TheXboxLife

The past releases of EA Sport’s NBA Live series havn’t exactly thrilled anyone, but the newest sim to the series in NBA Live 10 brings a lot of improvements to such a shaky franchise.



For starters, the overall animation of the game has been greatly improved. It definitely has a bit more of a realistic feel. Not only is the camera-style and presentation still done in TV-mode, the character designs themselves look much more lifelike and, may I say, sweatier. The players pretty much glisten, which is funny considering their heads look pretty shiny on the TV screen.



Undeniably the new game offers much more flow to the gameplay. Players movements are more realistic, though it is still cluttered with impossible looking moves. One distraction you may notice is the Dunk and Shoot button have been combined, which will create situations where you’ll want your player to shoot and then attempts some outlandish dunk or lay up. The only advice I have to that is to know your basketball and the individual players strengths and weaknesses. Obviously, the better the player, the more rediculousness you get. All and all though it’s pretty fun.

Defense isn’t to difficult. There are plenty of steals on defense in the middle of the paint. Seemingly, everyone can play D in the NBA, especially in the paint. The only other complaint is, like past versions, the shooting doesn’t look as realistic as it could be. It reminds me of NBA Live 96 on Playstation, I beleive Mitch Richmond was on the cover. This becomes extremely obvious when the graphics becomes a bit choppy, and the ball starts getting passed through defenders hands.

A great addition, as well as subtraction to the game, is the Adidas mode which pretty much replaced the Be a Pro mode. In the Adidas 5 on 5 mode you and up to five friends can create your own team and play online. You can’t create your own players, but the idea of playing a pick up game with no fouls has it’s advantages, especially when you start running sick pick and roll plays.

Overall, it’s not that it’s a bad game, but the 2K series is just amazing. Sure there is the auto-updater so that players and teams stay up to date with the progress of the season, but it’d be a lot better if the Season Mode was more dynamic so you’d be able to compete online. Oh well, it’s definitely an improvement, but nothing to crazy over.

7/10