Funny NBA Live 10 Review

[Andrew]

No, I'm not some blind fanboy out to criticise any review that dares to call NBA Live 10 perfect for as much as I'm liking it there are things we can criticise (and who better than us to do so?). However, I found the criticisms in this review rather amusing.

First of all:

Of all the sports that could possibly be made into video games, none of them are as simple as basketball. The rules are pretty straightforward, the skills necessary are not particularly complicated and the presentation is pretty basic. Enter "NBA Live 10," the latest entry into the venerable EA Sports franchise. It's just five guys, a ball and a hoop, right? Maybe not.

That seems pretty misguided there. Quite a few producers have talked about the difficulties of getting basketball just right because of all the little variables. The notion that basketball's skills "are not particularly complicated" doesn't seem like a fair assessment of the sport either. In any case, let's move on his dislikes...

The overriding problem with "NBA Live 10" is the adherence to strategy as a part of the game. For anybody who watches the NBA regularly, they know that for every well-designed play there are a dozen that are merely great executions of physical feats. "NBA Live 10" wants you to call a play every single time down the floor, which slows down the game and makes it somewhat unbalanced. It'd be better if the playcalling system was a little more efficient and intuitive, but even after many, many games I found myself getting whistled for shot clock violations while I was trying to get in position for a pick and roll.

Apparently, attempts to replicate realistic strategy are a bad thing. And frankly, if he's constantly getting whistled for shot clock violations when trying to set up a pick and roll, he's not very good. I'm guessing he's one of those players that just wants to run flat out and dunk on every play.

Considering all the mini-games folded into the competing "NBA Inside 10," "Live 10" is absolutely spartan. There is nothing to do except play basketball. No skills competitions, no dunk contests, no two-on-two pickup games. It makes the whole affair a little stuffy. There isn't even really a practice mode, save for a deal on the menu screen that let's you shoot around with a handful of superstars. I found myself sticking around on the menu screen just as a way to break up the action.

He has a point about the limited game modes, I think most of us are at least a little disappointed about some of the problems we've discovered with Dynasty Mode and the removal of the dunk contest and three point shootout, but the phrase "There is nothing to do except play basketball" stands out as a silly thing to say in my view. What with NBA Live 10 being a basketball game and all.

"NBA Live 10" looks and sounds great and is presented well, but it seems like there should be more of just about everything. Whatever greatness comes out of the gameplay is derailed by the fact that the overall outlook is off target. Think of "NBA Live 10" as Darko Milicic: Fundamentally sound but certainly not a top-shelf superstar.

I think that pretty much confirms him as an arcade gamer. Again, I'm not going to be a fanboy and say that NBA Live 10 is absolutely perfect in every single way, but for those of us who are sim players, a focus on realism and strategy is absolutely on target and any improvements in that regard have to be considered a good thing. I suppose if he does favour arcade style gameplay then it's a disappointment, so his review is perhaps just the result of him not being a part of the core audience. He does have a point about the lack of game modes, but at the same time he's downplaying what is there and "There is nothing to do except play basketball" is an eyebrow raising critique.

[JaoSming]

wth andrew, I'm an Arcade player

[Andrew]

That was a bit arrogant of me, I have to admit.

There's nothing wrong with that if that's how you like to play. Being the sim geek that I am, I just found his criticisms kind of amusing; the idea that a game requires strategy is a bad thing and that it shouldn't be the goal of the developers to strive for that. In any case, I'm guessing you've got more of an appreciation for sim elements than that reviewer seems to have.

[Null17]

I don't even think he understands basketball very well.

[J@3]

The thing is, if you take out the one stupid line to begin each criticism, what he's saying actually makes a lot of sense...

For anybody who watches the NBA regularly, they know that for every well-designed play there are a dozen that are merely great executions of physical feats. "NBA Live 10" wants you to call a play every single time down the floor, which slows down the game and makes it somewhat unbalanced. It'd be better if the playcalling system was a little more efficient and intuitive, but even after many, many games I found myself getting whistled for shot clock violations while I was trying to get in position for a pick and roll.

