Official NBA Live 10 Impressions Thread

[DirtyJerz32]

I figured more and more people are getting the game so it would be easier. Mods if it's to early go ahead and lock it up until more people have it.

[23]

Yep I'll lock until tonight or tomorrow morning

[pjv31]

I have it. ExtremeGamer will have it this evening.

I will start my impressions later this evening.

A pic so no one thinks im lying.

[ExtremeGamer]

Yeah, I have it, put about 4-5 hours into it last night.

Impressions - it's good. Much better than the demo, and is seriously the only basketball game I'll need. I was very critical of some little things in Live, and finally settled that I can deal with the injury thing and just want to have fun.

There are tons of little things here that aren't basketball related, but still suck you in. Every team has their real free throw sound, Chris Paul has the Ric Flair "Woo" in New Orleans, Shaq has the Superman theme play when he dunks, Vince Carter being booed in Toronto (and the announcers discuss it after it happens), the whistle in Detroit, etc and so on. Now the Cavs have the sword swipe when they hit a free throw, but it's really faint. I already talked to Marcus who confirmed and is looking into it

The crowd is awesome, best atmosphere I've ever experienced in a sports game bar non. Especially if you use playoff atmosphere, it's insane. But regular season in some arenas like Cleveland, still off the charts. Also love how you play in Cleveland and it seems real bright. Go to New York, and it seems darker. That's the vibe I always got on ESPN as well.

The animations seem fine, so does rebounding which I know people have complained about. With this game, you almost have to play 12 minute quarters to get it right. Also, shot pct's are completely perfect out of the box. My first 2 games, I shot 46% and 44% respectfully. The CPU shot 43% and 47%. Will it eventually need tweaks, or are there areas that could use help? Probably. But it plays damn good out of the box.

Teams use their main guy. Played Miami, they forced Dwayne Wade down my throat, who by the way is damn near impossible to guard in this game. Wade had 24 shots, Beasley was next with 11. Same thing with Orlando, they couldn't get Howard the ball, I was doubling him a lot, but he got his touches as he would. Ended the night 14 points 12 rebounds.

I haven't tried online or Live Run yet, just a bunch of exhibition games. I went into the Dynamic Season and decided I won't even do a dynasty, just going to do this. Love the set up and idea, will be perfect for my play style and time I have allotted.

There are many, many good things here. Chris Paul plays like Chris Paul. I was the Cavs and then New Orleans, and right away I felt a HUGE difference in the point guards. Night and day. Made me go wow!

I'm very happy with my decision, and thanks again to PJV for hooking me up and it was nice meeting you man! You made my night!

[ExtremeGamer]

Unlocking this as more are getting the game.

REMEMBER, THIS IS IMPRESSIONS ONLY!

[Pared]

The greatest thing about this game since sliced bread is it will net you realistic stats, while playing, with 12 minute quarters. I noticed, however, PIP is a stat that is missing?

The biggest thing that bothers me about the game are the leftover rebounding and blocking animations from last year. The offense (dribbling in particular) and off ball movement are SO SPECTACULAR that all the defensive animations look very out of place.

Contesting a shot while the player is shooting is still broken.

The menu's, overlays, presentation are very well done! But the commentary, believe it or not, seems stale now. Never thought I'd say that.

Players have a lot more "weight" to them offensively this year, but defensively, it can still be better. It's better than the demo, I can actually body up on people, but there are times when players don't brush off against each other.

I LOVE the fact you can pick the crowd audio style..

The signature shots are EXTREMELY well done.

Post game feels the same as last year.

DNA is much more thorough this year - VERY IMPRESSIVE. It even tracks your player's tendencies while playing. I'd like to see this expanded and saved in your profile.

Will post more... just shooting off the hip right now. Certainly enjoying the game this year.

[Bornindamecca]

I'm impressed by a lot of things. I'll give a thorough review later in the week, but here is the main two things about Live.

The Good
Live won a philosophical basketball war. Because of the way their ball handling, player momentum and interior collisions work, you can approach this game with a purely basketball mindset. On offense you're creating space for your jumpers and running sets to get mimsmatches and open players. In the early days of having this game, both online and off, there are no Live-isms to plan around on offense. Same goes for defense. Since there aren't too many ghosting animations, you can look at what hand the offensive player has the ball in, do a mental check of his skill set, and then guard him accordingly. Because open jumpers go in at a high clip, percentages and numbers can start to reflect real life. Like real jumpshooters, you start to think you can make anything in this game. Try to live off of a steady diet of stepbacks, and you'll soon remember: "live by the jumper..." and you know how the rest goes. Everything about the jumpshooting in Live is brilliant. The jumpshot mechanics, the cause and effect of defending it, and the success rate of open jumpers make this the best that jumpshooting has every been in a basketball game. Not just jumpshooting as a mechanic, but jumpshooting as a role in an offense. Bravo to that.

The Bad
Rebounding, Post Up and Loose Ball logic. These elements need the same overhaul that shooting, dribbling, passing, and man to man defense got.

The Ugly
There are some aesthetic issues with Live. Without getting too into art-nerd talk, I'll say that Live has a severe philosophical shortcoming in every visual aspect. The game is made to be seen up close first, and far away second. The color, the proportions, the animations, the likenesses, the lighting and the textures all follow this thinking, and that's responsible for every visual complaint your hear about Live. This needs to be inverted for Live to reach its visual potential.

As great as Icon Player Control and Freestyle passing are, the normal directional passing has given me some truly puzzling results. Not sure how the logic to this is worked out, but there were times I passed in a direction nearly opposite the player I was aiming for. Hopefully this can be tweaked with a patch.


Missing In Action
The Live team made great strides, but time is a cruel mistress, and fans will notice a big gap in terms of features, visual subtleties and 3rd tier gameplay elements, like defensive offball control amongst other things. I hope that while they are working on the Post Game, Rebounding and Off Ball defense next year, the Live Development Team can find the time to fill these holes to flesh out the experience.

Innovations
Kudos for Freestyle Passing, Icon Player Control, Pick and Roll Controls and another year of DNA innovation(Dynamic Season, anyone?)

[edubbs]

Can't either of you guys touch on CPU fastbreaks?

They 'seem' to be pretty non-existent.

[Bornindamecca]

CPU fastbreaks just fine.

[bobbysco13]

Well, my experience with online thus far has been horrendous...Guys double teaming every possession regardless of player and/or situation, running their off the ball player straight to the rim (and unless you guys have experienced this yet, there is NOTHING you can do, honestly) calling for the pass and then throwing down, running absolutely no plays whatsoever and then always trying to steal the inbounds pass after they score.....it really is ridiculous....

Now, with all of that said, I LOVE THIS GAME OFFLINE, and believe it CAN play similar with like minded sim individuals ONLINE also, but it would take the right kind of people. If we would set up a league where we limit the off ball manual movement to the front of the rim (or limit the points in the paint to a realistic percentage of one's overall points) as well as have players that will run some of the wonderful plays that EA has given each and every team, then the game would play wonderfully online....

If anyone would like to give this a shot, my gamertag is selahsdaddy and we could play an unranked 7 or 8 minute quarter "sim-like" game and I believe have a lot of fun.....