Everything that takes place between the hoops in a basketball game has a certain fluidity to it. Whether it’s James Harden rocketing past defenders in a fast break or LeBron James backing down a defender in the post, this is a game of style. And even though NBA Live 18

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Relative to other NBA games, Live 18’s controls are pretty simplified, and it didn’t take longer than a game or two to get the hang of things. If a player hits the lane at full speed you can expect them to throw down a dunk or layup without more than a button press on your part. If you want to pull up for a three-pointer, the player will do just that, too. This grants a certain feeling of control over their motion, but once they’re in the air, they’ve also got minds of their own. Past that, NBA Live 18 won’t throw many surprises at you. Once you’ve pressed the command to do something, the players execute it.

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“ Things get a little more complicated when dribbling.

Unfortunately, the lack of animations in NBA Live 18 prevent any kind of real transition game from taking place. Instead of players dealing with the contact and finding a way around it, they’ll stop in their tracks, halting any realistic momentum. It also results in some frustrating tendencies, like players losing the ball at the first sign of contact. There are other issues, too, including players frequently shooting from just inside the three-point line instead of taking a single step back for the extra point, pick-and-rolls being hard to execute, and tip-ins always working without ever missing.

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“ Guys like James Harden especially resemble their real-life counterparts.

NBA Live 16 , most of the players actually look like themselves this time. Guys like James Harden especially resemble their real-life counterparts.

The presentation is downhill from there, however. The commentary begins to loop after just a handful of games and contains impressively boring back and forth between the analysts and the play-by-play announcer. By the sixth or seventh time Jeff Van Gundy told me about my poor execution I was looking the fastest way to mute him and his colleagues. There is a nice little ESPN graphic that helps track player stats throughout a game, but that’s about all we get in regards to context of the game. The rest of NBA Live 18’s presentation is noticeably barren.

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“ The best mode, by far, is The One.

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But elsewhere, the modes are largely too shallow to invest much time in. The Franchise mode, for example, is a staple of the genre that allows us to assume a general manager-type role – but here, it’s hardly more than an 82-game season with a few small bonuses along the way. Live 18 lacks the ability to customize players, scout prospects ahead of the NBA Draft, or engage in any kind of complex contract negotiation.

“ NBA Live 18 is the first videogame to offer the ability to play as a WNBA team.

Online play has a few different options (for the men), but again, most are pretty shallow. Instead of custom matches versus friends, you’re forced to play ranked games with predetermined settings. Veterans of EA Sports games will be pleased to hear that Ultimate Team is back and includes many of the same features as popular games like Madden NFL and FIFA, but at the same time brings nothing new to the table. If nothing else, Ultimate Team will provide a little replayability for a game that doesn’t have much of it.