NBA Live 18

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The extra time that EA took with NBA Live 18 apparently turned out to be the for the best. This is definitely the best game they’ve put out in a while, and they’ve built a solid foundation for the franchise moving forward.

Following a two-year development cycle, EA is back on the court with the return of their once renowned basketball franchise in NBA Live 18. There’s no denying the competition EA has faced with the growing popularity of NBA 2K, and while the new features within NBA Live 18 certainly help the franchise bounce back, the game lacks the fundamentals required to overcome their rival.

No manual exists for the art of rebuilding a franchise. Some teams, like the Boston Celtics, turn around their fortunes in a matter of years with smart drafting, swindling trades, and savvy free agency signings. Others, like the Minnesota Timberwolves, bumble for more than a decade before hitting pay dirt with blue chip prospects. The NBA Live series has more in common with the Wolves than the Celtics. Over the last seven years it’s suffered multiple cancellation and switched developers in hopes of regaining its footing. But after taking two years to hone its fundamentals and build a new RPG-d...

NBA Live 18’s simplistic and fluid mechanics make for an approachable game of NBA, or WNBA, basketball. But for all that it does well on the court, elsewhere it fails to live up to its potential. There are plenty of side modes, but few have the depth or interesting new ideas to be worth getting invested in.

But the spare treatment given to the rest of the big modes of play make this a pick-up-and-play basketball game that walks the line of being arcadey in some spots. Those who enjoy player management and building out teams will not find much to love in NBA Live 18, but at least the gameplay is solid throughout, and fans can actually talk about what this game can expand on next year without wondering if there will be a next year.