NBA Live 15 - General Impressions & Discussion

[gigemaggs99]

My son and I have been playing a few games each night. So far I still love the graphics and sounds of the different stadiums. One thing that drives me nuts, and I'm really hoping it's that I have no idea how to play, is there is no defense.

Compared to 2K14 where I can try and take a charge, steal the ball, block shots, etc...on 2k14 there seems to be more of a balance between offense and defense.

On NBA Live 15, it really feels like it's just score score score. I'm playing my 6 year old that doesn't know a lot about basketball, he in bounds the ball and runs the length of the floor, into the paint and a) gets an easy lay-up, b) misses and somehow gets a the rebound when I have 4 guys just standing there watching, or c) rarely I get the defensive board.

I do use the quick defense of pressure in the paint but he's still able to simply walk in and make easy lay-ups.

Am I missing something simple? Is it possible to play defense on this game?

[cdj]

Some tips on defense:

- Holding LT is supposed to help give assistance on defense to stay with your man.

- It's relatively easy to steal the ball in 15 as compared to 14. Do it when in front of them or on the side of the ball. Practice it and you'll be surprised how many times you can knock the ball lose versus fouls called.

- If the offensive player gets past you, hold down B to call for a double team. This won't be a double team since he got past you, but will call someone up to try and slow him down.

- You can go into defensive strategies and assign for an automatic double team on a specific player once they drive to the hoop.

- You could also hold down the D-pad, scroll to far right and set Offensive Rebounding to GET BACK. In theory, that should help get players back to slow down drives.

- Once the other team has the ball off a defensive rebound, I like to take user control of a player (helps if PF/C) and have them run into the lane and then switch back to the defender guarding the ball handler. This helps make sure you have someone around the hoop to help on a drive.

- On 14, I'm pretty sure the defensive strategies via d-pad didn't work. I got out of the habit of using them so I don't know how effective they are in 15. I don't think I would rely on them solely.

- The key in the game is just to get/keep players between the ballhandler and the basket. The game favors the offensive player, but if you can get enough blocks and steals (even just a few) that can be a huge swing towards winning the game.

[gigemaggs99]

Some tips on defense:

- Holding LT is supposed to help give assistance on defense to stay with your man.

- It's relatively easy to steal the ball in 15 as compared to 14. Do it when in front of them or on the side of the ball. Practice it and you'll be surprised how many times you can knock the ball lose versus fouls called.

- If the offensive player gets past you, hold down B to call for a double team. This won't be a double team since he got past you, but will call someone up to try and slow him down.

- You can go into defensive strategies and assign for an automatic double team on a specific player once they drive to the hoop.

- You could also hold down the D-pad, scroll to far right and set Offensive Rebounding to GET BACK. In theory, that should help get players back to slow down drives.

- Once the other team has the ball off a defensive rebound, I like to take user control of a player (helps if PF/C) and have them run into the lane and then switch back to the defender guarding the ball handler. This helps make sure you have someone around the hoop to help on a drive.

- On 14, I'm pretty sure the defensive strategies via d-pad didn't work. I got out of the habit of using them so I don't know how effective they are in 15. I don't think I would rely on them solely.

- The key in the game is just to get/keep players between the ballhandler and the basket. The game favors the offensive player, but if you can get enough blocks and steals (even just a few) that can be a huge swing towards winning the game.

Thank you for the tips.

I don't mind winning vs losing. After all I am playing my 6 year old so if he wins that's cool, but realistically I usually win by a bunch. I have just noticed when he inbounds the ball he's able to take it end to end without anyone on my team doing anything. I try and get my player inbetween him and the goal, and keep him there but he's able to just run around (while holding sprint) and then does a lay-up. It honestly feels like I just hold my controller until he scores, then I get the ball back, pass it around and play what I think of when I think of basketball.

I will win something like 91-55 but he will have 2 guys that did all the scoring. I try and tell him to pass the ball more, but the point of my story is, he's able to score 55 points with just 2 of his guys, it's like all 5+ of mine can't play defense. I won't have a single guy on my team have more than 20 points so I try and spread it around the best I can. I completely understand that on my son's side it's b/c he's young and doesn't quite grasp the goal of team play yet, but on my side to have him walk through my defense is frustrating. He'll even take the inbound pass and stop in the lane, I'll have 3 guys around him and he just does a simple bank shot, if he misses it, amazingly his SHOOTER will get his own rebound and he then scores, for some reason all 3 of my guys in the paint will just stand there, none will get the rebound...he even asks me, why don't your guys even try? I'm not sure how to respond.

The other huge difference we've both noticed, on NBA Live 15 my son can run to the baseline and doesn't seem to go out of bounds, it's like the player will assist him and keep himself inbounds. On 2k14 my son runs out of bounds a lot, especially on the baseline...so comparing the two games I'd say NBA Live is more "beginner" friendly. My son enjoys the NBA Live more than the 2k game. Again it's a 6 year old mentality, similarly on Madden or NCAA he wants to score a TD run on EVERY rush and on every pass he wants to throw the BOMB. I appreciate that he has to learn and that will come in time. I just get frustrated in what to me feels like lack of user control on NBA Live. I get frustrated when the other 4 guys on my team just seem to stand there and let his player walk to the basket. If I was playing Madden and my offensive line just stood there and let the D come unblocked to the QB I'd be very upset.

