saying "your opponent left the game". Not very much fun.

Someone mentioned it seems like they toned down the collision animation. I think that is part of the problem. Players on the drive go into ghost animation and float right through the defense.

This is bad and needs to be corrected. If you see one person abusing the chain, zig zag, drive cheese it will quickly become the norm. More and more people will stop playing that mode.

# 175 benefactor @ 09/16/15 09:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nova91


	Interior defense is a joke. You can have the whole team in there trying to stop the ball and the offensive player will just push them out of the way and put up the most F'd up looking, high arcing layup and it will go in nothing but net or you will get dunked on. Again, rebounding is bad. The animations are slow, unresponsive, and ugly. Yeah, ratings should play a factor but, if you're standing right there all by yourself and you time your rebounding attempt right you should get the ball, not look like Derpy McDerperson and miss and watch it bounce ever so slowly into the opponents hands.

Was the same in 14 and then worse in 15 and no better now.

You can have the smallest guard on the court grab an offensive rebound directly in the paint, miraculously getting it in a crowd of five 7 footers. He then puts it back up with that hook/scoop animation and again, miraculously it sails over the hands of those five 7 footers for an automatic score.

# 176 The 24th Letter @ 09/16/15 09:10 AM

Rebounding is especially bad in Pro Am....

I'm giving a lot of things the benefit of the doubt b/c I know the day 1 patch is looming...

Agree with you guys on interior defense though, it's a bit disappointing and was #1 on my improvement list...hard to believe it actually took a step back so far...I had Dray Green drive from the 3 point line right into DJ standing outside of the paint..I was holding LT and just....nothing. He finished around me like I wasn't there..

Speaking of the 3 point line.....I've seen Bogut and Noah drive in from the 3 point line and finish with guard speed because I gave them space....they bigs really need to be assigned specific animation packages...

One more thing: They need to remove all traces of that no look high arching hook shot immediately...haha

One suggestion is to at least get past the OKC/CLE demo before judging the game since you can't make any changes...

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

# 177 strawberryshortcake @ 09/16/15 09:14 AM

The more time I put into the demo (understanding the control schemes on the fly, trial and error), the more fun it becomes. There are obviously other things that I didn't quite like but one thing I didn't like is the high percentage of makes by both the user and cpu. Obviously I will have to change the gameplay setting to a more challenging level, but currently the full demo has not installed yet. I am never frustrated playing NBA Live16 because I am not stuck in any sort of animation, and because the steals actually look organic and natural, and loose balls are done well. If something goes wrong, I don't feel cheated.

Two thing I don't really like that immediately comes to mind:
1. Can't affect the driver to the paint. Once the animation happens, I have no affect on the driver.
2. Too many high arcing shots in the paint. Post players don't use the glass; they don't bank their shots. Layups don't use the glass (at least not that I can recall).

Just posting a few things I am extremely impressed about Live16 demo:

1. Passes - passes are zippy, snappy, speedy. Ever since I found out I could highlight the player I wanted to pass to using my left analog stick, I haven't had the need to use icon passing.

Don't like the fact that I need to hold down the trigger button in order to use the icon pass. I would like to see icon pass be a tap it once, fingers off the trigger and icons remain over the players heads. And if you want to remove the icons above the players head, tap the trigger button a second time.

2. Steal sequences - Live16 steal animation looks realistic and organically natural because the passes are at least 3/4 the way to the intended target before the defenders quickly throws their arms up and attempts to tip the pass). Absolutely solidly done by Live16. One of the best aspect executed by team EA Live.

2k's steal animation sequences are frustrating because they either look scripted or psychic (too much anticipation by the defender: even before the half way point of the pass, defenders in 2k already has their hands up as if they knew the pass was coming). On top of that, the other game have passes that are truly the definition of floaty.

3. Ability to inbound the ball quickly - I know this was already in Live15, but just want to point out that this is very important if fast breaks are part of someone's attack mode.

4. Loose balls - whenever a steal happens or a blocked shot happens, the location or where the loose balls go do not look scripted like the other game. Plus, it's easy to pick up loose balls (just move your character to the ball location). The other game on the other hand, even if you move the character to the location of the ball and your standing over it, the character sometimes is not even aware of the ball.

5. Pick and Roll - very interesting take on the pick and roll. You can feather the analog stick so that you dictate where exactly the pick and roll will take place within a certain spot. The pick and roll comes to you so to speak. This is something that you definitely must feel and is not something you will even catch watching gameplay video...at all.

6. Steals - having the ability to actually time the steals without getting a foul call is absolutely crucial. Too often a foul is called in the other game. Again, not looking to spam the steal button, but there must be a way to attempt a steal without getting called for a foul the majority of the time.

7. Blocks - having the ability to actually time blocks are great. Both games does it very nicely.

8. Ball/Rim Physics - like the fact that I can exactly tell if a shot is going in or not. If I get fouled and is able to get the shot off, the shot has a chance of going in and also a chance of missing. I actually don't know until it happens. With the other game, often you can tell if the shot is off based on the animation that plays out especially when contested in the paint or around the rim.

9. End of Quarter highlights - absolutely wonderful. Brilliant camera angle. Brilliant music accompanying it.

=============
Questions:

(A) How does one actually run a fast break? The speed of the ball handler needs to have the ability to speed up. The CPU is able to run beautiful fast break speeds, but I'm having difficulties making my ball handler sprint (even if I hold down the sprint button). It's simply not as quick as it should be. I have done fast breaks, but not exactly sure how to consistently execute them.

(B) How do you determine what type of shot you want to take down in the paint? As it stands, there is only one shot button for everything. It's as if the computer dictates what type of shot (hook shot, etc.) your virtual player takes.

(C) How do you do post up moves after you click the R3 button?

(D) How do you jump for a rebound? There is a delay when I hit the triangle button on my DS4 (dualshock 4 controller).

(E) How do I box out?

(F) How do I call for a screen/pick and roll from a specific player? It seems kind of random at the moment.

(G) Where is the control manual?

(H) What are the EXACT controls (PS4) to stay in front of your man?

# 178 Mintsa @ 09/16/15 09:30 AM

Ok. I had extremely limited time with this last night. Do I have to play thru the cavs/thunder finals, 5 min quarter game before I can access/play anything else ??

# 179 nova91 @ 09/16/15 09:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mintsa


	Ok. I had extremely limited time with this last night. Do I have to play thru the cavs/thunder finals, 5 min quarter game before I can access/play anything else ??

Nope. If you can get the game to install without freezing up you should be able to play after you finish that dumb Westbrook 3 pointer thing.

# 180 Mintsa @ 09/16/15 09:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nova91


	Nope. If you can get the game to install without freezing up you should be able to play after you finish that dumb Westbrook 3 pointer thing.

Really ??

When I tried to back out of that Cavs/Thunder 5 min quarter game it wouldn't let me quite it (it says 30% installed in the box) ???

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