MinnesotaBaller's report on NBA Live 2005

[MinnesotaBaller]

Here is the long and awaited report on EA Sports: NBA Live 2005. I hope you enjoy it because it took 4 days in the making.


First off, let me tell how great this expierence was. The arrangement of the Summit was great. Denise Gamboa did a tremendous job arranging everything for this opportunity. The setup of everything was amazingly with the airplane flights, meals, transportation, hotel reservations, and EA Canada’s time schedule.

When we first arrived at EAC we first took a tour of the building. It was outstanding; the studios were big as it is yet they were adding 2 more buildings. While on the tour we say sound rooms, Q&A, and the cubicles where hours and hours are spent to build the games we cherish so much. I know EA appreciate that because I know they will be reading this.

After the tour we were escorted to a room filled with 4 Leather couches, 7 TVs, and 7 Xboxs. This was the room we were going to be tested the one and only NBA Live 2005. We took our seats and had a small conversation with a couple of producers of NBA Live. After our little chitchat it was the moment everybody was waiting for; the chance to play NBA Live 2005.

We turned on our Xboxs and suddenly 7 TV’s had the Live ’05 intro playing rapidly. It gave most of us a good laugh. I watched all the intros and when the Voice of EA said, “EA Sports, It’s in the Game! NBA Live 2005.” It literally sent shivers down my spin.

We had 3 different sections to Live, First All-Star Weekend, Second 5 on 5 Gameplay, and Third Dynasty. Prepare for an overload of information because I have got a lot to say about this great game.


All-Star Weekend

After entering this game mode you can choose what ASW mini-game you want to choose. From there I exited that ASW Mode to see what shoes they had in the game because that is the most important feature in a basketball game. Just playing… I jumped into the Slam Dunk Contest right away!

Slam Dunk Contest

First off, Wow. Just wow. EA did an amazing job putting this great game mode together. Once I entered the Dunk Contest I was at a screen where I could choose 4 different dunkers for the contest. The 4 default users are: Jason Richardson, Vince Carter, LeBron James, and Fred Jones. I changed it up a little and went with: J-Rich, VC, Bron, and KG. (Gotta represent) You can only select dunkers that have a dunk and jump rating over 80, and they can’t be over 7’0’’. You can create your own dunker too.

After choosing my competitors I continued on to the next screen where you can choose how many dunks per round you can have or how many missed dunks you can have. I set the difficulty to starter because I was new to everything. After the looking over the buttons to the game I was ready to go.


The first thing I noticed was how great the graphics and faces looked. The faces look like they were supposed to. LeBron James looked like LeBron James. Garnett looked like Garnett. Vince looked like Vince. The only flaw in the graphics was that there were a few bugs like shiny arms or hair looks too smooth, but the producers told us that it was just a small bug and it had already been fixed!

J-Rich was my first dunker. I wanted to start off with something simple so I went up for a regular tomahawk. I missed and ended up getting a zero with all 4 of my first dunkers. I thought to myself “Wow, this is harder than I thought.” Continuing on I started to get the hang of things. I pulled off some 360s, between the legs, and between both legs with Bron, which sealed the deal with the win.

Pulling off a dunk can be easy or hard, depends on your dunk. If you want to pull off a regular one hander all you do is press a face button (O, X, Square, or Triangle) as your approach then once in the air you press another to pull it off. There are many different variations of dunks. I tried to pull of a toss but it was very hard to time the jump and the grab/dunk. To toss the ball to yourself you use the right analog stick. There are three basic tosses: Off the backboard (Up), Off the Floor (Down), In the Air (Left/Right). There were also a lot of more advanced tosses like the Fred Jones kick ones, off the camera, or off the jumbo screen. I could never figure out how to do those.

The commentary with Ernie and the Jet was great and hilarious. When I pulled off a POS dunk with Vince, the Jet said, “He’s not trying, he’s just trying to advance, not trying to create anything special.” Also I got a good laugh from the Jet when I pulled off the dunk with LBJ he yelled out “It’s Ova! It’s Ova!” I got a good kick out of that.

As far as judging goes, I really like the system. If you do a dunk you or another opponent has already done you will get penalized by likely getting something below a 40, but if you do it better than the guy before you will get a much better score.

