NBA Live 19
NBA Live 19 Preview: What's Hot, What's Not
With another year under its belt, NBA Live 19 continues to march towards being truly competitive in the basketball market. While NBA Live 18 was a fun game and a welcome return for the snake-bitten franchise, it was not yet a great game. Player movement was stiff, there weren’t any differences in player release animations, and modes were either bare bones or lacking entirely.
One area where Live 18 shined was The One mode. Integrating the style of street ball with the substance of an NBA career, The One was a fun and engaging way to experience the game. As we march closer to NBA Live 19’s release in September, more news and more videos are being released showcasing EA’s upcoming basketball sim. Today we’re diving in to what looks good so far, and where the game may still have room for improvement.
What’s Hot
Female Create-A-Player: EA recently made the announcement for female create-a-player, and it’s been long overdue. For years, the WNBA has lacked representation in video games, and while the WNBA was present in NBA Live 18, there was no option to create a female avatar. Thankfully, that has now been rectified and just like on the male side, created female players can try their hand on the streets and in the gym for The One mode.
From the various videos on YouTube, it looks like all hair styles and player types will be available for the female avatars. There was even a sequence in the announcement trailer that showed a female throwing down a nasty dunk. Kudos to EA for taking care of an oversight that should’ve been corrected a long time ago.
Real Player Motion: Much like its sibling Madden NFL 19, NBA LIve 19 will include Real Player Motion for its players. With some hands on I got at EA Play, coupled with the recently released videos showcasing gameplay, it’s apparent Live 19’s players move in a much more realistic and fluid manner. Foot planting looks good and RPM has especially helped with the way dribbling looks.
One of the major complaints from last year’s game was how stiff and robotic the players moved, and a lot of that was due to how stilted the footwork was. Real Player Motion does a great job of minimizing wonky gathers and changes of direction.
Visuals: Let’s get this out of the way now: NBA Live 19 is a good looking game. In this year’s game, EA has added some of the coolest and most beautiful locations to play basketball we have ever seen in video games. From the Jordan Qual 54 in Paris to The Tenement in Manila, EA has painstakingly re-created iconic street courts for players to travel to and dominate.
Equipment is another area EA just gets right. Textures on the different arm sleeves, head bands and elbow pads all stand out from one another, and avoid that painted on look from the past. Shoes are another area that truly stand out. While the full list of shoes isn’t out yet, every screenshot and video showcases just how good the shoes look in game.
The One: What was, by far, the best part of NBA Live 18 is back and it looks to improve upon everything it did right. International street games, female characters and a new story are all a small part of what players can expect for NBA Live 19. It remains to be seen what the main storyline is, but last year’s story was very well done and I expect The One will continue to build on that past success.
The biggest area for improvement will be in the immersion on the NBA/WNBA side of things. Outside of cutscenes, there isn’t really anything differentiating an NBA game played in The One versus a game played in franchise. There needs to be more specific commentary-related nods to your player, specifically about his career outside of the singular game at hand.
No More Loot Crates: This is a big one. Now instead of having to buy a loot crate and hope to get the equipment you wanted, in NBA Live 19 you now buy the item you want. After last year’s Battlefield 2 uproar, it looks like EA has gotten the hint and done away with loot crates in their most gamble-heavy form.
What’s Not
Passing: I don’t know what it is about NBA Live, but passing remains one of the ugliest aspects of the game. The way the ball comes off the player’s hand just doesn’t look natural. The ball doesn’t sit in the hand properly, and as a result passes sometimes look like they’re being thrown off of the back of the hand or in the complete wrong direction for what would be bio-mechanically possible.
In addition, lob passes still look like the trajectory is far too low. Visually, the lob into the post more often than not looks as if it should be intercepted by a defender, only to magically end up where it’s supposed to be. On a positive note, bounce passes generally look good, though there are some odd clipping issues there at times. Hopefully, EA can tighten up the animations before release.
Defensive Spacing: Spacing on the defensive side of the ball is another area that looks like it could use refinement. Far too often, you’ll see help defenders come in to the lane to meet the driving ball handler and then get stuck on each other when the ball gets kicked out to the wing or corner. Rotations are also a touch slow with defenders sometimes taking a step in the wrong direction before recovering and heading back towards their man.
