Originally Posted by
cdj
Interesting question and topic.
Some of the issues with NBA Live centered around the authenticity of the title. Player models, signature animations, etc. weren't true to life, trailing NBA 2K significantly.
On the court, NBA 2K has done an excellent job in making the game very deep - even if the controls are not necessarily user-friendly or friendly for new gamers. (That is an avenue EA should try to exploit.) However, I believe 2K12 added in some sort of tutorial mode/feature, so that could help get new players into the franchise.
2K has been notorious for online issues, whereas EA hasn't exactly been stellar top-to-bottom in their franchise but they seem to be improving overall.
For their next title:
- EA needs to get the gameplay deep with user-friendly controls (ex: EA had better post-play controls, but actual post-play gameplay in 2K ran circles around Live).
- Make sure strategy matters in gameplay. The 2-3 defense in Live 10 was exploitable,
- They need to nail the details....every player needs to have anything unique regarding them (tattoos, walk style, shot style, signature jams, signature taunts, etc.) in the game. Player models were a mess in the little we saw of NBA ELITE. The didn't even get the cover athlete correct in-game (Durant).
- They need to make online is not a 3-point cheesefest (or dunkfest) as it has been in EA basketball titles for as long as I remember. Again, there has to be some sort of strategy, not just pure run n' gun.
- They also need to keep and build upon the Synergy updates that existed in Live (seemed very popular and relatively well-designed), but also make sure roster moves get into the game quicker than the 2-3 day period it took in Live with the same system. Once Carmelo was officially traded, people wanted to play with him on the Knicks the next day....not 72 hours later.
Feature-wise, they need to closely monitor Online Association, copy it, and improve any shortcomings that exist with it while also expanding upon it.
They are going to have to do a lot of emulating & catching up to NBA 2K and learn from their mistakes. Make sure the game has a mode similar to Crew mode, have legends available in some format (and an option to draft/sign them in online/offline franchise), etc.
They are probably years off from competing with 2K (I believe Peter Moore has said as much), but they can certainly get the title past where Live 10 was rather quickly, maybe in year one. That would be a huge start.
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