This thread is just a reminder of what NBA Live used to be which IMO was an exciting and entertaining basketball experience for a great deal of us.
I like so many of you loved this series.....I couldn't go a year without playing it even when it was obvious the series was headed downhill with Live 07.
I loved the game because dating back to Live 06 star players stood out and teams actually played similar to their real life counterparts. Back in those days Shaq would actually play and move like the biggest man on the floor.
Guys like Kobe, T-Mac, VC and Iverson could do things their ratings dictated.
Nash would make some of the illest passes I've ever witnessed by AI CPU players.....alley oop's actually looked awesome back in Live 06.
I would assign set plays for certain stars and the CPU made damn sure those players would get the rock and go to work on you.
This was doing a time where sliders and playbooks weren't even as deep as today's games.....yet those elements of gameplay actually worked and they weren't just fluff gameplay settings.
We didn't need so the so called DNA synergy system to replicate players on the floor.
EA somehow nailed these players tendencies and behaviors through a select set of ratings ONLY!!!!!!
Players doing that time actually moved up and down the floor like real athletic basketball players and animated at that time pretty damn good.....
We had 3-pt shootouts and dunk contest......
we had the ability to play any regular season or playoff game around the league
THIS BOARD WAS ACTIVE AS HELL (Guys were all over the place in every section of the Live forum)
We didn't need to create a wishlist thread or invite guys to EA for input on the what the game needed.....
THEY (EA) ALREADY KNEW MADE US LOVE THE GAME AND GET HYPED ABOUT THE GAME. It was like they had people at that time who dialed into the NBA just as much as their fan base.
Now flash forward to the series as we know it today.....
Every other year or every 3 years it seems we get a new vision or direction....yet the same flaws still exist such as lack of player identity on the floor. Lack of authentic Team play style, lack of editing players which isn't a big deal if you just did the players correct to begin with and i'm not talking about no damn Tats, shoes or hairstyles...
It seems like the focus and energy is directed that way as opposed to actually recreating NBA players on the floor. The cosmetic things are important. Hell they were to a certain extent important in Live 06 but the things that stood out the most was that we had a bona fide NBA game on the court and the cosmetics just enhanced the overall product EA released.
IMO i think the game has animated terrible for the last 10 years.....maybe terrible is poor choice of words but lets just be real it hasn't moved like a NBA game should move when you watch the players run up and down floor
Passing is always floaty, dribbling is always weird looking and players move similar to what you might see the local YMCA or rec leagues. Watch the CPU try to throw a Alley Oop on you it looks comical. Watch the CPU big man try to make a low post move it looks comical. Watch the CPU dribble the ball in the half court set it looks comical sometimes guys just dribble standing in one spot not going anywhere....
There's is no sense of explosion off the dribble.....everything just looks like the game is teaching basketball fundamentals on the floor if you know what i mean.
10 years later and teams still don't run plays or behave like their counterparts.....If EA had released a game this past year how many of you would have been confident that Russell Westbrook under the SYNERGY system would have got a triple double on you just one time?
How many of you think that the Clippers would have made used Paul to throw lobs and alley oops to Jordan or Blake?
What about Harden do you think he would have had the ball in his hands creating for Houston?
If you recall even when the Suns had Nash in Live they never played like the Suns and the Lakers with a powerful Shaq never played like the Lakers.
Dude was shooting mid range jumpers if you wasn't doing some crazy shot in the post that hit off the side of the backboard.
I have no doubt these guys work hard at EA but the product is always lacking at the end of the day. I played College Hoops 2K8 not too long ago and i was pretty amazed that the game doing certain instances still did things better than anything i witnessed in Live from 09-15
I've briefly played a few other sports title like MLB The Show, FIfa and NHL and it just seems like the Live series is so far behind when it comes to player replica, movement or mannerism compared to those games.
Maybe it's just me....maybe i'm just too obsessed with a video game trying to duplicate portions of REAL NBA Basketball.....
But then again for those who have played Madden you don't really see much difference in players and teams either for the football game.
OK sorry for such a long rant....I just was frustrated that it's been years since i've truly enjoyed a NBA Basketball full time
Comment