A day after 2K Sports released its latest next-gen trailer for “NBA 2K14”, EA Sports dropped one for “NBA Live 14”.
This is the latest opportunity to compare the two games and unfortunately for NBA Live, they took a loss in this battle.
NBA 2K’s trailer was an all-around video, meaning they showed many different types of gameplay without focusing too much on one particular aspect. We saw everything from an Andre Iguodala dunk to a Kobe Bryant pep talk.
The NBA Live next-gen trailer began with a focus on dribbling which was a good idea. Sean O’Brien and his team have stressed the game’s BounceTek feature which is supposed to create a better ball handing experience in the game. The ball handling done by Kyrie, Brandon Jennings, D Will and Damian Lillard looks good.
However, when you put up the stuff that happens after the dribbling to what gamers saw in the NBA 2K trailer, it’s easy to see the latter produces the superior gameplay.
For example, in the NBA Live trailer, Derrick Rose does a well portrayed crossover by Toronto’s Kyle Lowry. The crossover is followed by a monster one handed-jam. Although the crossover was easy on the eyes, the dunk and gather leading up to the dunk are very stiff. This stiffness can be seen in a lot of the moves throughout the trailer—even down to the net which barely moves when the ball goes through it.
That’s the major difference between the gameplay shown in "NBA Live 14" and "NBA 2K14". The player movement in the latter is smooth and life like. The player movement in the former can be life like at times but can be stiff near the end of layups or dunks.
I am aware that this rejuvenated version of NBA Live includes many features. However, if they are to truly compete with 2K Sports, they will have to start with some improved gameplay.
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