NBA Live: Deeper Defense via Kat Bailey @The_Katbot Writer at USgamer. Contributor to Press Row Podcast @PressRowPodcast
http://www.usgamer.net/articles/one-imp ... ports-simsEverything about NBA Live needs to be better, but defense is a good starting point.
It's really hard to know where to start with NBA Live. To be perfectly honest, literally everything about it could stand to be improved, from its gameplay to its offline modes. But let's also give credit where it’s due: NBA Live 15 was an improvement over its predecessor, which was practically unplayable.
If EA Sports wants to continue making modest gains in the coming year, the best place to focus is on the foundational gameplay, particularly the defense. In its current state, shutting down even the biggest stars is mostly a matter of staying close to them, and steals are far too easy. There is none of the dynamism of NBA 2K, where every player has their own identity and shutting them down becomes a kind of puzzle to be solved (even if NBA 2K has its own issues with canned animations).
Like I said, it's not easy to pinpoint any one thing when trying to figure out how to improve NBA Live. Literally any improvement is welcome. With that said, for as much flack as EA Sports takes from fans, the Infinity Engine is a solid next-gen platform, and there's plenty of room for growth. It's been a long, painful road back from the debacle of NBA Elite, but EA Sports at least has a toehold on the basketball market again, which is more than could be said for them as recently as two years ago. We'll just have to see whether NBA Live 16 ends up being a step forward or a step back.