NBA Live 19 Review: A Good Experience Online But Faltering Offline

[Steve_OS]

The first time I fell I love (with a video game) was NBA Live 95. My...

Written By: Brian O'Neill

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[michaelhawj]

haha nba live `19 was alright, gameplay is decent, RPM is pretty good.. defense is very good. The One is i doesn't care about it very much.. Franchise Mode is massive dissapointing so i don't think it is worth 60 bucks but maybe 20 dollars or less

[Justonepost]

Re: NBA Live 19 Review: A Good Experience Online But Faltering Offline

Really good review!

Lots of detail, clearly played the game a lot, positives and negatives and constructive feedback.

Good work!!

[Schnoodle321]

Re: NBA Live 19 Review: A Good Experience Online But Faltering Offline

Was always a one eyed 2k fan up until live 19 and am now all about Live. Can’t go back to 2k now, just isn’t for me anymore. Really loving the change

[The 24th Letter]

Re: NBA Live 19 Review: A Good Experience Online But Faltering Offline

Another solid, informative review.

Great job!

[El_Poopador]

Re: NBA Live 19 Review: A Good Experience Online But Faltering Offline

Decent review; would have preferred a little more detail on the presentation elements like commentary, lighting, etc. No real mention of some of the little things like environmental interaction.

I disagree about the menus. While they do look nice, they are incredibly slow, and navigating through them is a chore. Especially when unlocking collections and things from The One store.

The biggest positive for me, though, is the footplanting and player movement off the ball. Moving around on defense and without the ball on offense is fantastic. There is very little (if any) sliding, and momentum is accounted for when changing directions.

I will say that movement with the ball is still a little sluggish, though. I think it's more due to input responsiveness than a side effect of RPM, though, just because of how different it is away from the ball. If they can clean that up, it would feel perfect.

They definitely still need to revamp the post game, though. 2K blows them away in the post.

[goillini03]

Re: NBA Live 19 Review: A Good Experience Online But Faltering Offline

Good review! Definitely wanting to see where Live goes in the future before I jump away from 2K, but the recent trend for franchise modes from EA means that Live will never be a part of my collection.

I love that there is competition because it will fuel both development teams.

[coachcolbert]

Re: NBA Live 19 Review: A Good Experience Online But Faltering Offline

Fair review. Pretty much in line with all of our reviews - if you like The One mode, you prob really enjoy the game. If youre mainly a franchise guy, you prob hate it.

[ToughJuice]

Good review, I may end up  checking this out as Im skipping 2K this year

[CujoMatty]

Re: NBA Live 19 Review: A Good Experience Online But Faltering Offline

Can’t disagree with anything in the review. Definitely thought arena interaction and ESPN presentation are strengths that should have been mentioned though.

[openureyez]

Re: NBA Live 19 Review: A Good Experience Online But Faltering Offline

Was always a one eyed 2k fan up until live 19 and am now all about Live. Can’t go back to 2k now, just isn’t for me anymore. Really loving the change

Did the same last year, haven’t looked back. I have fun playing this game [emoji1474]

[SGMRock]

I actually like Live because of the simpler play over NBA2K19 .  I had not played a BB game since Live 2007 on the PC I think was my last BB game.  Last year I got Live 18 on sale and really enjoyed it because it was simple, easy to learn and just fun.  I find Live 19 to be the same but my favorite mode is The One so I can see where Franchise and stuff may fall short.  I do like the court battles and stuff.  I also bought 2K19 this year to see what all the fuss was about in that game.  I do like that game as well the MyCareer is fun and the franchise mode seems pretty deep at fist glance.  But 2K19 has a learning curve for sure and so many button combos to learn.  It has been a challenge.  If I had bought 2K last year as my first BB game in 10 years i probably would have stopped playing it after a day because of the learning curve.  In summary I think both games have their place and anyone who likes BB should play both, granted maybe get one on sale in a few months. 

[WTF]

Re: NBA Live 19 Review: A Good Experience Online But Faltering Offline

Great review. Hits the points, good and bad.

[RipCityAndy]

Great review! I haven't played UT, franchise, or Live Run yet, but The One has me hooked. I like the single player Street Tour mode. The different player archetypes all seem uniquely powerful. I'm playing as a rim protector, and I'm sending back TONS of shots at the rim. Perimeter shooters are knocking down crazy threes. Perimeter defenders are scary when they come your way. 

It reminds me a lot of NBA Jam. It's admittedly more arcade-y than 2k, but it's very fun. 

The monitization model is excellent as well (as I said - this excludes UT since I haven't played it). There is absolutely no pay-to-win  or pay-to-advance aspect in the single player mode. If you see a 90+ OVR that player truly worked for it.  Since the player can't pay to circumvent the "grind" the single player mode advances at an appropriate pace. I always feel like I'm about to get a new skill point, new unlock, new trait, etc. I don't ever feel like I'm "grinding." Grinding is the friggin worst. I play video games to PLAY - not grind. 

Now some cons-
Some of the animations are wonky. I've noticed the screen/pick mechanic doesn't work particularly well. For example, if there are two screeners, only the first one will trigger a pick animation. The second screener is practically invisible to the defender.  Also, trying to line up a screen (as the screen man) is difficult. Sometimes it seems like they have a difficulty detecting the proper defender. 

I've also noticed the friendly AI isn't particularly intelligent. You can literally see the branch points. Everyone will be standing still (for a few seconds), then will all begin to move at the same time. It's a little weird. 

Overall I think this game is a 7.5/10. There is still a lot of room for improvement, but it's a refreshing breath of air in an otherwise stagnant basketball video game market.  

[KennyJ1976]

Waiting on a price drop.  Just can't see myself paying full price and on top of that, it's too early for a basketball game to release. EA haven't even dropped FIFA yet.