The motion improvements are best seen by using the right stick, which now sends an off-the-ball player on a cut to the basket or the perimeter. NBA Live 19’s players move a lot more freely they’re not as stiff, heavy and jerky as last year. But with RPM, it seems like NBA Live has cleared the last hurdle in delivering a fundamentally sound game that doesn’t jar the player with rough animations or laborious movement. I attribute the coalescing of the series’ various parts to the introduction of Real Player Motion - EA Sports being EA Sports, it loves putting buzzy names on its refinements. If you want to see the very best of the best for your platform(s) of choice, check out Polygon Essentials. When we award a game the Polygon Recommends badge, it’s because we believe the title is uniquely thought-provoking, entertaining, inventive or fun - and worth fitting into your schedule. Polygon Recommends is our way of endorsing our favorite games. And The Streets - with all of its optional rule sets, 3-on-3 and 5-on-5 variants, and locations tied to street ball lore - is again NBA Live’s go-to strength and a worthy career experience by itself. This year, there’s an extra layer in developing a player that gives them more individuality and usefulness. that’s the best testimonial I can give for NBA Live 19 and The One, its career mode. Before launch day, it’s a success on its own, not in light of past failures or as a runner-up.īasketball is not my best sport, so it has been a long time since a video game of this kind has kept me up until 2 a.m.
The gameplay perfectly suits the street ball and pro-am scene that distinguishes NBA Live 19. It’s a very fun, high-spirited take on basketball as a game and the sport itself as a lifestyle. It’s not the salvage operation for you-know-what or the acknowledged subordinate to you-know-who. That’s because NBA Live 19, thanks to smoother gameplay and a thoroughly enjoyable career suite, has an identity. For the first time in a decade, NBA Live deserves to have a review all to itself, with no comparisons to you-know-who, nor reminders of you-know-what.