Beyond that, it gets messy. The
controls are lazy, idling around, yawning,
scratching their nether regions and
ignoring frantic screams of “I’m pressing
pass!”. Eventually (or rather, reluctantly),
they register the pass and play carries
on until you try to shoot, go for a dunk,
attempt a crossover, or think about
passing again. “Ah sod it,” scowl the
controls, pouring themselves a shot
of whisky and sitting down to watch
Corrie. “Do it yourself then.”
So you try to do it yourself but too
many other glitches defeat you. Players
suffer from magnetic hands, where the
ball will magically ping into their grateful
mitts as long as they’re flailing their arms
in the right direction. Team-mates are
the AI equivalent of pondlife. Players
warp around the court, freeze in certain
animations, manage to jump abnormal
heights… it’s just such a disappointment.
EA could have built on its impressive start
to next-gen basketball life, delivering
a knockout gameplay blow alongside
NBA Live’s punchy visuals. Instead, the
glitches conspire this to defeat before it
even steps out onto the court. See you all
again next year!
Ryan King