You can also do the slam-dunk practice mode where you can just goof around in the gym with your favorite dunker and try to pull off new dunks. I really enjoy this feature so you can prepare to destroy your friends and family in a dunk competition.

In conclusion the Dunk Contest looks outstanding and was a great enjoyment. From the difficulty or to the emotion it brings the table. Too bad I only got to play it for an hour.

3 Point Shoot-out

At the main 3PS screen you can choose 8 different shooters. It doesn’t matter what their 3PT rating is.

After choosing my 8 shooters. (Lenard, Reggie, The Mayor, T-Hud, Dirk, Nash, Peja, and Shaq for kicks) I later entered the contest.

The buttons are very basic for the 3PS, on button grabs the ball, the other shoots. There is also a quick button for changing the camera view. In the 3PS it is all about timing and rhythm. You must hold the shoot button and release just before the peak of your jump shot.

While shooting on Starter I noticed there were many different shooting styles. 30 different shooting styles for 3PS and 6 for 5 on 5.

The comments by Ernie and the Jet were great. They get into the heat of the battle. “He’s made 15 straight!” “3 Racks baby!” “Money Ballllll!! GOOD!”

It was a little too easy to make shots on the 3PS, even on the hardest difficulty. But the producers said they would make it much harder so it actually is a challenge.

3 Point Shootout is a great mini game to work on your shooting or just to have fun with some friends.

All-Star Game and Rookies vs. Sophomores

I didn’t get a chance to try these games out, but it is a fast paced arcade type game, nothing like a 5 on 5 sim. Just alley oops, dunks, and fast paced basketball. Like those games are supposed to be. If you play those 2 games in your Dynasty it will be a sim, not like the game mode outside of dynasty because otherwise it would screw up your sliders.

All-Star Weekend has great things to offer. I know I will spend countless hours trying mastering the off the backboard between the legs dunk on Superstar, or getting the score of 30 on the 3 point shootout. The All-Star Weekend will blow you away. It is pure perfection.


5 on 5 Gameplay

The new and improved 5 on 5 Gameplay is simply amazing. While scrolling through the teams I checked out the legend teams and there are 2 new teams. The International team and European team with all the players from different countries on those teams. After scrolling through all the teams I decided I would go with the uprising rivalry between the Denver Nuggets and the Minnesota Timberwolves. Surprised? Anyways I went through the sliders and set them to my personal preferences; 6-minute quarters, difficulty starter, fatigue up, you know basic stuff. After studying the Xbox’s controller’s button set I was ready to go. (I’m a PS2 man)

Offense

After winning the tip off and setting up my offence the first thing that caught my eye was the spacing and fluidness between players. Players kept their distance from other players and always tried to get open. I ran a pick and roll with Cassell stopped on a dime and dropped a quick mid range jumper in Andre Miller’s face. I continued to test the mid range jumper shot throughout the game because that was something ’04 lacked, but I am happy to say it is back. Also big men like KG, Duncan, and K-Mart can knock down the 15-20 footers unlike last year.

I continued throughout the game and noticed the Pro-hop is much less effective this year. Instead of always getting great low-post position last year, this year you have to earn it. If you try to do a jump stop when a defender is in your face you will either turn it over or get an offensive foul, same goes for when your in the low-post. You will run into the defender and loose the ball. Although the pro-hop is less effective this year, you can still use it to your offensive advantage.

Fastbreaks are much more of momentum builders this year, and I am very VERY happy to say that the catch-up bug is no longer an issue in this year’s game. If you get a quick steal and pass it up to your swingman breaking to the hoop there won’t be a guy right on your tail to block your shot or to jump on you, all that’s left is the thunderous dunk to your rewarded swingman.

Freestyle control on offense is improved with the fluidness of each crossover and juke. Now you can pull of quicker crossover’s with players like AI, Parker, Hudson, and J-Will because of their dribbling. Also you can pull so quick moves when you still have your dribble by pivoting to create space between you and your defender.

Freestyle air is a great addition. Now you can decide on O whether you just want the board, or the tip in, or the posterizing tip slam. Last year it was a pain when you wanted to go up for a crunch time offensive rebound but they would go up for the tip slam and miss the ball totally. If you know how to get good position after a shot you will be able to get rewarded for it.

