Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

More to come within the next few days but I thought it important to leave some basic impressions of the game for those who might consider purchasing it. NBA Live is back with four years having passed since the last release. Inexplicably EA Sports left out a tutorial, practice gym, or anything along the lines of even Skill Games to get acclimated, learn how to play, and how to get better. That means first experiences are going to be overwhelming and frustrating. Killer for a title that should be playing up accessibility as the competition is viewed by some as being less than accomodating for the inexperienced players. The feature set is decent...if not fleshed out completely. Dynasty mode, career mode, Ultimate Team, and online play are all there but also lacking in certain ways. Career (Rising Star) mode is about as basic as it gets. Ultimate Team has no Auction House which will disappoint fans of that mode. Online play has Head-to-Head Seasons and 7 Game Playoffs which are neat on their own but there are no leagues or Online Dynasty. The ESPN presentation is probably the highlight of the game. Graphically the game is well below the level of the competition and arguably doesn't even look like a next-gen game. Gameplay is rough in spots, animations archaic, outside shooting difficult to get the hang of, and responses to button presses sluggish (passes especially are too slow to go). Online games have been fairly enjoyable but playing the CPU, when not really understanding how to execute anything since the game didn't teach how to do so, is far from being a fun experience. NBA Live 14 has some decent ideas but none are fully executed in this first year back. It's a $60 game, in a market full of excellent $60 games including a direct competitor, and can't be recommended under those circumstances. Check out the Press Row Hangout ([...] which features 90 minutes of the panel talking about NBA Live 14 impressions and where the series goes from here!