[Rudy]

There is a forcefield for out of bounds in Live. You can't go out of bounds for the most part.

For those that have played both games, which one looks better? I've heard they are close and arguments can be made for both. Most everyone agrees Love's stadiums are clearly better.

[gigemaggs99]

There is a forcefield for out of bounds in Live. You can't go out of bounds for the most part.

For those that have played both games, which one looks better? I've heard they are close and arguments can be made for both. Most everyone agrees Love's stadiums are clearly better.

I have NBA Live 15 for Xbox One. Great graphics, stadium sounds, the visuals are awesome.

I have NBA 2k14 and 2K15 for PS4. The controls are outstanding. I like the dunks on 2K better they rattle the rim, makes you feel like they are really slamming it down. As far as the controls go, you can just do more, on 2k14 & 15 you can specify a bounce pass vs a no look vs a high pass, etc... on NBA Live you can do "flashy passing" but it picks the animation, I haven't found a way to specify a bounce pass. The alley-oop on NBA Live seems hit or miss, on 2K14&15 it makes sense.

The graphics on 2K14&15 aren't bad by any means, they look great to me, the sounds and graphics are slightly more improved on NBA Live, but I'd pick better controls and what I call more user control over slightly better sound.

I would pick 2K15 if I could only pick one. Walmart has it on sale for $29.96 pre-black Friday deals going on now.

Another thing, EA games have taken the instruction booklet out of the game a long time ago, not sure why, they say to save money/paper. Well the in-game tutorials are pretty basic, they only show you Offensive tutorials. Zero defense.

On 2K14 & 15, there are instructions in the booklet AND the in-game tutorials are very in-depth, they cover everything you need to know how to do AND they include both offense AND defense. I'm a firm believer in defense wins championships, I want to be able to play defense.

To me NBA Live feels more like an offensive shoot-out game. Little to no defense, 2K14&15 seem like a more complete game, you can play both sides of the ball.

I also like on 2K14&15 you can shoot with either the X button or the right-analog stick, it helps with the timing on shots. On NBA Live it's only a button press, the right-analog stick is not an option on NBA Live.

2K would get my vote.

jerzeyreign is online on twitch a lot playing 2k15, check it out, it looks pretty damn real!

[Rudy]

Thanks. I'm hoping we will get some decent deals here in Canada for our version of black Friday. My brother is working out of home now rather than Detroit so all those sweet Amazon deals in the US are no longer available to me unfortunately.

[cdj]

It doesn't look like the All-Star Game content or even a ratings update this week unless they were late in being pushed out. (The guy in charge of ratings is no longer on the team, so it appears there was no seamless succession plan.)

[cdj]

Nice tease of the 2015 ASG court in NBA LIVE 15 in a recent social media post:

[cdj]

I'm hearing that NBA Live 15 is currently just $9 on the XBL Marketplace.

Unsure if PSN will have matching/similar deal later today.

[Rudy]

Chris, with a roster guy taking off and the prices dropping like a rock for Live in addition to poor sales numbers, is Live 16 even going to happen? I truly hope if it does they add sliders and roster editing. I just don't get how some of EA's teams like Madden and Live don't support their sliders well at all while the NHL team has a lot. EA invented sliders!

P.S. Live 15 is $69.99 on Canadian Sony store right now. 2K15 is $46.99. EB Games has a physical copy of 2K15 for $45 while Live 15 is $30 new. FS and BB have the physical copy of Live 15 for $19.95 right now.

[JBHuskers]

At this point, Live 16 is a reality and should be the title that we have been waiting for. The gameplay for the most part on 15 is great, now it's time to get those great features in that have been missing.

[cdj]

Chris, with a roster guy taking off and the prices dropping like a rock for Live in addition to poor sales numbers, is Live 16 even going to happen? I truly hope if it does they add sliders and roster editing. I just don't get how some of EA's teams like Madden and Live don't support their sliders well at all while the NHL team has a lot. EA invented sliders!

You never know, but I am pretty darn certain 16 is a go.

I completely get why seeing such a price drop and sales numbers worry people, but considering Live sold 0 copies between 2010-2012, I think where they are now is a big improvement. Between digital copies and the Ultimate Team revenue stream, the franchise may not be as struggling financially as some have speculated. Though, it obviously has major work to do in acquiring market share vs. 2K. They are not at a point where they can be happy, but I don't think they should be drowning their sorrows either.

NBA Live 15 is also on EA Access for XB1 users. I think they are at a point where they just want people to know the game exists and potentially give it a whirl. The lack of marketing still has a lot of people out there who didn't even know Live was back, much less in its second year back.