NBA Live 2005 impression summary

EA Sports has spilled alot of info over the internet about their upcoming basketball title over the past few weeks. I decided to just gather up all the info and put it all on one thread so you guys dont have to look all over.

Official Previews
Gamespy preview
Team Xbox preview
Gamespot Gamespace
IGN's NBA Live 2005 Profile
Operation Sports

F.A.Q Guide

A select group of people from several message boards were invited by EA Sports to come play NBA Live 2005 and give impressions. I mean they had the whole 9 from what I've read. EA had their plane tickets and hotel ready. Nice. The members who were invited had a Q and A on their message boards, but I'm pretty sure you don't want to skim 50+ pages of questions and answers. Thats why I'm just going to sum it up and Ill post the links to the boards if you have any other questions.

1. Whats New
   a. Whats Fixed
   b. Whats new
   
2. Gameplay
   a. Offense
   b. Defense
   c. More impressions
   
3. Sound
   a. DANets' Sound Impressions
   b. More Impressions
   
4. Features
   a. Dynasty Mode
   b. All-Star Weekend
   
5. Credits
   

Please use CTRL + F to find what you are looking for.

::::::::::Whats New::::::::::

NBA Live 2004 had a great simulation game last year, but alot of bugs really hampered the gameplay and replay value. EA Sports has spotted these errors and they are gone. For those who don't know what those major issues were, here they are.

1. Bad court spacing
2. CPU had superhuman speed
3. Small amount of offensive boards
4. Pro Hop was way too effective
5. CPU Assist bug

All those bugs are gone and that would make you imagine a game like that would play. I know it makes me wonder ... NBA Live 2005 raises the bar again this year with the new All-Star Weekend full with a three point contest, rookie sophmore game, and the all important All-Star game. The Dynasty mode has also been remade to make the interface alot more user friendly unlike last year. The graphics have also been improved once again by addeng realistic lighting, animated jerseys, lifelike animations, and better looking cyberfaces. Live '05 sounds like a winner so far.



Click on thumbnail
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::::::::::1. Gameplay::::::::::

MinnesotaBaller from NBA Live Series Center

Offense

After winning the tip off and setting up my offence the first thing that caught my eye was the spacing and fluidness between players. Players kept their distance from other players and always tried to get open. I ran a pick and roll with Cassell stopped on a dime and dropped a quick mid range jumper in Andre Miller’s face. I continued to test the mid range jumper shot throughout the game because that was something ’04 lacked, but I am happy to say it is back. Also big men like KG, Duncan, and K-Mart can knock down the 15-20 footers unlike last year.

I continued throughout the game and noticed the Pro-hop is much less effective this year. Instead of always getting great low-post position last year, this year you have to earn it. If you try to do a jump stop when a defender is in your face you will either turn it over or get an offensive foul, same goes for when your in the low-post. You will run into the defender and loose the ball. Although the pro-hop is less effective this year, you can still use it to your offensive advantage.

Fastbreaks are much more of momentum builders this year, and I am very VERY happy to say that the catch-up bug is no longer an issue in this year’s game. If you get a quick steal and pass it up to your swingman breaking to the hoop there won’t be a guy right on your tail to block your shot or to jump on you, all that’s left is the thunderous dunk to your rewarded swingman.

Freestyle control on offense is improved with the fluidness of each crossover and juke. Now you can pull of quicker crossover’s with players like AI, Parker, Hudson, and J-Will because of their dribbling. Also you can pull so quick moves when you still have your dribble by pivoting to create space between you and your defender.

Freestyle air is a great addition. Now you can decide on O whether you just want the board, or the tip in, or the posterizing tip slam. Last year it was a pain when you wanted to go up for a crunch time offensive rebound but they would go up for the tip slam and miss the ball totally. If you know how to get good position after a shot you will be able to get rewarded for it.

Defense

Let’s say you have a team of Ben Wallace, K-Mart, Artest, Bowen, and The Glove as your starting 5. You team will make a difference on D; you got guys that won’t let anybody past them or score. Last year all you needed was a good shot blocker and quick guys and you would have a good defensive team, but this year defensive guys are making the stops. If you’re facing up someone and playing tough defense they will no longer do the annoying bounce back feature when you or the defender runs into them.

Stealing isn’t as easy as last year, you can’t just call quick double teams and see if you get lucky with your defense and see if the O losses the ball. Now you have to play face up D, get in their face and go for steals at the right time. If you miss time yourself going for a steal, you will burned by the offensive player as he drives pass you for an easy finger-roll.

Blocking shots isn’t as easy as last year. You can still block dunks and lay-ups but now if you go for a block and a mid air collision occurs a foul WILL be called. Also when a mid air collision occurs the offensive player will throw up an acrobatic shot to try and get the And 1.

Freestyle defense has the stances from last year, but improved as well. Now when playing in a defensive stance crouched down and all entire offensive players will have a much harder chance to get past you.

While rebounding the box out button is your friend. Get great position in the post, time your jump and you will be rewarded with a rebound. You can longer jump and just hope you get the rebound, you now have to get down and dirty to get the rebounds.


Other Gameplay Impressions
DANets Impressions
Maximuspowers' Impressions

::::::::::2.Sound::::::::::

DANets from NBA Live Dot Org

The team of Marv Albert and Mike Fratello provide the game commentary again for NBA Live 2005 and definitely make the game feel more authentic. Although it is difficult to get a good impression of the commentary in 1 hour of game playing time I could tell that the commentary was improved from NBA Live 2004.

