And here is JB's review

NBA Live 15 was a huge step forward last when it improved upon a game that was really rough and had started from scratch. The community definitely saw the improvement and took it as EA SPORTS was committed to this game. For those who doubted this, welcome to NBA Live 16.

Starting off with gameplay, I felt that 15 was just a notch below 10 (which I felt was the best in the series). With 16, it is improved even further thanks to LIVE Motion where your teammates will move off the ball to create open looks and also help with the improved playcall screen. No longer do you have to freestyle it to be successful thanks to LIVE Motion. You can run plays and watch them work like magic if you execute them well. Speaking of the playcalling, when you run a play the art shows on the court of what you should do, and it is very intuitive and helpful in getting the most out of the play you call.

The shot meter is what makes the gameplay true and accurate. You’ll have a shot meter that you’ll need to release your shot at its apex, but depending on where you’re at on the court and where the defenders are, you’ll get some great feedback in terms of text and a % chance that you’ll make the shot. The great part of the shot in the gameplay this year is if you’re in trouble at the apex of the shot, you can still try to get the shot off by releasing the button late to still give you a chance at the shot.

There are also a couple of nice small touches in the game play such as the ability to do a dribble hand off, and some improvements to the pick and roll system to give you more control on the guy setting the screen as compared to last year where it was all timing based. Much like the playcall art is very intuitive and helpful, so is the indicator of who you are supposed to guard on defense. Your circle and their arc will match in colors and there will be a transparent straight line connecting yourself to the guy you’re supposed to defend that is not gaudy or gets in the way of the visuals of the game.

The gameplay isn’t without its faults though. The biggest issue with gameplay is user control when going for a rebound. It seems like it is not responsive at all like it should be and you seem to either be stuck in molasses or stuck in an animation that prevents you from getting to the ball. The game could also benefit from a better post up option on both the offensive and defensive sides. A special control scheme for post play would go a long ways into make the game completely true.

When it comes to additions this year, Live 16 knocked it out of the park with the additions of Summer Circuit and the return of Live Run. Summer Circuit allows you to team up with up to four other users to take on a series of challenges against a pro-am team. There are real life courts where these pro-am games are held, and they look amazing, especially Terminal 23 in New York. Each court has a set of 5 games and each game has a set of 3 challenges for you to complete. Completing these challenges will unlock gear for you to add to your player. Another great thing about Summer Circuit, EA will be adding more courts and challenges as the year goes on.

Speaking of your created player, the NBA LIVE Companion App combined with GameFaceHD add so much more to your created player. The app was very easy to use, and it looks great in-game. I have seen myself and several friends in-game, and it is very realistic. There are a lot of options you can purchase with your Reward Points such as sleeves, armbands, headbands, various shirts and jerseys, shorts, and a TON of shoes. You can earn Rewards Points by playing anything in-game; which is really nice.

Going back to Live Run, this was one of the most wanted items by Live fans ever since the franchise came out, and it works really well. There are no gigantic load times to get into it like MyPlayer was last year for 2K, and the games themselves run very smooth. The only thing that is lacking for Live Run is the ability to access all of your stats outside of comparing them to someone else in the lobby. I think being able to see how you perform with dozens of stat types would have been great to see.

Graphics-wise, the game is beautiful. Thanks to the face scan technology, the players that are scanned looked VERY lifelike, but unfortunately some of the players who haven’t been scanned do not look similar to their counterparts. Thankfully the game updates many times throughout the year without a patch, so those will be fixed as time goes on. The court and the atmosphere are top notch graphically and audibly.

Ultimate Team has had some nice little tweaks to it this year including having a Master Challenge much like Madden where if you complete a LONG series of tasks, you will earn a very well equipped Russell Westbrook to destroy your competition. There are some players that are specialists for a certain skill, and those are required for some of the challenges. Complete those challenges and you can upgrade that player to the Master version. You can also give some big stars a trail run with the short term players. It’s a nice way to test a player, or also be a free card EA gives to you. Get a top notch player on the short term, and save that player for some of the tougher challenges.

Unfortunately two modes that are still somewhat bare bones are Rising Star and Dynasty. The GameFaceHD does add a lot to Rising Star though as you’ll have more of a connection with your player, but the mode still pales in comparison to MyPlayer. Dynasty also seems to lack some punch, but does have a lot of things you can do with it such as set your rotation, see your players happiness and etc. I can understand these modes being on the backburner for being updated because it’s hard to get through a full season, but still it would be nice to have a reason to be able to play them.

Overall Live 16 is what we can call the official return to the series for the masses. While 15 was great for us hardcore players, 16 is going to welcome back those past fans with mainly the return of Live Run and the addition of Summer Circuit. The total package is vastly improved and I would give it a solid 85/100.