NBA Live becomes NBA Elite
Company: EA Sports Product: NBA Elite 11
EA Sports announced today that their incredibly popular basketball franchise, NBA Live, will be renamed to NBA Elite 11 this October. President of EA Sports, Peter Moore, promises NBA Elite 11 will provide "... a gameplay experience that gives fans the control on the court that they have been begging for in a basketball for years." The new name change isn't the only difference between the recognizable Live franchise. NBA Elite 11 will also shake up the gameplay quite a bit. A new "Hands-On Control" scheme will allow nimble players more control over their athlete instead of playing through canned animations during a game which include dribbles, dunks, drives, fadeaways, blocks, and steals.
The biggest change to the gameplay is the introduction of a new shooting mechanic. Now, a skill-based system requires accurate gamer inputs relative to their court position to sink shots, which replaces the outdated random dice rolls that used to decide each shot. NBA Elite 11 Creative Director, David Littman says "NBA Elite 11 will give gamers the same skill set that a pro basketball player has at his disposal. This is the first basketball simulation videogame where you are controlling every movement, dribble, move, shot, dunk, lay-up, steal and block in real time with one-to-one control."
If the past is any indication, this "one-to-one control" will undoubtedly be a "flick-it" control scheme on the Right Analog Stick a la skate. or Fight Night. While previous attempts to offer a completely unique control scheme haven't gone over so well with gamers (I'm looking at you, Fight Night: Round 4), EA is assuring the ability to turn off the new feature in favor of more traditional controls.
I feel conflicted. On the one hand, EA is admitting previous efforts were too simplistic and by giving control back to the player this complicates their game - which the only reason I never play their sports titles is because of their complications. On the other hand, even though this is more complicated than before, this certainly intrigues me with its new control scheme. I, for one, loved the Analog Stick controls for games like Skate and Fight Night and this makes me more anxious for a new basketball game. I will have to wait and see this October when NBA Elite 11 hits store shelves.
-HanChi, GameVortex Communications AKA Matt Hanchey
Related Links: EA's New Website for NBA Elite Game Vortex's Review of NBA Live 10 Game Vortex's Review of skate. Game Vortex's Review of Fight Night: Round 4
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