NBA Live 10

Review from Cav, Cav and Cav - Tuesday, 10 November 2009 @ 2:07am

Hopefully you’ve all read my NBA 2K10 review by now. I did want to do a ‘versus’ type review for both NBA Live 10 and NBA 2K10, but it wasn’t possible. So if you haven’t read the other review, give it a quick browse after this and work out for yourself which one I consider to be the winner this year.

I actually thought it would be hard review one basketball game after another, but when you enjoyed EA’s offering (with Orlando Magic star Dwight Howard on the cover) as much as I did, it’s not hard at all. This game IS one that I could pick up and play. The menu screen, which is a small gym court, known as ‘The Hangar’, has bunch of NBA talents just shooting around. You can switch between them and just thrown down a few buckets. This was great as you don’t have to dive in head first into a match to get a feel for the controls. On loading screens, tips will appear as well to give you a bit more inside info, another bonus.

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The quick play option to this game was quite good. I never had a blowout win and never suffered a defeat by a large number. I have come back from 20 point deficits, by not playing silly shots and I’ve also let 20 point leads go by not playing good defence. It just feels like the perfect balance.

Just like the 2K game, the people spoke up on the EA Forums and pointed out areas of the game that need improving. No more than four weeks later a patch was available for both the PS3 and Xbox360 versions, with the PS3 version coming in well under 50mb. The people cried out and the following is what they fixed:

BUG FIXES:

• Smooth out some of the hitchiness in the game play by tuning blend times for passes as well as some various fixes for blend pops across the board.

• Fixed sliding and warping during standing rebounds

• Addressed issue where defenders would sometimes watch the ball fall off the rim. Increase the allowable distance for a teammate to come help.

• Player Lock fixed. AI teammates will now make decisions on their own when user is player locked off ball.

• Put the ball handler into protect dribble if the on ball defender attempts to crowd him. Previously, the ball handler would not recognize the defender and just expose the ball.

• “Rocket dunks” fixed. Fixed a bug that was causing dunks to speed up by 30% and added code to have dunks retain the shooter’s on-ground velocity, preserving his momentum after takeoff. Also applies to layups.

• Various post play fixes, including the case where two guys would stand next to each other while one of them was posting up.

• Addressed a potential exploit where it would be too easy to pass to cutters for dunks. As part of this fix, we now allow ball collisions on passes when passing into the paint.

• AI Stagnation fixes: Ball handler would sometimes not properly pass to receivers in a play. Also, we allow the ball handler to “improvise” if we detect he’s been idling for too long.

• Fixed an issue where sometimes an off ball cut animation wouldn’t properly settle into the correct spot.

• Restricted the post up and under move to within 12′ of the basket. No more ridiculous up and under heaves from deep.

• Fixed an issue where off ball post players would sometimes quickly go in and out of post battles, significantly cutting down on jitter.

• Fix for big men waiting too long to outlet the ball after rebounding

• Fix for fidgety box outs. They should kick in more reliably now.

• Prevent user passes to teammates who will be out of bounds or to teammates in the backcourt after they’ve crossed the timeline.

• Improve goaltending calls

• Fixed ball physics for blocked layups/dunks. There was a mirroring issue that was causing the ball to shoot off in the complete opposite direction of its intended path.

• Fixes for animation oscillation on defence (i.e. jittery movement)

• Fixed a bug that would cause certain off ball movement animations to not mirror properly

• Series of small fixes to prevent balls from hitting the floor during rebounds.

• Fix for shooting fouls not properly getting called on collision layups. This will yield more realistic free throw attempts for both the user and CPU.

• Put in a fix to mitigate the excessive turnovers inside the paint, specifically after pulling down an offensive rebound. Gives users a little more time to pass out or attempt a shot when they get in congested areas in the paint.

• Smoother ball handler post up entries. Sometimes guys would “pop” into place.

• Fixed issue where players would sometimes “freeze” in an off ball post battle before receiving a pass.

• Fixed bug where the “check assignment indicator” would draw on one of your own teammates in LIVE RUN games.

GAMEPLAY ENHANCEMENTS:

• Auto-switch to PG on defence after a made basket

• Enabled rim stuffs. Now when you try to dunk in traffic, there’s a chance you’ll brick the dunk.

• Tune nets to make them a bit less stiff

• Added more variation to “get back” animations after made shots. Less “skipping” back.

• Disabled the canned scenario steal that happens when you rip the ball from a player who is sizing up. Instead, we allow actual collision with the ball if the defender performs a steal while a ball handler is making a dribble move. Makes for a much more read and react, twitch game on defence.

• Improved Freestyle pass animation selection to prevent guys from bursting into a sprint while passing on the move.

• Back down button is back. Enabled right thumb stick click to toggle between face up and back down postures.

• Disabled the turnaround jump shot that would play if the shooter is facing away from the hoop when outside of 18 feet. So instead of a turnaround three, players will pivot and shoot a regular jump shot.

