NBA Live 2015 Review

Posted on 8th November 20148th November 2014 by

Developer EA Sports

Publisher EA

Platform Xbox One & PS4

Release Date Out Now.

Everyone loves an underdog story, and that is exactly what NBA Live 2015 is as it goes up against arguably one of the best sports games ever made in NBA 2K15. After last year’s painful re-entry into the market this year needed to see a big improvement in a lot of different departments. Unfortunately NBA Live 2015 didn’t get everything it needed to go toe to toe with 2K, but it has seen enough of an improvement and has enough interesting ideas to ensure it warrants a look.

NBA Live 2015 is not in the same league as, but rather a respectable alternative to NBA 2K15.

The presentation has seen the most significant advancements, player likeness and animations, lighting effects, crowds and the ESPN branding give it that “sports Event” feeling we expect from EA sports titles. As with NHL and FIFA this is less about re-creating the experience of playing a sport but more about re-recreating the experience of watching a sport on TV.

My one piece of advice is to do the tutorials, there are some great gameplay ideas in this game but they will need explaining especially if you are not a hardened basketball fan and new to the NBA Live series. Seeing as they are intrinsic to getting the most out of the game it will be time well spent.

You will need to use the icon under the player’s feet to help determine when you are in the best position to score. Shooting an uncontested shot from within range is the key to scoring regularly. Without mastering this you will become frustrated with endlessly missing seemingly easy shots.

You have a number of limited modes from career, rising star and of course their own take on Ultimate Team which gives you some alternatives to extend the game’s life but the lack of online co-op is a big killer. Online play for the most part is solid enough with occasional performance issue but nothing game breaking, I struggled to enjoy getting beaten so badly online so I stuck to offline mode for most of the review.

Overall: Competition is always good, fans of Basketball now have a realistic alternative. While they will likely spend most of their time with 2K this year, NBA Live 2015 offers a genuine option. EA have promised to stick with the franchise until they get it right. They are not too far away but at this pace it will probably take another two years before we can we expect a decent faceoff.

SCORE 3/5

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