Review: NBA Live - Plus Video
by Staff Writer
October 29, 2009
Overview
The NBA season just tipped off, and EA has brought another full featured sports sim to the App Store. This time it’s NBA Live, and the full team rosters, and 2009 schedule are included. Get ready to play basketball on the go. Like Madden 10 and Fifa 10, NBA Live uses the virtual control sticks and action buttons. The game delivers excellent 3D graphics to witness the dunks and the shots. It shares more design quality from Fifa than Madden which is a good thing.
Features
You can play with your favorite team on the go with their actual roster, and the entire 82 game schedule. You can play the entire season mode, or just an exhibition game, or even go straight into the playoffs. When you set up your season you can choose to play the entire season, 41 games, or even 20 games. You can choose the quarter length: three, five, or actual 12 minute games. Three difficulty levels are included to provide the skill level needed for every player. As you progress your season you can choose to simulate any game. The controls are easy to use. A virtual stick is provided to move your player, and if you double tap a direction they sprint. A blue action button is included for passing on offense, and stealing on defense. A red action button is for shooting on offense, and blocking/rebounding on Defense. Shooting is the main aspect of basketball, and to do so, hold the red button, and release when the player is at the top of their jump. Also as you drive the basket you can do trick dunks based on flicking the red button. When shooting free throws you use the accelerometer to tilt towards you, and then forward to shoot. Also Marv Albert provides a few lines for commentary.
The Good
The game looks brilliant. It’s amazing how EA has provided such a good looking basketball sim on the iPhone. The players look relatively authentic, and the action is as smooth as can be. Whether you’re dribbling up the floor, shooting a three, or going for a block every move looks realistic. A great feature is that a replay camera is thrown in sometimes after a dunk or a great shot. The replay camera is absolutely stunning, and the best part is you can tap anytime to skip it, letting you decide. The basketball gameplay is pretty good, but just seems shallow. There is no fun at all. The game is either too boring to care, or too hard to have fun. It is basketball though on the iPhone. Now you can play as the Lakers against the Celtics anywhere anytime, and EA does deserve to be praised for providing that.
The controls do work well, and you will feel in control of your players. Both action buttons can be swiped to do trick dunks or dribbles depending on the button. Shooting works well, to just press the red watch the player rise up, and release.
If you do actually play through the entire 82 game schedule and then into the playoffs all the way to winning the Larry O'Brien Trophy then this game is worth it. There’s a lot of time to be spent with this game if you actually like playing it. I found it to be more of a hassle to make it through than an enjoyable experience.
The Bad
The game has some major flaws preventing it from being a good basketball sim. The most glaring aspect is that when players run out of bounds it doesn’t matter they just keep going. Seriously how is that even possible to include in the final product? Another problem is the difficulty levels. Rookie mode is boring to tears, and medium isn’t much different. For example after the 1st quarter I was leading 18-4, in a three minute quarter. That’s about as boring as it gets when the game is too easy.
Then I increased the difficulty to the highest level (all-star), and the reverse happened, its way too difficult. For comparison, after the first quarter I was losing 12-4 with everything else the same. The computer makes nearly every shot, and blocks most of your dunk attempts from behind though they look like they’re out of the play.
The sound effects are mediocre at best. How many times can you hear Marv Albert say one of five lines, and his favorite is setting a pick which must be played 20 times a game. The sounds of the game are nice with sneaker squeaks, ball bouncing, and crowd ambiance. One problem is the soundtrack, Matt and Kim’s Daylight is included which sounds like a good thing until they play one line from the song continuously until it switches to the next track.
It would be nice to play over wifi or Bluetooth to play basketball against or even with your friends. Sadly it’s not included, and won’t happen with this edition.