The result is poor spacing in the middle, and I can see good users taking advantage of this versus the CPU. While I’m not saying it should look like the dreaded “five out” from 2K League fame, a bump in defensive awareness from the AI could eliminate some of the issues with the spacing.
Lack Of Franchise Info: So far, EA has not released any information about potential improvements to franchise mode in NBA Live 19. Franchise mode in Live is the one area where EA is still miles behind 2K, and the lack of news about it so far has me worried. Typically, game developers like to be out front with their biggest improvements, and the fact that we’ve heard nothing about franchise for NBA Live 19 tells me that the focus was on The One.
While The One is a great mode, not improving what was a bare experience last year may turn off a lot of potential consumers. Unfortunately, it seems like this is a trend with EA Sports in recent years. Here’s hoping the studio can add some substance to the mode in the future.
Analysis
NBA Live 19 already looks to be a significant step forward for the franchise. Gameplay looks to be significantly improved with the Real Player Motion technology, and the addition of female created players is a pioneering move in the genre. Taking The One overseas and building squads builds upon what was the best game mode from Live 18, and it will be the main way that players will experience the game. There are still areas where the game needs to be refined, but EA is showing great attention (and care) to the game and that bodes well for its future. The real question is if EA will eventually show that same attention and care to modes like franchise once the gameplay has been locked down.
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Until the game starts hitting significant sales numbers, the decision-makers at EA aren't going to give them the budget for something like that.
But how are they gonna meet significant sales numbers if the product is lacking the basic essentials and isn't worth buying full price at its current state?
There's no incentive for a person to pre-order or even pay $60+, or even $40+ for a game that's not even up to par with its only competition, who albeit has its own issues, still manages to nail down the basics and essentials at least decent enough to entice a dedicated sports gamer or even the non-sports gamer, which is the target audience at the moment.
That's one of the things that has me uninterested in the game so far. Graphics and gameplay look to be improved, perhaps significantly, but thus far the majority of marketing for the game has had nothing to do with the NBA side of things. Even the NBA gameplay videos we saw demonstrated players pulling off street like moves.
We'll see what happens when more information is released and the demo drops. Maybe that will the change my mind and others' as well. But as of now IF I do decide to buy Live this year it'll likely be a Black Friday purchase.
To me it seems as if they've given up, and it reminds me of when COD took their boots of the ground and started doing the jumping off walls. Like we can't compete with battlefield in terms of simulation aspects. So let's just create are own lane and hope it sticks. This is one of the reasons why I'm not interested the game thus far, the graphics and gameplay seem to be improved to some degree, but outside of the one the game just doesn't have a lot to offer. The sad thing is everything has been about the courts and playing all over the world. You have people on Twitter eating this stuff up and that's fine and good if that's your thing. But overall it hurts the game cause now the devs think that's all they really care about is these streetball courts, playing online, and maybe the women.They have consumers pay as people that don't care about the core modes of live.
Its kinda like how Akklaim went about it with NFL Quarterback Club 2002, although it can serve as a simulation based football game with the NFL & NFLPA licenses, its big draw/gimmick is the QB-focused single or multi player QB Challenge mode.
It was a very distinguishable brand of football (esp. between its many better competitors at the time like Madden, NFL Fever, NFL GameDay, NFL Primetime, etc.), but was able to cater both crowds, those who preferred a flashy, arcade-ish feature, and those who wanted to build a great player or team in its GM Mode or lead your team to the Super Bowl in Playoffs mode (side note: Kevin Harlan went from being one of the commentary figures in this game to eventually be the still current commentary lead in the NBA 2K games lol)
Point is: Live has to find a balance and cater properly and accordingly in order to be well received by its fanbase categories and get back to its former high point.
For all we know, Live 19 does feature an improved franchise mode. It wouldn't take much to vastly improve what was offered in Live 18 which would make 19 even better.
I'm realistic enough to understand that the lack of news at this point is a dab concerning. It could very well mean that we aren't getting any improvements and that franchise mode was all but forgotten about
BUT...
This isn't a guarantee and Live 19 may be much better overall on the NBA side of things as well. The One mode looks like they put a lot of work into it, so for all we know they put hard work into the game overall and we will like the outcome.