• Minor tuning to shot and layup percentages.

• Improved responsiveness and AI’s usage of off ball cuts.

• Stop the rebounder from running up court too early after securing a rebound

• Improvements to reception logic, specifically square up catches

• Improve player reaction to loose ball situations

• Left analogue passing improvements: Update analogue angle metric to consider the receiver’s destination so you can lead the receiver with the pass

• Improved the logic of when to play a standing reception vs. a moving reception based on the receiver’s momentum and position on the court.

• Added the ability to “lockdown” perimeter ball handlers (by pressing into them) and force them into a protect dribble state.

• Ability to shoot “runners” on demand by driving toward the basket, neutralizing the left analogue stick and hitting the Shot Button. Works inside of 18 feet.

• Improvements to user on ball defence. Made it easier to stay in front of the ball without “slipping off” when you move your left stick toward the ball handler.

• Anti-cheese code. Prevent users from being able to take off ball control of players and run them under the hoop for the cheap pass and dunk.

• Inbound flow improvements. Allow the in bounder to move to multiple (closer) locations along the baseline after picking up the ball.

• User control over shot contest vs. block. Tap of the Block button will always yield a contest animation. Regular press will always jump to block.

• Several improvements for end of game AI logic. When the AI is ahead, they’ll do a better job at recognizing time and score and use more clock. If they’re trailing, they’ll accelerate the offense.

• Improve AI logic for pump fake biting. AI defenders will be smarter about defending pump fakes according to difficulty level. Previously, the higher the level, the more often they’d bite. Also, if user is pump faking multiple times in succession, the AI will stay down.

The view from the cheap seats...... or a 15" monitor

OTHER FIXES:

• Resolved an issue where the DNA Streak would sometimes show an incorrect value

• Resolved several issues which caused Instant Replay to run out of memory

• Corrected an issue where PPG points were incorrectly calculated in Adidas Live Run

• Resolved an issue where users with many friends who have played NBA LIVE 10 may experience crashes during log in or post game.

• Resolved an issue with lobby rooms where a user may crash after soaking in the room.

• Replay montages should now scale to be full screen

• Corrected an issue where users would sometimes see their target under teammates instead of their check in Adidas Live Run

• Corrected an issue where there was a missing option to not show again on the “Dynamic DNA Not Updated” screen

• Resolved an issue where the game would hang if multiple users left a full Online Team Play session and the session filled up again

• Corrected an issue on the Dynamic Season Team Record screen where an incorrect team would appear

• Resolved an issue where the game would rarely hang after exiting the first game of a Dynasty season if the user entered Rookie Scouting during the off-season

• Game play exploit fix. 3 pt step back completion rate.

(After playing both games, I now understand what a majority of this means!)

It's always funny trying to get the little guy to jump for a Hi-Five

So what did I find that needed fixing? Not much really, other than the AI continuously fouling when behind with 30 seconds or less left in the game. I understand the logic, where they are trying to force me to make my points from the line instead of dunking a solid 2, but that sometimes saw my lead double, which is better for stats.... and if anyone needs to boost their stats it’s me.

On the subject of stats, the Dynamic DNA element to NBA Live 10 is absolutely dripping with them. Stats to me used to mean, shots made from the field, behind the 3 Point arc and the charity stripe, but Dynamic DNA delves in even further, by breaking down a shot type from a low post jumper to one step inside the 3 point line. In traffic, no traffic, clutch and shoot, off the dribble. It’s absolutely crazy. What’s even crazier is that what a player does in real life can be reflected in your game, with his live stats. Overall there is one downfall: Dynamic DNA is only available for free with a code that is found inside your game case. I’m guessing if you buy a second hand copy, you might be able to purchase the option somehow, if you really want it.

Puff the Magic Dragon, lived by the sea.....

I enjoy having the FIBA World League available, but it sure is embarassing to have our boys have their arses handed to them by an NBA team. All of their names are spoken by the commentators, which is a good thing. Would have been painful to hear "Australia with the ball" "Australia to the hoop". I suppose we have Mr Bogut to thank for that.

The one thing that the 2K game beats EA out on is the graphics. Unlike the debate I took place in at eGames this year with Jason from Level 3 against the boys from The Lobby, where I stated that I need a game to grab me visually to hold me there... well in this case it’s different. By no means am I saying that NBA Live 10’s graphics are subpar, it’s just that 2K put a little more Spit’n’Polish on their Product. I feel that the team at EA spent just enough time on content as well as the images to deliver a solid product.

Pros

Great pick up and play, with the menu screen being a training ground. - It's not the NBA without commentator Marv Albert - Really simple learning curve, but timely to perfect (a good thing)

Cons

The Graphics aren't as good as the competitions, but that is certainly not everything. - Commentary gets a little repetitive at times - Free throw release is way off when playing online