NBA Live 18 Review: 3 Ups & 3 Downs

1. 'The Franchise' Mode

The Franchise mode is simply awful. Before starting it's better to turn off cap space, because it'll lead to nothing but frustration - if a team is over the cap space (and almost every team in the NBA has that problem), the game automatically prevents you from making a trade. For example, if your team is $20M over the cap, you need to first get rid of that $20M in contracts but also make sure that the other team isn't over the cap after the trade as well.

Also, once your trades are rejected you don't get any counter offers, nor get a real understanding of how team preferences really work - even though it's indicated that a team has a high interest in your player, your offer may be rejected precisely because it has no interest in him.

Apart from the ridiculous trade system, you can't change player positions or scout rookies. Also, during simulation CPU sometimes changes up your roster, which can be really annoying. The process of re-signing players is oversimplified and so is the process of team management. Granted, your starters look nice standing next to each other in the Franchise menu, but that's where the positives end.

The fact that you can automate all tasks regarding team management is all you need to know about the realism of this mode.