G4TV Hands On Preview

[Arcane]

http://g4tv.com/games/xbox-360/63832/nb ... n-Preview/

If you’re a fan of the EA Sports games, you know that most have been seriously redesigned in the past three years. First came the NHL and then the FIFA franchises. In August, Madden NFL gets a facelift. It’s also time for the NBA series’ revitalization. The name’s even been changed from NBA Live to NBA Elite 11

Sitting down to play the game, the first thing I was told is that the controls had changed. Now, over the past couple of years, I’ve changed with Facebook, Twitter, iPad games, all that stuff I love, except Farmville. But when it comes to sports games, I’m still old school: I like controller buttons more than controller sticks.

This isn’t buttons, said the rep. There’s the fearful thought that strikes me immediately. Oh, no: sticks. I’m going to be horrible at this. There will be other gamers watching as I play, and I’m the nerd that’s going to have to hang his head in utter shame.

In fact, it was just the opposite. The hands-On control mechanics were so intuitive and so precise, I’ll never want to play an NBA game without this particular control map again. Buttons? You don’t need no stinkin’ buttons. Here’s why.

The right stick ably moves your player around the court and the left stick moves your hands to throw and lifts your feet to jump. To throw from the paint or from downtown, you need to move from six o’clock to 12 o’clock pretty much exactly. And you have to release at the zenith of your jump. There’s some wiggle room, especially with the ace players, and most especially with my opponent who has the Oklahoma City Thunder advantage with the game’s cover athlete, Kevin Durant. You can see the slim margin for error you have by looking at the second of two round, radar-type screens that feature green sweet spots around the 12 o’clock point. You find this in the top right of the screen.

I really felt engaged because the controls made me feel like I was actually playing. You might say, "Actually playing? Give me a break; who’s paying this guy?" The thing is, I’ve been playing the NBA games for well over a decade now, and these really are the NBA controls most worthy of enthusiasm. Certainly others have tried that control scheme in which the right stick invokes the jump and shoot. But it has never felt this fluid or this natural or this authentic.

After the tip off, I saw my opponent getting really fancy with the controls, pretty much a master of the Thunder. His players dribbled like All-Stars – behind the back, too, as the quarter progressed; he even did a spin move to get past me. One thing was clear, you can be as creative as Kobe in this game, even if you’re not a household word.

However, the defense was so intuitive, I managed to block some shots by using the right stick as well (again, up and down at 12 o’clock to jump up and block). I even stopped him from under the basket, by getting right up on him and using the stick again to push back on him. This felt real, too, like I was using all my strength to hold him back.

NBA Elite 11

And I stole the ball twice (which was accomplished by moving the right stick from left to right and back again. The result: a lethal but elegant swiping motion). At the end of the quarter with a few seconds to go, he was up by one point. I passed the ball to LeBron, but I couldn’t get inside the paint. Out went the ball to Wade. Gulp. There’s like two seconds on the clock now. I’m thinking, play like there’s more time because one quarter is all the time you get for this demo; move the stick straight up and down and release at the apex of the jump. Bam! I hit it from downtown as time ran out. I was Wade and I appreciated James’s controversial contract much more (although I still think LeBron should be in Cleveland).

Unfortunately, online play was not shown and the din was so loud in the demo room that I couldn’t hear the announcers, Mark Jackson, Jeff Van Gundy and Mike Breen. There were some glitches that the designers will fix before the game drops in October, in particular, players sliding across the floor when they should be running or dribbling. One thing the demo expert said was that this year, EA would sacrifice some of the graphics for better AI and game design. The designers, however, promise to tweak the graphics next year.

Still, players need not worry about the game's graphics. In the game I played, the Miami Heat versus the Oklahoma City Thunder, LeBron, Wade and Chris Bosh, The Holy Trinity (or Unholy, depending on your point of view), looked pretty much like they do in reality. I didn’t see much of drop in graphical excellence, though I did witness some sliding. But the only thing that irked me was the floor cleaning guy, the dude who mops up the sweat on the court. Action was happening right in front of him, and he’s daydreaming, looking up in the stands for someone or something I couldn’t see. I mean, it’s LeBron, Dwayne and Chris. Get excited!

[Andrew]

Thanks for the heads up. Yet another positive response to Hands-On Control, I certainly hope I find it to be as good as advertised when I get my hands on the game. A few thoughts:

The right stick ably moves your player around the court and the left stick moves your hands to throw and lifts your feet to jump. To throw from the paint or from downtown, you need to move from six o’clock to 12 o’clock pretty much exactly. And you have to release at the zenith of your jump. There’s some wiggle room, especially with the ace players, and most especially with my opponent who has the Oklahoma City Thunder advantage with the game’s cover athlete, Kevin Durant. You can see the slim margin for error you have by looking at the second of two round, radar-type screens that feature green sweet spots around the 12 o’clock point. You find this in the top right of the screen.

