'NBA Live 16' Gameplay Review: Good Gameplay Mode; Problems, Issues Found

By Charmaine Montes, Christian Post Contributor Monday, October 05, 2015

It's almost a week already since the latest basketball simulation game of EA Sports, "NBA Live 16," was released. By now, many have probably tried and tested the game already as Action Trip reported that the game has sold over four million copies worldwide. But the essential question to ask here is if the game is any good.

PlayStation Lifestyle wrote that this year's version of "NBA Live" has improved and is slightly better than the previous one, although it can't be denied that there's still a lot to do in order to level up with the likes of "NBA 2K16."

Nevertheless, there's a lot to compliment in the game. According to a review by Heavy, the gameplay mode front is notably impressive. The Live Pro-Am mode can surely catch the attention of fans as it has a great online play with street ball courts available such as Rucker Park, Venice Beach, and Terminal 23.

Creating a customized player is also fun and gamers can even improve them just by playing across an assortment of modes and accumulating universal points/currency. Under the Pro-am mode is the Live Run, which is a classic five-on-five pickup game of 21, and the Summer Circuit, which is where gamers and their friends can have a match against the AI.

But its shortcomings include several issues that makes it stay behind the shadow of "NBA 2K." An apparent issue is the unresponsive AI teammates as they fail to snag easy rebounds or blocking clear cut shots. The gamer will usually end up doing all the hard work because of this. Also, compared to its rival, the action in the court isn't flawless, with player physicality appearing junky and the layups or dunks looking stilted at times. Even the block animations look unsettled. Fortunately, the full-body scanning was striking as it accurately exhibited player movement.

Bleacher Report grades the "NBA Live 16" a score of 7.4 and it seems reasonable in the sense that even though the game is solid, it isn't the best of its kind.