A number of new sounds effects were also added to the gameplay including 3 new dunk sounds and a new shot block sound. It was quite loud in the room where we were testing the games but I tried to put my ear close to the TV speaker to hear the dunk sounds (I hope I didn't look too weird lol) and they are definitely more realistic.


Other Sound Impressions
Maximuspowers' Impressions

::::::::::Features::::::::::

1. All-Star Weekend
2. Imrpved Dynasty Mode

MaximusPowers from IGN on ASW

You have multiple buttons for multiple different takeoffs (there are tons of cool tosses too), and from there is an [***]
-load of different stuff you can pull off while in the air. There are thousands and thousands of different moves you can pull off, it's amazing how deep this mode is.

There are both realistic dunks, and a bunch of crazy dunks.
I'm talking 540's (seriously), 360 through the legs, double through the legs (yup, twice through the legs in mid-air), Vince's elbow dunk where the player can slide down to the armpit, and of course there are tons of crazy tosses: banging the ball off the shot clock, the jumbotrons, or even the hanging camera above and to the right of the backboard.
There is also a crazy move where the player can toss the ball, do a forward flip, catch the ball in mid-air, go between the legs, and then slam it home.

It's totally, totally awesome.

The best part about it though is that it's not too easy and it's not too hard. It takes a while to figure it out, but once you get the hang of it you won't want to put it down.
It even takes a while to pull off ANY successful dunk at first.
It took me about 10 minutes before I figured it out (there is a great practice/tutorial mode that is really helpful), but whithin 30 minutes I was pulling off some crazy dunks (including the 540).
Whether or not you pull off the dunk and how successful it is depends on timing: Timing your takeoff, timing your move, timing how long you hold the trick buttons, etc.
But once you get the hang of it, it's all super smooth and very intuitive.
Within an hour, I had a bunch of cool moves fugured out, but at the same time I barely scratched the surface of all this mode has to offer (the amount of moves you can pull off will make your head spin).
ANYONE can enjoy this mode, even casual gamers (and it's really sweet for multi-player).


Honestly, it's kind of hard to explain how it works, you just have to play it for yourself.
But trust me it's awesome.

MinnesotaBaller's Dynasty Impressions

Dynasty is totally redone this year. Now you have to pay attention to your team and what is going on in the league to keep your team at the top. The new PDA keeps you updated with what roster movements have occurred, or when one of your players is unhappy with his situation. If you don’t check your PDA enough players will lose their respect towards you as a GM so they might not want to return to the team next season. Teams will be offering you trades through your PDA and if you sim through a couple of weeks you will miss the trade offer. Also if you miss an invite for one of your players to the Dunk Contest, 3 Point Contest, Rookies vs. Sophomores, or The All-Star Game you will not be able to participate. Tough luck, eh?

A new feature added to Dynasty is Intervention mode. While simming a game you can see how your team is doing by each quarter and you can intervene (join in) anytime after the first quarter. I love this feature because if you can see how the team is doing and if you don’t like the situation they are in you can join in and play.

During the season you can scout rookies who will be in next years draft. After awhile your scouts will tell you what the player thrives in and what are his cons. Then in the off-season you can play 1 on 1 against him or as him in the gym. I loved this because last year you took a chance drafting certain players, you didn’t know how they played and if they fit your teams playing style. This year you can play with the rookies before you draft them just to get the feel.

While in season you can edit your player’s position and add or remove body accessories. And yes you can change the color of headbands, and add or remove them. This wasn’t important to me but it seems important to others.

Also when offering trades to teams there is more of a sense of time, it takes a couple of days before a team will send you an email to your PDA telling you if they did accept or decline the offered trade. It goes for free agent signings as well, they don’t respond for couple days. That is why you must pay attention to your PDA.

Off-season is improved a lot. It is now in a calendar type mode. You go day by day with a schedule. It goes by exactly a NBA schedule would have. You’ve got the draft lottery, re-signing players, the draft, free agent signings (with real money), and trading periods. Off-season is a time consuming period, and rightfully so. Your PDA will be your best friend in you Dynasty. It keeps you up to date with everything with signings, trades, and events.


Other ASW and Dynasty Impressions
DANets Impressions
Shane's Impressions
MinnesotaBaller's Impressions

Credits

Thanks to EA for inviting these guys to play the game and thanks to these guys for sharing the info.

Great !!! I have been going every where to read those info, thanks for putting them together~!

Can't wait to play the game~!!~!

Do you think those are like the final additions to the game? or do you think they will be adding some more stuff?

Must have taken a while to write allllll that




POST #200

Nothin big, but just one more step closer to 1,000

Good job man

yea its not a big deal, but it is to me....ill drop it now cuz someone will get mad since it has nothin to do with the thread.....but thanks

Do you think those are like the final additions to the game? or do you think they will be adding some more stuff?

Perhaps little tweaks and minor additions here and there, but I don't think they'll add anything major (ie as big as All-Star Weekend or the Dynasty Mode improvements).

lol, yea, if they did, they would probably have to delay the shipment of it.

That would suck a big nut!

yea its not a big deal, but it is to me....ill drop it now cuz someone will get mad since it has nothin to do with the thread.....but thanks

I think Tales' comment was directed at ludacris06.