Defense

Let’s say you have a team of Ben Wallace, K-Mart, Artest, Bowen, and The Glove as your starting 5. You team will make a difference on D; you got guys that won’t let anybody past them or score. Last year all you needed was a good shot blocker and quick guys and you would have a good defensive team, but this year defensive guys are making the stops. If you’re facing up someone and playing tough defense they will no longer do the annoying bounce back feature when you or the defender runs into them.

Stealing isn’t as easy as last year, you can’t just call quick double teams and see if you get lucky with your defense and see if the O losses the ball. Now you have to play face up D, get in their face and go for steals at the right time. If you miss time yourself going for a steal, you will burned by the offensive player as he drives pass you for an easy finger-roll.

Blocking shots isn’t as easy as last year. You can still block dunks and lay-ups but now if you go for a block and a mid air collision occurs a foul WILL be called. Also when a mid air collision occurs the offensive player will throw up an acrobatic shot to try and get the And 1.

Freestyle defense has the stances from last year, but improved as well. Now when playing in a defensive stance crouched down and all entire offensive players will have a much harder chance to get past you.

While rebounding the box out button is your friend. Get great position in the post, time your jump and you will be rewarded with a rebound. You can longer jump and just hope you get the rebound, you now have to get down and dirty to get the rebounds.

CPU Gameplay

Teams play like they are supposed to (Mavs: Fastbreak, Wolves: Run the O, Pistons: Give and Go, Tough D). When the CPU has the ball they run more isolations and use the freestyle control to create space. At one point Dwayne Wade ran an iso and dribbled left, right, and did several different crossovers for about 10 seconds trying to get the score. The CPU knows how to score, but they don’t do the same things over and over. The AI will know how to guard plays if you run them over and over. So what I am trying to say is the CPU/AI knows how to play this year. The won’t be fooled.

Dynasty

Dynasty is totally redone this year. Now you have to pay attention to your team and what is going on in the league to keep your team at the top. The new PDA keeps you updated with what roster movements have occurred, or when one of your players is unhappy with his situation. If you don’t check your PDA enough players will lose their respect towards you as a GM so they might not want to return to the team next season. Teams will be offering you trades through your PDA and if you sim through a couple of weeks you will miss the trade offer. Also if you miss an invite for one of your players to the Dunk Contest, 3 Point Contest, Rookies vs. Sophomores, or The All-Star Game you will not be able to participate. Tough luck, eh?

A new feature added to Dynasty is Intervention mode. While simming a game you can see how your team is doing by each quarter and you can intervene (join in) anytime after the first quarter. I love this feature because if you can see how the team is doing and if you don’t like the situation they are in you can join in and play.

During the season you can scout rookies who will be in next years draft. After awhile your scouts will tell you what the player thrives in and what are his cons. Then in the off-season you can play 1 on 1 against him or as him in the gym. I loved this because last year you took a chance drafting certain players, you didn’t know how they played and if they fit your teams playing style. This year you can play with the rookies before you draft them just to get the feel.

While in season you can edit your player’s position and add or remove body accessories. And yes you can change the color of headbands, and add or remove them. This wasn’t important to me but it seems important to others.

Also when offering trades to teams there is more of a sense of time, it takes a couple of days before a team will send you an email to your PDA telling you if they did accept or decline the offered trade. It goes for free agent signings as well, they don’t respond for couple days. That is why you must pay attention to your PDA.

Off-season is improved a lot. It is now in a calendar type mode. You go day by day with a schedule. It goes by exactly a NBA schedule would have. You’ve got the draft lottery, re-signing players, the draft, free agent signings (with real money), and trading periods. Off-season is a time consuming period, and rightfully so. Your PDA will be your best friend in you Dynasty. It keeps you up to date with everything with signings, trades, and events.


Other NBA Live parts

Create a Player

I didn’t get a great look at it, but I noticed that there is much more detail in faces. It almost looked a lot like Tiger Wood’s create a golfer mode. For those of you who love to create players and yourself you will love this improved Create a Player.

NBA Store

I checked out NBA Store for about 2 minutes, do not ask me what shoes they had and which ones they didn’t because I do not know. But the NBA Store actually looks like a store not just a screen with shoes. It looks like a Footlocker or a Champs, it’s a pretty cool improvement.

1 on 1 and Individual Practice

Nothing new for the most part, but there is a new Dunk Contest practice mode. 1 on 1 and Individual Practice was pretty much the same thing, but they didn’t need to improve anything it was perfect as it was.


