NBA Live 19 is a beautifully flawed NBA game, a great basketball game, and the best multiplayer sports game I have experienced in years. All of that is because of The One mode. The One mode is where you can create your player and play through a single player career both in the Streets and in The League. You also take this player to do Court Battles (the best mode in sports gaming in years) and online 3 on 3 and 5 on 5 games.
NBA Live’s franchise mode is antiquated. The WNBA content is still lacking BUT where NBA Live gets it right is how they feature women in the game. In The One you have the option to create a women or man. That’s great. It’s not perfect because if you create a women she can’t play a professional season because The League mode doesn’t have WNBA seasons and teams in it.
What they do right is that women are featured in the game just like the men are in every mode they are available. The 2 modes that feature the most women and are the most content rich parts of the game are Court Battle and The Streets. Court battles have you create a team to defend your home court, then you take a team to play and take over other people’s courts. As you win, level up, and earn credits you can buy loot crates to get better teammates. NONE OF THIS IS SEGREGATED BY GENDER. As you gain new players and open loot crates the women are as easily available and rated as highly as the men. You go to a tournament in the Philippines where Maya Moore plays and shes running the court and leading her team with Jordan Clarkson.
Women have the same animation options as the men, they are just as effective as anybody else on the court and it’s awesome. It’s such a good way to get people to learn who the players are and to care about them. People always want to use the best rated players and I see so many teams with Delle Donne on their team because shes a beast! Lindsey Whalen is my starting PG right now defending my court. She’s rated an 80 and she beat out Jeremy Lin (rated 79) as my starter. I have never seen a game so successfully integrate women into a sports game. The argument has been made that because women aren’t jumping out of the gym like their male counterparts do that they wouldn’t be fun to use and wouldn’t be able to be in a game with men and NBA Live proves that argument dead wrong.
The game doesn’t pat itself on the back for including women and it doesn’t make a big deal out of it. WNBA logos and content are in the drop boxes too! As you are playing through and earning credits to buy in the shop you are seeing the logos and the team colors. A bigger deal should be made of what EA has done with being inclusive. I’ll pat them on the back. Nicely done. Now give me a WNBA Ultimate Team….
Here we are again at the mid point of another captivating WNBA season. My 2 personal favorite players are having the best season of their careers (Achonwa and Plum), the Las Vegas Aces are going from worst to the hottest team in the league as they keep beting everyone. The Connecticut Sun are surpassing all expectations and the usual suspects are playing well (Mercury, Storm, and Mystics). The Lynx are beatable this year….which is odd. There has never been a better time to get into the WNBA. Every team has talent and the league has more stars than ever before. Liz Cambage dropped 53 in a game, while Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi are breaking new records seemingly every game. The WNBA also has PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL IN SEATTLE (RIP Sonics) and a non-conference seeding structure for the playoffs. Best 8 get in. The league keeps getting better and it’s time to video games to represent women’s basketball in a more meaningful way.
NBA Live made strides this year at putting every WNBA team in the game for the “Play Now” mode but sadly that was the end of it. No season mode, no Ultimate team mode, and no single player and multiplayer modes with the women player models and skills able to be used. NBA Live 19 looks to change some of that. They are adding a woman player model to be used in the “The One” mode and create-a-player modes. That means you can be a woman in the single player mode of the game, which is amazing. Representation matters and for fans who aren’t men they can have another option to find create an avatar that represents them.
I learned so much about basketball and the NBA from playing NBA Jam and old NBA games on Genesis and Game Gear. I always felt represented in those games, surprising everyone there were a lot of black men in those games (sarcasm). I can imagine if you’re a girl looking at games to play you might not gravitate towards a game where no women are present (NBA Jam TE had 2 cheerleaders spraying champagne at each other if you win the title….but that’s a whole other conversation…). This NBA Live 19 game mode really opens the door for everyone to become more invested in women’s basketball and that is huge!
It’s also time for EA to give us a WNBA Ultimate team mode. Between the women playing over seas and decades of women who have played professionally in America there is a ton of content and players that can be used for the mode. I want to make a team with Cheryl Miller and Kelsey Plum. Give me FIBA Euro League teams and obscure professional teams from the 80’s. There is such a rich history of women’s basketball and Ultimate Team is a great to show it.
All that said, WNBA is getting more exposure! Thank you EA and NBA Live 19! 2K….do something.
There are lots of ways to approach diversity in gaming. Most of them have shown to be problematic. Need for Speed Payback seems to have found a good way to have a diverse cast without feeling like a Public Service Announcement or Diversity by committee. Obviously, this game learned from the best with the Fast and Furious movie series.
First we can start with the obvious bad…generic white protagonist, Tyler Morgan, BUT I am willing to let it go because the game makes it very clear that he can’t succeed without the help of his strong intelligent female companion, European black drift master and off road racer, and his hyper intelligent Asian mechanic. Reading all of that this probably sounds ridiculous, but so far (3 hours in) none of the characters feel like cheap caricatures of their race other than the white guy and even he seems cool enough (think Paul Walker, RIP).