I thought it was just a matter of moving the stick from the centre straight up to the 12 o'clock position. While it's certainly challenging to move the stick down then up, it's a lengthier process and depending on the sensitivity of the controls, makes being slightly off to the left or right an all too common problem. That was one reason I wasn't a big fan of the right stick method of shooting free throws a few years back. Other impressions have described shooting as pushing the right stick straight up and releasing it at the appropriate time with the right aim, which sounds a lot better to me. I'm hoping he's just mangled the description a bit.

Indeed, considering that he's described the right stick as moving the player and the left stick as "throwing" a shot when everyone else has confirmed it's the left stick for movement (as is traditional) and the right stick for shooting, dribbling and defensive controls, that's a distinct possibility.

After the tip off, I saw my opponent getting really fancy with the controls, pretty much a master of the Thunder. His players dribbled like All-Stars – behind the back, too, as the quarter progressed; he even did a spin move to get past me. One thing was clear, you can be as creative as Kobe in this game, even if you’re not a household word.

I'm sure that'll raise some alarm but it has been mentioned before that while you can try moves with pretty much everyone, not everyone can pull them off. I'm hoping that once again he's just done a poor job of describing the situation and neglected to mention that the players performing advanced dribbling moves were not lumbering big men with limited ballhandling abilities.

However, the defense was so intuitive, I managed to block some shots by using the right stick as well (again, up and down at 12 o’clock to jump up and block). I even stopped him from under the basket, by getting right up on him and using the stick again to push back on him. This felt real, too, like I was using all my strength to hold him back.

Again, the up-down movement sounds awkward but it conflicts with other descriptions of the controls so once again perhaps he's not describing it very well here.

One thing the demo expert said was that this year, EA would sacrifice some of the graphics for better AI and game design. The designers, however, promise to tweak the graphics next year.

I'm sure that's going to disappoint a few people but from what we've seen in the screenshots and videos so far, the game doesn't look awful to me so if the game delivers in other aspects then I can live with that.

[KyotoCarl]

Is it just me, or does this preview sound a little too biased in favor of this game?

This comment; I didn’t see much of drop in graphical excellence. I did care much for the graphics of Live 10. To me, the players just didn't look authentic and I never like the skin texture. I certainly hope skin textures have been improved and that the CF's look more like the actual player this year. With that comment, either the guy is very pro EA, or he just never tried Live 10.

[Andrew]

I didn't think the graphics of NBA Live 10 were awful either, though the lighting effect did make the players look a bit too oily. It's not the only positive response to Hands-On Control so I'm not sure that he's particularly biased, but having read it a couple of times I'm not sure it's a particularly good description of the controls since it conflicts with pretty much every other account that's been published so far.

[Patr1ck]

To throw from the paint or from downtown, you need to move from six o’clock to 12 o’clock pretty much exactly.

I’m thinking, play like there’s more time because one quarter is all the time you get for this demo; move the stick straight up and down and release at the apex of the jump.

The guy is obviously an idiot. First it's down then up, and then it's up and then down. I'm pretty sure it's still the same. The only thing that might be changed is whether they use a power meter(longer release is longer shot) or a realistic physics meter(shorter release is longer). I thought there was a slight confirmation that a move was added to down on the right stick. Just pressing up is much more intuitive. What happens when you do a behind the back dribble and automatically start your shot because you pressed down?

The right stick ably moves your player around the court and the left stick moves your hands to throw and lifts your feet to jump.

See? He doesn't even know his left from right.

They actually dribbled behind the back after dribbling like All Stars! Oh and a spin move!!! ZOMG.

[Andrew]

Indeed. It would be pretty hard to get a shot off quickly or make a quick leap to block a shot with a down-up movement as well. Even though it's not my preferred method, it's much more appropriate for free throws than jumpshots and shotblocking.

[dennis09]

Its confusing how to make a force or make a kind of shot what a fool
Dont tell me its all about turnaround jumper
theyre making the gamers more difficult to understand theyre controls even if they are in real physics lol
it means to say that they dont know how to use theyre controls? What kind of ****m*l is he
Ahhh never mind theyre just making theyre game more difficult to understand,.. id guess ill be looking advance in 2k11 this year

Good observation Boss Pdub

[Andrew]

Just because one person mangles their description of the controls doesn't mean the controls are stupid or difficult.

[Patr1ck]

dennis09, I was making points attempting to prove that the reviewer was incorrect in his description of the controls and point out his foolishness.

[dennis09]

What i mean is theyre control is a lil bit confusing because of the six o’clock to 12 o’clock controls

Still I am impressed what did yaw post to us

[Patr1ck]

Yeah, and that isn't true. It's still just push up(12 o'clock) and release at the nexus zenith peak top or whatever other word they want to use. Plus, he said it backwards later by saying "up and down" so, what's really confusing is the way he describes it, and not the actual controls themselves.

[Andrew]

I'm hoping free throws will be the same method (just push up, release at the appropriate juncture). What I'd really like to see is the return of the T-Meter but I doubt that's ever happening.