Closing off-thoughts.

- There were new cut scenes
- There had the key player of the half
- Ratings weren’t finalized
- Superstars stand out and will do what it takes to win
- Box scores are added to Dynasty, they look exactly like a newspaper.


NBA Live 2005 looks as if it has made the biggest improvements this year than any year. It should be on everybody’s “Must Get” list because it is very simple; NBA Live 2005 will be the best Basketball video game ever made.

[ATTENTIONWHORE]

[Bill Russell]

Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice

[cocobee]

good read

[Chuck04]

Man, even if they don't do anything else with the game - I CAN NOT WAIT!! This sounds awesome. It goes to show that the wishlists do work, and our feedback is important to them and they do take it all on board. 2 months to go!! Bring it on

[cocobee]

Did anyone inquire about the PC version during the summit? If not, I'm sure Andrew's interview will cover a lot of the PC concerns.

[BIGBEN2K5]

Thanks Minnesotaballer!!

Few questions:

- Did they fixed the rim & net?? like we saw on the latest trailer.. How about the sound after u dunk??

- Are there 3 referees now??

- what about the cameras?? any new angles??

- Any new for freethrow animations?? DUnk / dribbling & shooting animations??

Godbless!! hop u could answer my questions??

[MinnesotaBaller]

Thanks Minnesotaballer!!

Few questions:

- Did they fixed the rim & net?? like we saw on the latest trailer.. How about the sound after u dunk??

- Are there 3 referees now??

- what about the cameras?? any new angles??

- Any new for freethrow animations?? DUnk / dribbling & shooting animations??

Godbless!! hop u could answer my questions??

The hadn't fixed rim or net while I was playing the beta version, but they said they fix it soon.

They totally redid sounds for dunks, it actually sonds like one now. Not 2 trash cans banging together!

I think there were only 2 refs... not sure though.

Same camera angles.

No new freethrow shooting styles, but there are 6 different jumpshot varations and there are 30 different shot variations for the 3PS but for only that.

[Nick]

Great report mate. A worthy read.

Hope to see you around NLSC more often.

[Myownsun]

Good read. They shoulve let you guys capture some video

[Point God]

I have a question:

You can only select dunkers that have a dunk and jump rating over 80, and they can’t be over 7’0’’.

What about during Dynasty mode, how do you know which player will get invited, lets say you have VC and LeBron on the same team(AN EXAMPLE! lol), would both of them get invited and you get to use both, or you have to choose only one of them.
And lets say for instance: you're using Detroit and you want to enter with Rickey Paulding, but Live has underrated his dunk rating(personally I think he should be like around 80), and you upgraded his dunk rating to 80 before the season, or during training camp his dunk rating went up to the 80's, would any of those count for the baller to be in the 80's for dunk rating or did Live set the game so that "Only players that THEY made have 80+ dunk rating can participate(not including 7 footers), and your created player? (sorry for all of the questions, but I'm really curious about the all star weekend)

[Osei]

Offseason in Dynasty mode.

One thing EA Sports should have added in the Off-season is the NBA Summer League so you can play exhibition games during the Offseason before the actually season starts up.

A good idea?

[Metsis]

Summer league... I don't think they should make the games playable as the summer league teams are usually coached by the assistants and the rosters are what they are.

I would like the games to be there to simulate. You could mold your rosters accordingly and some stars wouldn't be available in those games. Like VC, TMac, Shaq, Kobe, KG, TD... Maybe players that have been in the league for more than 5 times shouldn't be available. Or maybe the guys that played considerable minutes during the season. So you'd have 5-7 guys who weren't available for the summer leagues.

The games would be simulated and you'd get some sort of a feel for your bench players. Who can score and who can step up to fill in the defense etc.

[dakingriflemen]

Can you have more than one user in the dynasty mode?

[Hotshot]

Very comprehensive report Sam. Hope to see more of you here at the NLSC forums.

