NBA Live 18 Hands-On: 7 Things We Learned
6. At Times It's Better Than NBA 2K17
Judging from the demo, NBA Live 18 is not as natural or fluid - more on that in a minute - as NBA 2K17, but that doesn't mean that at times it isn't better than the competition.
The one-button bounce pass is probably the best addiction to the offensive game. In NBA 2K17, a rushed touch of a pass button often led to a dumb lob and a turnover. It makes all the difference when the team is on the attack and every play counts.
The arenas look better, some animations are better, the players don't disappear suddenly during huddles. Another "huddles feature" that NBA Live handles better are the timeout substitutions, which are just easier to do than in the NBA 2K17. It's a small thing, but really helpful when you need some time to think.
NBA Live 18 is a game of spurts and in spurts it really looks better than NBA 2K17. The problem is that in other moments it looks worse than a game that's one year senior to the EA Sports product. And this isn't encouraging.