This game has no reason to have a diverse cast and certainly not one with nuance but here we are. Mac, the black guy, is from Europe and has the typical “I may have done petty crime in Europe and that’s how I learned to drift” but when asked why he came to America and if it was to run away from his past he said, “no, I made mistakes in my past but I love the open roads of America and wanted to check them out”. That’s a paraphrase, but I love that the game doesn’t use him being a criminal as his defining quality. So far in the game, his most defining qualities are loyalty and his friendship with the crew. He is the glue guy and a really likable character.
No spoilers, but when the crew has to split up and do their own things Mac doesn’t get into crime. He sells his skills to online personalities, helping male drift videos for Instagram and YouTube. He’s an entrepreneur, and doesn’t fall back into criminal activity. Surprisingly, the only person in the game who fell back to illegal doings was the woman, Jess. She’s so bad ass that she is a getaway driver for the cash and for funsies. It’s pretty dope.
Lina….
I like this game but I’m too early in it to review it. As a racing game with a story, this game moves away from some really easy tropes to fall into for each character. Jess has not become the love interest, nor does the game use her for sex appeal. She’s good at dodging police and driving. She is unbelievably competent and that what she brings to the group. Side note on sex appeal though, the antagonist is a black women named Lina Navarro. She’s so hot.Sean Mccalister, Mac, is not just a trope criminal black “thug” who is looking for reclamation on the streets. These might seem like small things, but positive representation can go a long way. (I am well aware the villain is a strong black women and yes, that problematic because there are so few black women represented in gaming.)
Consider this a shout out to a game that seems to be doing things right from a representation stand point, and in 2017 that feels good.
NBA 2K18 is rotten with micro transactions. MyPlayer is useless now without endless time or endless money. Lots of fans and journalists have covered 2K’s issues. What isn’t being said is NBA Live 18 is good and only has transactions in Ultimate Team, and the main single player mode is complete without adding money to it! It is killing me that reviewers are not bringing up other options from 2K. This is the time that NBA Live can have a revival.
NBA Live 18 has amazing graphics as always. The “myplayer” mode has a streets mode and a league mode, both fleshed out and very well done. Ultimate team has over 170 challenges in it already. THIS IS THE GAME WITH THE WNBA! (they need to add a season or playoff mode to the WNBA but it’s a good start).
You have options for basketball this year. Take advantage of it. NBA Live 18 has a 10 hour free trial with EA Access on Xbox One. At most it’s 5 dollars for a month of the service to play the game for 10 hours. Try it. Please. I support people boycotting the microtransactions in NBA 2K but the best way to make them feel the need to change is to support the competition.
Watch the Devolver Digital E3 Press Conference- “AND WITH THAT…CHECK A LOOK.”
It is amazing in every way. It skewers the event but also slyly shows some great looking games and makes some fantastic commentary on the gaming industry. It was also genuinely funny.
Nintendo won. I know it’s not a competition but they won. Metroid. Mario. Metroid.
Xbox One X is seemingly a great value (500 bones for a 4K 1080p ready machine. WOW) but it is such a bad name. Scorpio was better. Xbox THE One would have been better. That said, Forza 7 sold me on it and a 4K TV.
Sony disrespected Gran Turismo by not having them on the show floor which irks me a bit. I am fully vested in Forza and Grid at this point but Gran Turismo defined my love of cars and my formative gaming years. It deserved better. Otherwise, Sony has dope game coming.
THE BIGGEST SHOCKER AND MY GAME OF THE SHOW IS NBA LIVE 18 BABY! I am so hype for NBA Live to be back. NBA Live 16 was a good game that deserved to be played. NBA Live mobile is fantastic. Live 18 looks dope! EA and it’s single player offerings are looking good in Madden too. I am happy.
E3 seemed to hit a nice form this year, coverage was everywhere and great. E3 was dying a couple years ago but the energy was back. I think letting the public in helped the show.
The metaphorical storm being NBA Live 16 as a real competitor in the basketball scene this year. That said, I grew up playing NBA Action, NBA Live, NBA 2K, Jordan vs. Bird, Tecmo NBA, and many other basketball games. I use to relish in playing different developers vision of the sport. The differing takes on how to shoot, how to dribble, player ratings.
Kobe Bryant with the YAM in NBA 2K for Dreamcast!
Bulls vs. Lakers for NES, back when Jordan gave his license like every other player.
Konami NBA In The Zone! A personal favorite game that was underrated.
That era died years ago, and the nail in it’s coffin was Jesus’ Bynums NBA Elite. That debacle of a game ended EA’s basketball run and it has taken years for them to recover. During that down time NBA 2K has been defining and redefining the genre in incredible ways throughout the years. EA started over with NBA Live 14 and it was absolute trash. That is the nicest thing I can say about it. It’s so bad they gave away Live 15 instead of Live 14 on EA Access so people wouldn’t play it.
All of that said NBA Live 15 came out last year and I really enjoyed it. NBA Live 16 has brought the life back to EA. This game is a return to form for EA in a big way.
