NBA Live 10

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I received NBA Live 10 as a gift nearly a month ago, and have since had a lot of fun playing many games in many different modes but unfortunately, a fair bit of frustration as well. I'm glad I held off on reviewing it till now, because at first I would have attributed annoyances such as ridiculous turnovers, lackluster AI, and bizarre gameplay to a lack of familiarity with the system. After extensive gameplay, however, I can confidently say that while this game is a lot of fun, there are some quirks that really should have been worked out prior to release.

I'm a big NBA fan, and an even bigger NBA video game fan. I've owned Lives going back to '96 (Sega Genesis), but eventually starting getting 2K games instead. I enjoyed the online gameplay of 2K8 and 2K9, and have enjoyed online gameplay of Live 10 as well...I find that playing against a human opponent eliminates some of the frustrations associated with the computer's AI, but not all of it. While I won't say this game is so annoying that I'd consider returning it, I would say that I perhaps would be reluctant to play Live 11 if these issues aren't resolved.

THE GOOD

1. Graphics are good. Not necessarily the best, since I think that NBA 2K9 had better graphics (especially the level of detail available in instant replay), but I think any sports fan would appreciate the level of detail in the game. The audience is also very realistic, I like that EA chose to pay attention to that; at times you feel like you're watching a real game!

2. Up to date! NBA Live 10's internet connectivity features are great. Like its Live predecessors, as well as the 2K Series' previous installments, NBA Live 10 utilizes your PS3's internet connection to get the latest rosters for games. Also, through the "Dynamic DNA" feature, you not only can get latest roster updates, but player attributes such as shooting accuracy can be updated, say if the player is experiencing a shooting streak/drought in real life. These are very cool features that make for a more accurate game.

3. Good online play. Plenty of opponents to play against, and while there can be lag depending on who you play against, this is a very fun aspect of the game that I highly recommend.

4. Great play-by-play announcing. Glad NBA Live has Marv Albert aboard, gives it a real feel! Also, there is a LOT of audio commentary recorded, so it doesn't get too repetitive too quickly.

I'm sure there are other great features of the game that I'm overlooking at the moment, but that's partially cause I'm frustrated with...

THE BAD

1. Be prepared for tons of turnovers in this game. Regardless of your skill level, this game has a highly unrealistic amount of errors on the part of even the best ball-handlers. When you drive to the lane, you often end up turning it over; when you're advancing the ball upcourt, you often end up turning it over; even when you pass to someone right next to you, you often end up turning it over! Needless to say, this aspect of gameplay becomes really annoying, really quickly. I understand in real life turnovers DO happen, but this is excessive.

2. How can some of the best players miss wide open jumpers, dunks, or layups, that they would never miss in real life? When driving uncontested to the hoop and pressing the shoot button, why does a player sometimes attempt an awkward double clutch layup that'll miss versus a really easy one that'll go in? My favorite is when someone drives in to the hoop from the side, and has their shot miss off the side of the backboard (or better yet, the back of it). I understand if this happened occasionally, but it unfortunately happens way too much.

3. Backcourt violations are way too frequent, and it's beyond me why players so frequently pass behind them when there are open players in front ... especially if you're trying to direct their pass forward! A disproportionate number of passes also end up going to players who are stepping out of bounds. Don't get me wrong, you can work around these and still win games, but it's just frustrating to endure seemingly idiotic decision-making by the players on the virtual court.

4. Frequently you can't pass once you go up for a shot. Say you're driving in the lane and want to kick it out to an open man for a quick three. Sometimes you can, sometimes you can't...which becomes very annoying!

5. A dedicated alley-oop button (triangle) is just weird. First of all, if you're playing fast pace and running the court well, you can easily get a ridiculous number of alley-oops in a game, just because having a dedicated button makes it that easy. On the other hand, if you're playing it slow and accidentally end up pressing triangle, you throw a dangerous pass that can easily result in a turnover, or result in a strange sort of catch-and-shoot that almost always misses.

6. My biggest gripe about controls is that square is both Steal AND Shoot. Which means that if you were successful on D and got the ball, you might end up firing a prayer from the end of the court. Stealing should be a separate button from shooting to avoid a bizarre number of full-court shots.

7. Offensive fouls happen WAY too much. If you hold the right control stick down, you can draw a charge. In other games, you sometimes draw the charge, but more often get called for a defensive foul. In this game, you can easily draw dozens of offensive fouls if you choose to do so, which can practically guarantee a win. Some people that you play against online figured this out, and playing against them is a real pain since every single possession of yours results in an offensive foul! I wish that aspect of gameplay was more realistic.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Some additional features that would have been nice would have been more camera angles to choose from. I understand even game developers realize throwing in a million camera angles won't make a bad game better evident in NBA 2K9 having far fewer camera choices than 2K8, for example but 4 is a bit limited.

Pre-game introductions could have been made cooler; clearly EA knows how to put together cinematics, I swear I've seen the Dwight Howard/Lebron James exchange at the gym that the game begins with a million times, so I don't know why didn't put a cooler pre-game cinematic to introduce the players!

Lastly, a more polished feel would be nice. I like how both 2K and Live employ extensive use of cuts and camera angles in their in-game automatic replays, to make it look like a telecast...what I don't like in Live is that at the end of the game, they don't offer the same polished replays as they do in-game, say for the top plays or players. In 2K9 they had the option that you can rewatch really nicely edited videos of the top plays of each player...in Live 10, there's an option to rewatch replays through the game's Instant Replay viewer, which gives it a less refined look than the in-game replays that look like what you normally see on TV.

As you can see, this game has a lot of shortcomings! That being said, if you want strong graphics, and an up-to-date roster to get in the action on the latest NBA games, Live 10 is a good option. But beware that you might find gameplay to be frustrating at times; hopefully EA Sports will rectify this problem in Live 11.

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I bought this game after trying demos of this game and nba 2k10. The game looks really nice on my hd tv.

but like most reviews on here state, you turn the ball over alot. players make silly passes, and miss way too many open easy shots.

then the cpu comes right back and makes the same shot you just missed, and makes it nothing but net lol.

i find myself losing quite often and grunting at the game lol. but i still enjoy playing it

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This game is awesome to say the least. Game play is very easy compared to the demo of 2k10 I played. It takes little time to get accustomed to the controls:Picks,plays etc.. and I find myself playing for hours. I would recommend this game to anyone looking for a NBA Basketball game.

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This Year NBA Live has a step ahead in the court, I really like the graphics in this game,altough it have it's flaws, is still a great and fun game to play, as for the glitches that I can recall here are some:

Score basket and doesn't count.

Ghost type players.

But Overall The Game is really Fun.

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Very cool game. As you play, it links up with ESPN and you hear real time updates from the day's sports news and games. Cool feature. Also allows you to shoot around during loading screens which is way cooler than staring at a screen and doing nothing.