This topic has been on my list of Monday Tip-Off ideas for a while now, so it's about time that I finally cover it. Since the reboot of the NBA Live series in 2013 with NBA Live 14, the game has been under heavy scrutiny from gamers and professional critics alike. It stands to reason, as our expectations of basketball video games have only grown over the years, especially with NBA 2K raising the bar with several fantastic releases. There has been a lot of very fair and accurate criticism of EA Sports' hoops series, in this community and elsewhere, resulting in quality constructive feedback.
However, there have also been plenty of comments that are purely intended to bash the games, or present a hyperbolic critique. NBA Live's graphics are usually the most frequent target in this regard, since they're among the first impressions we have of any video game. Buzzwords like "cartoonish" are thrown around a lot, as are comparisons to PlayStation 2-era graphics. I've already explained the many problems with the word "cartoonish" in a previous article, so this time I'd like to focus on the accusations of "PS2 graphics". Unlike "cartoonish", there's no ambiguity here, as we can make direct comparisons between games. When we do, it's clearly an inaccurate assessment.