My point is to not give up hope on something that we cannot know for sure. We know nothing which isn't the same as knowing something bad
Move it back to EA Canada Studios and watch the improvement start immediately. That studio focuses on Franchise Modes
I agree that we definitely need the option to play a season or franchise with the WNBA teams. Honestly I would settle for editable WNBA rosters with the ability to add created players to the WNBA teams as well. Then I could run my own franchise by just keeping up with stats and doing my own trades and creating rooks etc
However, I do really enjoy the WNBA teams even if it's just in play now mode. If I have a few mins to chill, I usually start up a WNBA match. Most of the time with Indiana of course, Go Fever!
Look at what happens when they have a license to themelsves (ie Madden)....the lack of growth is astounding and this makes me grateful for competition. I really hope EA delivers an amazing experience on and off the floor with NBA Live 19. I also hope they build the WNBA aspect up even more and if not let the other game do it justice because it is long overdue.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-06-27-new-ea-sports-creates-24-jobs-with-new-division-in-madrid
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Passing is great in Live and doesn’t feel floaty and ‘wrong’ like the other game.
but I would just like to hear SOMETHING on the NBA side of the game. OH2H was essentially abandoned last year, the year long drops and gameplay wasnt really touched on that side. The obvious missing feature of being able to play a friend online.
Stuff leaves a bad taste in your mouth. You would like to know they paid the NBA side at least some attention. TBH I played the NBA side of 16 longer than last year..
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but I would just like to hear SOMETHING on the NBA side of the game. OH2H was essentially abandoned last year, the year long drops and gameplay wasnt really touched on that side. The obvious missing feature of being able to play a friend online.
Stuff leaves a bad taste in your mouth. You would like to know they paid the NBA side at least some attention. TBH I played the NBA side of 16 longer than last year..
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Online H2H was very 2003. That wasn’t an exaggeration.....
I’ve yet to get a win....lol.
It’s either,
A) my opponent is better and I lose.....
B) I’m winning and my opponent dashboards and no win is recorded....
It’s literally only one of the 2 outcomes. I can’t take this game seriously with performance and non depth like that.
Franchise guys have their beefs. This is mine....
but I would just like to hear SOMETHING on the NBA side of the game. OH2H was essentially abandoned last year, the year long drops and gameplay wasnt really touched on that side. The obvious missing feature of being able to play a friend online.
Stuff leaves a bad taste in your mouth. You would like to know they paid the NBA side at least some attention. TBH I played the NBA side of 16 longer than last year..
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I agree, a couple things that I would like to know is
are penalties back in the game such as traveling, goaltending, over the back fouls. Also, have tendencies made a return back in the game. Will we be able to edit them and signature styles as well?
What about the ability of roster sharing? These are things we still don't know nothing about. Hopefully EA will provide us some insight about the NBA portion sometime this week.
EA's lack of feedback to the fans and not being honest and upfront by what's in their game, to me is a huge reason why they are so far behind, and why interest overall is much lower. This game is out in less than a month, yet this forum struggles to get 50 people to read the threads here.
"Real Player Motion: Much like its sibling Madden NFL 19" lol idk if this is a good thing
EA's lack of feedback to the fans and not being honest and upfront by what's in their game, to me is a huge reason why they are so far behind, and why interest overall is much lower. This game is out in less than a month, yet this forum struggles to get 50 people to read the threads here.
You know it's funny. People complain about 2K being tight lipped and being slow with information but we know even less about NBA Live, especially on the NBA side of things. Live came out early with some videos and info but they've been very quiet since then. People have made the argument that 2K should be coming out guns blazing because 2k18 was disappointing (debatable) but when the competition isnt putting on any pressure it's hard to argue with 2Ks marketing strategy.
I'm looking for Live to give me a reason to be excited, and maybe the demo will do that, but besides being a good looking game there's just nothing to look forward to at this point.
Article fix needed:
The uproar was over 'Star Wars: Battlefront 2', not the Battlefield franchise. Two different games. Battlefield 2 came out in 2005.
Passing is great in Live and doesn’t feel floaty and ‘wrong’ like the other game.
We are talking about NBA Live, right?