This is usually where you would read my wonder impression of the demo, NBA Elite 11. However, I have came to the conclusion that EA really needs to hit the drawing board, and see if they can come up with something better. I mean really. I understand that the demo has jammed packed with a lot of content. You have the full forth quarter of the NBA finals (and overtime, if applicable), a great tutorial, and the Become Legendary mode.
This sounds like a whole lot of fun, right? Not really. For starters, everything is based off the right stick. Now you can go to the options and change back to the old style, but the game was built around that right stick. You want to spin? Rotate the stick 180 degrees down. You want to go between the legs? Move the stick in a “X” position. You want to shoot? Push the stick up, and hope the ball goes in. Let’s stay on shooting for a while. Anyone who is good at basketball knows that the best chance of making a shot, is releasing the ball at the tip of the jump. It makes sense, right? Not in this game. Their slogan, “Everything’s based off skill now,” is off by a lot. Now that doesn’t mean you will never make a shoot, but you will become very frustrated, becauses there is a delay in buttons. Now at first I thought it was my controller, but it isn’t. I tried different titles, and they work just fan. Even the pause menu is laggy. Not to mention the game is quite glitchy. Don’t just take my word for it:
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If that right stick isn’t enough for you, then you will love that face buttons aren’t used in the new style. Now I understand that you are trying to rebrand something, but using one thing for everything isn’t the way to go. You don’t have to tell me, I know it will take some time getting used to, but with so much lag, and too much to remember. If I recall correctly, I believe that NBA Live 2003, had the best control layout, introducing Total Freestyle Control. It had everything that you needed to be an advanced basketball player. Including one button that allowed you to get to a basket: turbo. Yes, it seems as if the Madden team helped them out with this game. In fact, what used to be the turbo button, is now the pass button. I don’t care who you are, having a turbo button in basketball is necessary. I understand football, but for basketball you need it. What if the defense are doing a full court press? What are you going to do? Walk through them, and hope the ball doesn’t get stolen? If It does get stolen, who will win the race?
The button issue isn’t the only thing that made me detest the game. It’s how the game looks. How the game is presented. When playing a full out quarter, you notice A LOT last-generation graphics. It’s almost feel like playing a Xbox or Playstation 2 title. Their shorts barely move when running around. The movements all in all looks really stiff. I think we all have an idea on how the crowd looks. When creating your playing, it could at least have some sort of realness to it. It looks like the average created player for the PS2 days. Again, I know this is just a demo, but the retail is merely weeks before release.
No, I am not done yet. Their new mode, Become Legendary, reminds you of NFL Superstar mode. After you create your player, you will be put into what is called the Jordan Showcase, which resembles McDonald’s All-American Basketball Game. It’s before the draft and you get to show off your basketball skills. Before the game, you will be assigned a player to guard. After each quarter, you get progress on how you are doing. “Take better selection shots. Go to the hole more. Nice work on staying on your opponent.” If you are familiar with Madden’s mode, you will know that the camera focuses only on your created player, so it actually puts you in the game. The more you do, the more points you can earn to build your skills up. You can tell that they tried their best not to resemble anything, but like I said, it seems as if the Madden team helped them out. I guess this is the year of Jordan being used in video games. As we know, he is actually featured in one game, but there was no sign of him here. Just his brand.
I know what you are thinking, “It’s just a demo dude, calm down.” I understand that, but if you are going to try to sell me on something new, don’t go half-ass do things. Using the right stick is thing that sounds good, but if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. We all know the reason why the Live franchise went down. Hopefully this is an old build, and retail is polished very well. I believe that EA Sports knew that this game wouldn’t do so well, which is why NBA Jam will be included. Even then, codes will be used to download the extra game, so that really doesn’t matter. Hopefully, EA doesn’t lose money on a bunch of trade-ins after NBA Jam is downloaded. So if you are reading this EA, please fix your game, go back to your old days, it worked.
