Game Review: NBA LIVE

NBA LIVE is the basketball video game from Electronic Arts (EA). It’s fun, exciting, and overall a good basketball game. Although EA updates the game every couple of years, EA does not come out with a new NBA LIVE game every year, as it does with other EA Sports games, such as Madden NFL or FIFA. This can prove to be good or bad.In games like Madden NFL, every time a new season rolls around, your team resets. This is incredibly annoying. One of the prime examples is my Madden Mobile team from last year. In Madden NFL and NBA LIVE, there are different levels of players: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Elite. I had upgraded my team a lot and that made all of my players Elite, which is the second highest ranking. The new NFL season kicked off, and the game reset, and suddenly all my players were back to Bronze.However, with NBA LIVE you can upgrade your team for more than a year, in most cases. Unfortunately, this may cause even more grief when EA does come out with a new NBA LIVE game, because your team will possibly have been buffed up even more.The layout of NBA LIVE is similar to Madden NFL. There is a little tab on the side that has different options for gaming. There is “Live Events,” in which you complete on challenges to earn rewards. This might one of the most fun elements of LIVE, because they are fun challenges that grant you awesome rewards.There are also “Sets,” in which you trade in players or collectibles to get other players, collectibles, or coins. Some of the sets are great, like the “Daily Warm-Up” set, where you trade in special collectibles for a Pro Pack. I personally love sets.There is also “Season,” in which you play games against CPUs (central processing unit, meaning computer-driven players) to try to get to the Finals. Season is fun, although you don’t receive many rewards when you win a game.Another feature is “Store,” where you can buy packs filled with players and collectibles. Similarly, in “Auctions,” where you can either bid on players/collectibles or buy them right away. Auctions are an easy way to get the specific player you want. Just make sure to stock up on coins. You could also post your own auction if you like. This is also one of the easiest ways to get a lot of coins. Other features include “Head to Head” play and “Leagues.”NBA LIVE’s graphics rival any of EA’s other sports games. The gameplay is fast and exciting, and the players look somewhat like the real thing, thanks to the game’s new Frostbite engine.Overall, I think that LIVE is a good basketball game. It offers good graphics, easy gameplay, and hours of fun and excitement.