NBA Live 16 Gameplay Demo (IGN)

[Andrew]

IGN have posted a gameplay demo of NBA Live 16, which includes a chat with producers Connor Dougan and Ryan Santos.

Check it out here: http://ign.com/videos/2015/06/17/nba-li ... ve-e3-2015

EDIT: YouTube version.

phpBB [video]

https://youtu.be/CaaH70bymN4

[Manni Live]

I see alot of improvements in this game,i cant wait to get my hands on a copy

[Andrew]

A few thoughts:

- Definitely some familiar animations, a few that don't look so great, but also some really nice ones as well. The hand-offs are looking good, and I liked that floater by Curry.
- Overall, I'm fine with the aesthetics and visual style. As with the animations, that's not to say there can't be further improvement, but I feel they're quite satisfactory at worst.
- Really liking the off-ball movement, players trying to get open, coming over to set screens, and getting into position. Definitely an improvement on NBA Live 16.
- I'm kind of torn on using in-game faces as portraits. The faces are at a point where it's not a bad idea, but I still kind of like real photographs there. At least this way, the jerseys will change in Dynasty.
- I'm liking that new shot meter, with more feedback on the optimal release point. Very glad to see it on free throws, too; in the absence of the old T-Meter or something new entirely, that's good to see.

The other thing I'm hearing from people who have hands-on time with the game is that it's more responsive and whatnot, so even if there are some things that don't look so good, the game feels good in your hands. That's very encouraging; while NBA Live 15 was a big step up on NBA Live 14 in that regard, and once you got used to the foot planting and momentum the game did feel better yet again, there was still room for improvement. The game's looking pretty good, sounding pretty good, and appears to still be on the right track. I'm excited.

[Onegreatrace]

pc or bust

[Andrew]

I guess it'll be bust for you then, as it's PS4 and X1 only.

[Andrew]

Just added the YouTube version to the first post.

[Kevin]

The sweat texture used looks like from 2k11

[Kevin]

My thoughts:
- I already see that dreaded animation that I hate about Live when you try to go to the right or left wing and he just walks casually without even trying to protect the ball.
- The in-game portraits is a big no for me. Why can't they just use the ESPN ones and edit it so that it looks like the players are wearing t-shirts and not their current jerseys?
- Was that even a shot meter? It looks weird but I'll probably get used to it.
- Really love the way they did the courts and jerseys. Detailed af.
- Love the dribble hand-off kind of pass. I wonder if they had that in Live 15.
- Thompson shoots the ball with a 29% success rate. Luck?
- I don't know if I've seen that black line that indicates who you're guarding in Live 15. Is that a new feature?

I just hope the controls are now responsive and that they fixed the MyCareer Mode of Live 16.

[Andrew]

Dribble hand-offs and that black line weren't in NBA Live 15. That does appear to be the new shot meter. As I said, I like the fact it gives us more information this year. I expect good shooters will make low percentage attempts on bad releases, as they should from time to time. I also imagine that the return of gameplay sliders will give us some measure of control over that...I certainly hope so, as that would be a key area to tweak, in terms of both realism and difficulty adjustments.

[JBulls]

What exactly does live motion supposedly do? I Still see a lot of those old unnatural/awkward looking animations.

[Andrew]

It also incorporates physics/collisions, and off-ball AI.

[Murat]

The gameplay looks nice. Graphics are awesome.

If I buy PS4, this will be probably my first game.

[mp3]

As a roster guy I like the fact that they appear to show a virtual face of the player instead of a real life portrait like last year so I am hoping that if you make a custom roster you won't end up with loads of players with that faceless portrait.

[big-shot-ROB]

The gameplay still leaves a lot to desire. Player movement is awfull, they look like they were on an ice rink. The animations continue to look bad and not realistc. On the other hand 2K seems to continue his methods of "give me your money bitches" and not give a fuck about the community, so even though live is still far away from 2k when it comes to gameplay, I think in 1 or 2 years I'll be on his bandwagon list.

[[Q]]

The gameplay still leaves a lot to desire. Player movement is awfull, they look like they were on an ice rink. The animations continue to look bad and not realistc.

This is a typical comment from Live haters who just won't give the game a chance. The video clearly shows good foot planting, new cutting and dribble hand-off animations and it's "awfull" even though it's an improvement over Live 15.

[bigh0rt]

I loathe player portraits. CFs for the win.

[Andrew]

I definitely do see the value in them, especially now that the faces do look far more realistic than they did ten years ago (despite all the cries of Live having "PS2 graphics"). I guess what I'd really like is the 2D/3D portrait option we had in NBA Live 99-2001.

[big-shot-ROB]

The gameplay still leaves a lot to desire. Player movement is awfull, they look like they were on an ice rink. The animations continue to look bad and not realistc.

This is a typical comment from Live haters who just won't give the game a chance. The video clearly shows good foot planting, new cutting and dribble hand-off animations and it's "awfull" even though it's an improvement over Live 15.

I give them a chance, all Im saying is this still looks live 09 when it comes to gameplay. I understand you really like Live, but you have to be able to see the bad things in i.

[mp3]

I can see the point the Big-Shot-Rob is trying to make, I noticed a couple of glitches from the game play I saw but the devs do still have 3 months to get it straight and it is really a very early version of the game as well.

[big-shot-ROB]

The thing they clearly need to do is import the view of replay into the actual game. The graphics look amazing, but we only get to see them half of the game on cut scenes, because it seems that in the camera view the graphics get lowered, maybe because they want to make the game sustaintable when it comes to RAM?

[Cpt(K)]

They need to fix clipping with the Jerseys before release, but I didn't notice any clipping with the jackets on. They also definitely need to do away with some of those recycled animations - I will probably by the game, but I don't want to feel remorse after playing it.

I suppose skipping 14 and going to 15 was good because it was almost a fresh experience from EA Sports, but I really would hate it if they reused almost all the animations from their last release. Especially that awful sprinting animation the ball-handler used at full-speed. There had better be more variation between running animations too, or in general - emphasis on animation categories that we'll see constantly in gameplay.

Nothing disappoints me more than seeing the same animation again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again . . . without a single variation to mix things up. Live isn't only guilty of that - 2k Sports is too but at least they appear to change each year in some relatively good capacity.

Those pause menu shots looked awful, and need a different look than Live 15 - or I may vomit from repeat-withdrawal.

[IRoCats]

NBA Live Presentation is the Best!

[Andrew]

For what it's worth, I'm reliably informed that an older build was on display at E3. Take that however you will, but on top of having a couple of months left to polish, what was at E3 wasn't as new as what's being worked on in the studio right now. Granted, I'd be surprised if all the animations were replaced, but again, that wasn't close to the final build.

Those pause menu shots looked awful, and need a different look than Live 15 - or I may vomit from repeat-withdrawal.

Really? I quite liked NBA Live 15's menus. I didn't find anything about them to be particularly ugly, and they're easy to navigate.

[[Q]]

Those pause menu shots looked awful, and need a different look than Live 15 - or I may vomit from repeat-withdrawal.

Really? I quite liked NBA Live 15's menus. I didn't find anything about them to be particularly ugly, and they're easy to navigate.

It's the same menu system as FIFA, not sure about Madden. It's very visual which is nice compared to your traditional list style menu

[Cpt(K)]

Well it is not a horrible display, and it is certainly easy to navigate, but I'm just anticipating something different - to catch up they should really focus on bringing their next release as a literally different game than their last. Aesthetic-wise anyway, I mean they have a good start - I just think changing their menus each release would be a good thing. Don't get me wrong the gameplay is more essential, but I'd like to see a different or variant design - not just the cover player.