NBA Live 15 Release Date and Update: New Trailer And Modes Released

Oct 20, 2014 12:40 PM EDT

EA's NBA Live 15 is expected to launch on October 28th in North America, only three weeks after its biggest competition, Visual Concepts' NBA 2K15. But will the EA Sports classic franchise come back to win over the critics in time for the holidays?

EA's NBA Live 15 will launch exclusively for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles, following in the footsteps of last year's attempted comeback title, NBA Live 14. But EA hopes that the newest game in the series will not follow in the ratings footsteps of Live 14 as it was one of the most poorly rated in franchise history with a Metacritic score of 43/100.

But NBA Live 15 aims to fix the wrongs and revitalize a series that hasn't seen decent sales figures since 2010.

A trailer released earlier this month shows off the improvements to the game's offensive AI, adding picks and rolls, playcalling, and fast breaks. The video focuses on the improvements made from Live 14, showing shot-by-shot comparisons to prove that this latest version has improved tremendously. Several new modes have also been improved or added to the new edition, including NBA Rewind, Learn Live (Adidas), Jordan Rising Star, Tip Off, Dynasty, Head2Head, LiveSeason, and Big Moments.

NBA Rewind

If you've ever wanted to change history, this mode lets you jump into any minute of any real NBA game and grab per-minute stats, lineups, and even player tendencies. Because of this ability to jump into a game at any time, the oucome of these games can change dramatically, according to your playstyle, resulting in thousands of unique end-season challenges.

Learn Live

This Adidas-sponsored training session lets you try out the game's most challenginf controls before jumping in. Drills and exercises are set up in a gym atmosphere to help you improve everything from dribbling and passing to scoring and scrimmage.

Jordan Rising Star

This mode expands on the individual player from character creation through to eventual stardom. You choose from 13 position/play style combos to grow your character up through the ranks to the pros. Customization is there key here, and you can even choose which retro Michael Jordan shoes to wear.

Dynasty

Several aspects of Dynasty mode have been improved for this new edition, including better trade logic, more accurate simulation stats and results, improved free agent logic, and more.

Head2Head

This online mode lets you play against your friends through ten leagues to see who comes out on top. Move on to higher-ranked players on the leaderboard for even more challenge.

LiveSeason

Last year's LiveSeason online mode is back with even more bells and whistles including new challengies, features, and play styles.

Big Moments

In line with NBA Rewind, this mode lets you drop in and play during history's most important NBA moments.

NBA Live 15 was originally set to launch on October 7th, but the team at EA Tiburon wanted to polish the game a bit more and align the game's release with that of the 2014-2015 NBA season's opening night. It will also release in Europe on October 31, 2014.