NBA Live 18 - Demo Impressions

[Nemesis Enforcer]

Quick impression is that overall movement is just so much better than 16.
Dribbling seems limited but I'm a fat center. Can only move right stick left or right? Up and down shoot which I'm not a fan of right stick shooting. How do you spin?
Shooting meter/animation is 2k like in that it takes longer. Not as quick as 16.
Pancaked a guy with my screen
Win by 2 is in pro am
Way more backboard animations!
Physics don't seem as good as 16
Lol my guy is so bad at dribbling. Did a crossover. Bounced off my foot and lost the ball! This will stop a lot of bigs bringing ball up the court.
Stats at the end of proam are a nice touch.
Just need to re learn live.

[Daddy123]

Game is playable in a long time and fun. Would like more dribbling options and shooting a little quicker

[swac07]

As far as a arcade/street mode bball game I might have found my fix with Live 18..it's fun...hairstyles are A.1...

It plays better than 16...controls feel good at times ,but floaty sometimes(feels like I'm not controlling my player during certain animations)

Overall it's cool..I'll get my sim fix with the other game and my pick up and play with this one...while some funky "stuff" still happens I can say "so far" it hasn't kept me from putting the controller down....not bad Live team/Ea

Sent from my Illudium Q-36 Space Modulator,

[Mweemwee]

I love the idea of earning upgrades to improve your player with skill actions rather than 2ks model of "he who pays wins". excited to give this a go tomorrow

[trekfan]

Xbox 1
The Streets/The One

Early Impressions:

Just completed Ch. 1, at Rucker Park. Choose to be a playmaker (I like setting up guys and I wanted to test the competency of the AI teammates), 6'3", about 175. 86 Speed.

Game wasn't close at all -- I, as the point guard, controlled the flow of the game and ran the offense pretty well. I whipped the ball around and my teammates, for the most part, played smart. Defense was solid -- I managed to shutdown my matchup twice (+4 to my score). I scored 10 points, a few on fast-break layups, a few on post shots (took my matchup into the post and scored over him.

Got rejected at the rim twice (wish I dunk package), but managed to find open teammates for triples (Vince Carter, yo). Won the game thanks to a missed from Nick Howard, but a devastating putback from Joakim Noah.

Really liked the gameplay and the dribble responsiveness -- reminds me a bit of NBA Street, which I loved as a kid. The customization I really, really like -- earning XP and skill based on what I do is absolutely the way I prefer to roleplay an NBA player. I really like the bonus' they give you as you get further in the unlock tree -- the max dribble skill is a 93 with a dribble package from Allen Iverson (AI!), which I'm eager to see.

I think Live has nailed the Street feel, haven't got to the pro game yet. Continuing to play.

[Schwall]

Quote: Originally Posted by Nemesis Enforcer

Quick impression is that overall movement is just so much better than 16. Dribbling seems limited but I'm a fat center. Can only move right stick left or right? Up and down shoot which I'm not a fan of right stick shooting. How do you spin? Shooting meter/animation is 2k like in that it takes longer. Not as quick as 16. Pancaked a guy with my screen Way more backboard animations! Physics don't seem as good as 16 Lol my guy is so bad at dribbling. Did a crossover. Bounced off my foot and lost the ball! This will stop a lot of bigs bringing ball up the court. Stats at the end of proam are a nice touch. Just need to re learn live.

Spin moves are pulled off by sweeping the stick and holding RT. Just like Behind the Back (which is without RT). You can do pull backs by flicking down on right stick. Holding does step backs and spin backs (RT for step back, no RT for spin back).

[swac07]

On the NBA side of things I'm already tired of seeing the players do these silly poses after a shot goes in(the one were they pose and stare while crouching down) 😂

Sent from my Illudium Q-36 Space Modulator,

[ph33]

Quote: Originally Posted by Daddy123

Game is playable in a long time and fun. Would like more dribbling options and shooting a little quicker

People in my party did point out the lack of dribbling animations. But a lot of people end up with the same one anyways, the one that is the most effective. Hopefully they can add more for the future.



Ok, I've said these already but I played a few more games and here's some more thoughts:

1. The behind-your-player cameras are absolutely terrible. Maybe I haven't found the right one, but they zoom in on the ball so much that I can't see where to space and it made me dizzy and insane. And I did turn off the auto zoom setting. But still, their behind-view cameras have got to be better, more centered instead of following the ball so heavily.

2. After I typed that, I tried their sideline cam. It's actually not bad. I always used 2k cam in 2k because the orientation made more sense to me, but it actually kind of works in this game and I can't really explain why. But still, you have to use the farthest one out, and that's honestly not that appealing to me either. I tried the sideline low/high and it doesn't zoom out enough where you get lost in transition because you can't tell where you or your matchup is.

3. Player movement feels so nice. So very nice.

4. I think this game will encourage less ball pounding and more ball movement, and defense feels so much better to play. 2k was predicated on using tons of brick walls and spamming ankle breaker to take the defender out of it. In this game, you have to be a lot more methodical with it. When you're on defense, the game doesn't over-slide you around and make you do things not under your control.

5. I might miss out on something here, but can they possibly patch out having to HOLD R1 for icon passing? I think double tapping R1 passes to person closest to basket. But no player's icon is R1, so why do we have to hold? Still have to get used to it, I guess, but I don't see the point.

6. Apparently, CPU Karl Towns can snatch block like Whiteside, shoot like Dirk, power move his way to the basket like Shaq, and go coast to coast like Shawn Kemp.

7. Setting screens is not as easy in this game. I'm not sure if that's good or bad yet, but I'm leaning towards good because there's no suction.

8. I think that the rate of contested shots inside going in seems a little high right now. But that could be the product of playing an easier AI or something like that. Haven't done human vs human yet.

So yeah, keep in mind this is all against the CPU. But so far, I'm really enjoying this. I love the progression system and how you can get better playing with your friends.