No skills competitions, no dunk contests, no two-on-two pickup games. It makes the whole affair a little stuffy. There isn't even really a practice mode, save for a deal on the menu screen that let's you shoot around with a handful of superstars. I found myself sticking around on the menu screen just as a way to break up the action.

I just took the first line from the first one and the second or third from the second.

"NBA Live 10" looks and sounds great and is presented well, but it seems like there should be more of just about everything. Whatever greatness comes out of the gameplay is derailed by the fact that the overall outlook is off target. Think of "NBA Live 10" as Darko Milicic: Fundamentally sound but certainly not a top-shelf superstar.

I think what he's saying there is that whatever good aspects there are of the gameplay it's matched and ruined by the other problems... like you might be happy with the rebounding this year, but if Dwight Howard's averaging 8/9 in Dynasty mode then obviously that pretty much overrules it. I don't think he was saying the gameplay was great or that the other aspects are more important than it.

[Andrew]

His criticism of the strategy still sounds a bit off. Even allowing for hyperbole, you don't need to run a play every single time down the court, but it's to your advantage if you make use of them. Circles appear on the floor indicating where you have to go and icons appear above your teammates' heads to demonstrate which player should get the pass to continue executing the play. It's fairly effective, efficient and inituitive in my opinion. Alternatively you can just hit the Dynamic Play button and the game will select an appropriate one from the team's playbook. But you can get away with not doing either on every single trip down the court. As for the pick and roll comment, I stand by what I said. If he's constantly getting shot clock violations while trying to use that, he's really doing something wrong.

Taking out those lines, the review isn't quite as bad but I still think he's off the mark. Again, I tend to agree as far as the lack of game modes are concerned (though Dynasty Mode gripes aside, I think you can easily get by and have a lot of fun with what is there this year) but other than that I disagree that the wrong approach was taken with gameplay and that the playcalling is difficult to master.

[J@3]

If you're not a seasoned NBA game player playcalling would be pretty difficult to get a grip of. Hell, I still struggle with it and run pick + roll's 90% of the time down the floor because I went years without playing any NBA game and they became a bigger part of the game in that time, so I'm still having problems with actually having to run plays. His comment might be more of a relfection on a perceived lack of off the ball movement from players if you don't run a play for them, I haven't played Live so I don't know if that's another gameplay issue this year but even without a play being run you should still be moving and trying to get yourself open off the ball.

[Andrew]

I suppose that is possible. However, I still feel that he's more likely trying tactics that were more effective when it was easier to just run in and dunk or spin your way to the basket at will.

[Null17]

I barely run plays as well. Well except on defense. I tried on 2k9 but I can't seem to remember what most of the plays.

[shadowgrin]

especially when working with teams like the Suns and Cavaliers who rely so heavily on the transition game

lol, what?

[dascoot]

I really wanted to see improvements in the dynasty mode but i didn't see that. I also feel that the score is too small to read. i did though enjoy ballin with the clippers and Blake Griffin is awesome. I felt like I was playing 09 all over again and that there really much changes with the exception that i could play defense better.

[Andrew]

In terms of gameplay, I think it's made some significant steps forward from NBA Live 09. The biggest disappointment for me so far has been the issue with simulated stats in Dynasty Mode.

[kevin02]

"There is nothing to do except play basketball." He's right I think they need maybe a dodgeball mode and then maybe some soccer. I know he was saying there is not enough game modes but it was kind of funny the way he said it.

But it's obvious that he doesn't know enough about basketball to critisize NBA Live. I also thought it was kind of funny how he compared Live to NBA the inside. You don't see that comparison everyday. (not saying NBA the inside can't be fun but it's just normaly 2k and Live)

[Andrew]

It's funny to those of us who get really geeky about the games because the notion that the game is too strategic comes off as a weird criticism in a game most people wanted to see get better in terms of realism. But, I guess at the end of the day NBA: The Inside is the type of game that appeals to him and fair enough. We all have different tastes.