Before I get into the videogame stuff I have to talk about my favorite aspect of this game, play calling! The over lay for running plays is incredible. It does 2 things that make it great and usable; 1) The over lay discreetly tells you the next 2 moves coming up (if you need to dribble towards a screen then pass, they inform you of that pass while your dribbling). This is huge because because the hardest thing about running plays in basketball games is that rarely does a player (at least me) look at the play in its entirety before entering the game. That requires memorization of both the play and the name. That’s a lot to ask, but by showing you where the play is going you can move accordingly instead of waiting to see what’s next.
2) They run motion offenses. They ran a flex style offense and it never stopped. I have seen my offense run Princeton style offense as well. Impressive stuff, especially because I rarely deviate from running the pick and roll.
The graphics- The graphics look very smooth and crisp. Last year looked a little sterile, but this year the stadiums are full of life and the player models are more realistic than last year. The biggest thing that Live has struggled with are animations and clipping. Players would have wonky animations (quick impossible lay up scoop shots, weird defensive blocks, etc) and they would clip through each other during steals and blocks. This issue has been toned back hugely this year. I compared blocks shots and steals from this year to 2K and neither was clipping in a major way. The arms, the ball, and the air all took up space in a meaningful way. I love the dunk animations in live. There are still too many hook shot animations in the game though, most players can hit a baby hook and it’s a move rarely seen in the NBA outside of the Grizzlies big men. I love how colorful NBA Live 16 is. The reflections off the court look amazing. I’d say the graphics are very impressive this year and dare i say look “next gen”.
The gameplay- The best compliment I can give the game this year is that Live 16 has put enough work into the A.I. that it feels like a game of basketball is being played. Adjustments are made on the fly, players are constantly running plays and moving. Last year, if plays weren’t called players would be standing around. This year players are doing their own thing to try and help the team. It makes a huge difference. The ball handling controls are tight as ever. The right stick controls moves like a fighting game. Momentum is more realistic this year so players aren’t sliding back court or out of bounds this year.
The Modes
Pro Am- This is my dream mode, it’s P v P or P v E basketball. You can do progression through the P v E either alone or with people. And P v P is 5 on 5 goodness with bots if needed. My only issue with this mode is that not a lot of people own Live. What separates Pro Am from other games is the progression of your character. There are a lot of clothing and show unlocks as well as the ability to unlock NBA player animations for your person. My player Jax Briggs is currently decked out in some nice J’s, camo shorts, and a Melo jersey. Very much me.
Ultimate Team- Ultimate team this year is a mixed bag. I love it, it’s cards. But I really wish these modes would have a way to actually play with the cards….think bud bowl with NBA Cards.
I CAN’T FEEL MY LABEL!
Seriously though, it’s a tough progression. The rookie challenges are a breeze but everything after that is on Superstar difficulty and frankly the rewards have not been worth the grind. In Madden, you get lots of Elite cards for single player grinding. In Live not so much yet. I get that in basketball 1 great card can make a team so I get why they are frugal but it puts too much pressure on getting lucky in a pack. That said it provides tons of content and they added specialist players. For example, Eric Gordon is rated 92 for 3’s. His 3-point specialist card is a 97. Much like in Madden, these specialist cards are required for certain challenges.
The comparison- It’s the elephant in the room, how does this game stack up with NBA 2k16? The biggest thing I can say as a plus for NBA Live 16 is that they communicate information in an incredible way. They communicate info better than 2K does on every level. Miss a shot in Live 16? They tell you 12% (he’s not a good shooter). Hitting the back of the rim on your shots? The shot meter shows you a hoop and you can aim for the front or back of the basket via the meter. Let’s say you are having trouble defending the paint ( a big complaint for the game), the game communicates that you are successfully defending a lay-up by vibrating your controller.
They show and vibrate countdowns when you are crossing half court or throwing the ball inbounds. It’s amazing. In my opinion it replicates the info a player has looking at a shot clock or hearing the coach yell at you. 2K has a shot meter at players feet. It works but staring at Melo’s feet is dumb.
All of that said, 2k16 is a better game. The Spike Lee Joint that is the MyPlayer mode blows NBA Live’s equivalent out of the water. The lay up animations are much more consistent in NBA 2K every miss feels fair. I think graphically, Live is better but 2K has an art style and realism that is fantastic. I think 2K is a little slow but the precise controls this year are fantastic. Also, the worst feature of the series for me has always been the servers and this year they have been great on PC.
In summary, the biggest compliment I can give NBA Live 16 is that I am not embarrassed to say I like it. Operation Sports had good thing to say about it, and it has been getting fair reviews. my only frustration is 1) Game journalist refusal to take sports games seriously 2) People’s immediate dismissal of the series due to NBA Elite 11. Live 16 is good and EA does a great job updating their games.
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Kobe Bryant with the YAM in NBA 2K for Dreamcast!
Konami NBA In The Zone! A personal favorite game that was underrated.
J3Blackgamer 