[MinnesotaBaller]

What about during Dynasty mode, how do you know which player will get invited, lets say you have VC and LeBron on the same team(AN EXAMPLE! lol), would both of them get invited and you get to use both, or you have to choose only one of them.
And lets say for instance: you're using Detroit and you want to enter with Rickey Paulding, but Live has underrated his dunk rating(personally I think he should be like around 80), and you upgraded his dunk rating to 80 before the season, or during training camp his dunk rating went up to the 80's, would any of those count for the baller to be in the 80's for dunk rating or did Live set the game so that "Only players that THEY made have 80+ dunk rating can participate(not including 7 footers), and your created player? (sorry for all of the questions, but I'm really curious about the all star weekend)

Your players will get invites on your PDA. If you have a 95/95 Dunker that doesn't mean he will get in the Dunk Contest for sure, you have to make sure your guy gets his share of points and dunks.

Can you have more than one user in the dynasty mode?

This year, I think you can.

Very comprehensive report Sam. Hope to see more of you here at the NLSC forums.

How did you know my name!?!

[Colin]

one question I have forgotten to ask the guys that went to the summit. During the offseason can you sign more than 15 players and cut them in time for the regular season.

[MinnesotaBaller]

one question I have forgotten to ask the guys that went to the summit. During the offseason can you sign more than 15 players and cut them in time for the regular season.

I didn't test it, I signed about 3 guys in the offseason. Only because that was all I needed.

[Dave C.]

Do you know if there's a Mid level exception when your over the cap in dynasty mode ?

Can the Cpu still make those awful comebacks when they're trailing (had them in 04 even with CPU assistance off)

Any news on Custom Teams ?

[-BHZMAFIA-]

Thanks for the info. You had great detail

[Sauru]

[b] I changed it up a little and went with: J-Rich, VC, Bron, and KG. (Gotta represent) You can only select dunkers that have a dunk and jump rating over 80, and they can’t be over 7’0’’. You can create your own dunker too.

so i assume 7'0" is ok but 7'1" is not. the game probaby puts kg at 7'0", maybe only 6'11". i think in real life everyone is saying he is really 7'1. i forget what they said he was in 2004.

[MinnesotaBaller]

Do you know if there's a Mid level exception when your over the cap in dynasty mode ?

Can the Cpu still make those awful comebacks when they're trailing (had them in 04 even with CPU assistance off)

Any news on Custom Teams ?

MLE? I didn't see it.

I didn't notice any comebacks when I was leading by 10+.

Custom Teams... I didn't see any


And Garnett is listed at 6'11 in Live and @ NBA.com.

[Detroit Champs]

First time, so if I screw this up o well.


Minnesotaballer, i've read ur post on a few other boards besides this one. Good job by the way. Where do i signup for this? lol

Anyway, In the Dunk Contest, can a player with the dunk rating of 98 pull off a more skilled dunk than a player with the dunk rating of lets say.. 86?

Again, great work, and good review.

[John-John Joe]

Hi Minnesota Baller! Thorough and fascinating review and I have a few questions.

1. Are the "Frustration Animations" still in the game? To explain, you go for a dunk and miss, you can easily get the ball back but your virtual baller is stuck in this hideous "after dunk animation" that it takes roughly 3-4 seconds to get out of. His body is sort of turning to the side while he's moving away from the paint and you have no control over this.

2. Can we turn "after dunk celebrations" off if we choose? Nothing more frustrating than trying to get your point guard in position to make a steal after the score and he's still celebrating! Once again you lose control of him for 3 to 4 seconds meanwhile, they've already inbounded the ball....

3. Can we finally choose who we want to inbound the ball, as opposed to it always being the small forward?

[MinnesotaBaller]

1. Are the "Frustration Animations" still in the game? To explain, you go for a dunk and miss, you can easily get the ball back but your virtual baller is stuck in this hideous "after dunk animation" that it takes roughly 3-4 seconds to get out of. His body is sort of turning to the side while he's moving away from the paint and you have no control over this.

There is still a slight after dunk frustration animation but it is much shorter. It won't be as annoying as last years.

2. Can we turn "after dunk celebrations" off if we choose? Nothing more frustrating than trying to get your point guard in position to make a steal after the score and he's still celebrating! Once again you lose control of him for 3 to 4 seconds meanwhile, they've already inbounded the ball....

There are still after dunk celebrations, but I think if you move your player while he is celebrating he will stop.

3. Can we finally choose who we want to inbound the ball, as opposed to it always being the small forward?

Yes, we mentioned this to them and they took this into serious consideration. They said it would be easy to do too. I knew I got frustrated that when I wanted to give the ball to the SF on a clutch situation I would have to have enough time to give him the ball back.

Hope I could help!