The footwear doesn't have any real impact on the gameplay, but shoes are a big part of basketball fan culture, so adding real shoes to the game is a great way to represent that. Many of these shoes are available in the create-a-player mode, and you're able to unlock additional Nike styles from the in-game NBA Store, which also has unlockable jerseys and other apparel.
If you play some of the classic all-decade all-star teams, for example, you'll see old-school players, like Magic Johnson, wearing what look like Converse shoes. Even the nonbrand generic shoes bear an uncanny resemblance to other brands, like And1. Brands like Nike, Adidas, and Reebok are represented in the game, so you'll see Allen Iverson sporting the "Answer 6," while Tracy McGrady is decked out in his signature "T-Mac" kicks. Player models have also improved slightly, with faces that generally look very close to their real-life counterparts.Īnother great addition is that most of the players in the game are wearing the same brand of shoes they wear in real life. The new animations do give the game a more genuine feel, when running a half-court offense, and add greatly to the realism and look of Live 2004. Defenders swim and fight through picks to stay with their man, and post players jostle and fight for position in the low block with a great variety of animations.
Players cutting through the lane do so with their hands up in the ready position for a pass. Instead of moving like individuals who have little or no awareness of their positions on the court, the players working without the ball in Live 2004 react appropriately to one another and use basketball-type maneuvers to move around in the half-court. The developers at EA Canada have used 10-man motion capturing to overhaul the appearance of the 10 players working out of the half-court. This is particularly true of the player animations. When a defender intentionally fouls to stop the clock in the last minute or so of the fourth quarter and the commentary treats it like any other intentional foul without acknowledging the strategy behind it, it’s an unignorable reminder that the lights may be on but there’s nobody home.The first thing veteran Live players may notice is improvement in the game's graphics. Canned snippets repeat during individual games, and the large percentage of them are enormously broad generalizations that sometimes only match the action in the most basic way. That isn’t helped at all by the fact that Franchise mode, where games look as much like television broadcasts as possible, has extremely limited commentary. Court battles have a single looping song – closer to a raw beat than a fully realized track – and aside from a few shouts for picks and other player noises it’s underwhelming in how subdued a typical game feels. Much of that sterility comes from the sound design. Smith’s shouting are all part of NBA Live 19, but overall it feels sterile. Music, shoes, street hoops, and even Stephen A. The whole presentation feels like a collection of pieces that all fit together but never quite gel into a whole. Fancy handles aren’t required, but I love being able to visit the training mode to work on improving my game at any time.īut NBA basketball is as much about culture as it is about the game, and that’s probably Live 19’s weakest showing. I felt like a complete boss when I successfully dribbled behind the back of a defender in training, then I went back and replayed it again to master it. An excellent training mode teaches basic and advanced moves, almost like a fighting game. I definitely felt like I knew what I was doing right away.Īs simple as the controls are, NBA Live 19 has more in-depth moves available to take your game to the next level once you’ve internalized the fundamentals. Shooting, too, is simple and intuitive pulling off a dunk instead of a layup is as easy as holding down the trigger while shooting near the basket. The path that appears between your player and the one you’re aiming at makes passing hard to mess up, which leads to fewer frustrating moments like accidentally throwing to a heavily-defended player, leading to a turnover. Control the CourtOn the court, Live’s control scheme instantly makes sense. Everything involving close contact in NBA Live 19 works well, and specific player animations, like LeBron James’ aggressive lane-driving dribbles, are spot-on. It gives them real weight and fluidity of movement. Players jockey for position, bump into each other and weave through defenders realistically. Animations are powered by the same system used in Madden NFL 19 and FIFA 19, and I have to say they look better than those in NBA 2K18.
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