NBA Live 14: Breaking Down Top Features in Returning Video Game Series

The return of NBA Live to challenge the NBA 2K series on the next generation of consoles should be good news for gamers. Competition forces both brands to strive for more upgrades on a yearly basis in order to keep attracting fans.

Although gamers are still more than a month away from getting their hands on NBA Live 14, the early returns are promising. Based on the initial trailers and information released on the game, it looks like a strong effort from the EA Sports series.

Kyrie Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers, one of the league's most promising young players, graces the cover. The developers hope the game has as bright of a future as him. Let's check out some features that should help get it off to a good start in its return.

Elite Graphics

Graphics are the first thing people are going to critique on the next-gen consoles. The current generation made major strides, but seemed to top out over the past few years. So for games to succeed moving forward on the new systems, they must shine graphically.

NBA Live 14 appears to do that. Everything from advanced facial features to accurate in-game actions, including signature skills, takes that next step toward realism. It's definitely a major step up from the last version of the series four years ago.

It will take some time to see how they match up with other games across the sports spectrum, but the outlook is promising. NBA Live had to deliver a visually-intriguing game to make an impact and it did exactly that.

BounceTek

One issue with many basketball games in the pass is the lack of control on the dribble. Aside from select moves, it seemed like every player had the same base dribble and those with poor ball-handling, such as many post players, just dribbled slower.

That's finally beginning to change. The BounceTek feature brings physics and more unique dribbling to the table, especially for players like point guards, who each have their own style that can be replicated since they bring the ball up court on almost every possession.

This feature will also come in handy during one-on-one situations. At the end of close games, teams usually put the ball in the hands of their best perimeter player and spread the floor. With BounceTek, creating space and hitting shots should become a better experience.

Court Quotient

Every gamer has played a sports title for the first time, looked through the ratings and been surprised by at least some of the numbers. Whether they are way too high, way too low or just consistently a little off, it can be a frustrating factor.

Court Quotient should help decrease those ratings flaws. It uses more advanced data to develop the rating structure which, if executed properly, should mean the number of gripes held by gamers are limited to a few rather than dozens.

Ultimately, accurate ratings so players perform in the virtual world similar to how they do in the real world is almost as crucial as the graphics. So the fact NBA Live 14 has put a lot of stock into eliminating major errors is a positive sign for the series as a whole.