The Worst NBA Game of All Time?

NBA Elite 11 is said to be the worst NBA game of all time, and the true fall of the NBA Live series. But the game never actually released. Now, thanks to emulation, we can see once and for all if NBA Elite 11 was as bad as we heard, or perhaps if the game was treated too harshly.

00:00 Intro
02:40 Development
06:32 Review + Closing Thoughts

The song Close by Foewi is used in this video

#retrospective #SOFTDRINKTV #game #review #sdtv

[starwarsnewsandmemes]

Given that EA was still presentable when this was made, imagine if they gave Live 10 a roster update and a token new feature while building the groundwork for this, and then building on that and going all out for 2012. Could've been pretty good.

[onemorecor]

Damn Mike really left to make some competition and came back just to kill them

[TrillBuckets]

W retrospective video as always Mr. SoftDrink. What's funny though is what I got from this was that 2k mastered the dual analogs quicker than Live or "elite" could which allowed them to take off.. EA would've been smart to postpone that game, Master it even better than 2k, and then release for 12 or 13. Both years of which were some of 2k's more "forgotten" years where the games were good by default because there were no EA games to contend.

[Birdman]

I’ll be 36 in August and it’s awesome to me how my childhood was spent playin NBA Live back in the late 90s to mid 00s. That was peak NBA Live. I don’t play sports games anymore. Lack of depth/care and it’s all about micro transactions now days..

[jtbucketsshorts]

Really wish 2k and Live would just work together and make a game . A game with 2ks gameplay and NBA lives presentation would be amazing

[rayneozier]

I commend EA for trying to innovate and make something new with NBA Elite 11. But if they were going to try and “re-invent the wheel” they shouldn’t have tried to do it in their regular turnaround. They should’ve took a year off and tried to make the game the best they possibly could.

[randybartholomew]

I actually play tested this game. They had us play a short game with the person next to us. I remember us both laughing out loud at how ridiculously easy it was to make shots from everywhere. I was chucking threes with Rondo and hitting all of them. About the only way we missed any shots was if they got blocked.

[oota]

Man this game looks so good. Even the graphics look ahead of their time. Its too bad EA couldn’t finish this project.

[davixn]

This is an eerily similar situation to Sonic The Hedgehog 2006, a game with actual soul and a solid gameplay foundation, along with innovations not even seen today in sonic games due to rushing, impossible deadlines, and a completely tragic development cycle. Now Sonic team runs from anything associated with 06, unfortunately leaving some of the best sonic gameplay to be had in the series to appease critics, which they don’t do well neither.

[no-yjcf]

When I'm in a bad mood, NBA Elite 11 is the game that gets me back on track. Videos don't do it complete justice. The day you're able to play it is the day you gain a 6 pack from laughing so hard

[BlueBlur]

The foundation of the game was there but the backlash after the demo was released got EA scared and pulled the plug and they never really bothered to polish the formula for all I know. If Live 10 got a roster update and we saw Elite 12/Elite 13 get revealed, tried out, and plays great then we can see great competition between the two basketball games rise. This is what's missing not just in video games but just things in general: Going down safe and trendy routes because the risks may be too much if failure was the result from actual and genuine responses to trends rather than just pandering.
NFTs are an example. A lot of companies are jumping on the NFT train which has pretty much led to failure instead of just actually providing something valuable and different to the trend or just rejecting it entirely if it does inevitably lead to failure.
While I mostly grew up with 2K instead of Live, it's really sad to see such a great competitor fall down and off like this. Still a great video, Soft. Hope to see more.

[whomikejones]

Never got my $5 deposit back from GameStop for pre ordering this game

[wadmodderschalton]

NBA Elite 11 was just one of the few unreleased EA Sports titles, the other was Madden NFL 96 for the PS1.

[DunnyEh]

It’s awesome as a die hard hockey fan to see how the NHL Controls really influenced another sports series. Same with the main menu/scoreboard looking exactly like NHL 11, it’s a cool little thing that distinguishes EA sports games from other titles

[chrisbg]

I remember 3 years ago at the Midwest Gaming Classic I was browsing some vendors when some one bought a copy of Elite. At first I was like "What? How is it that expensive?" and had a discussion about it.

[USR__]

I have also played NBA Elite 11 on RPCS3 and I was like man, this game is actually pretty solid and 2k actually took a few things from it.

[gallant]

After playing 2k since 3 years and being drowned in micro-transactions, I still hope that NBA LIVE will be back one day ... They deserve another chance.

[BD-muww]

Your part on perhaps they made what could be argued as a good business move to get away from it but the fact they’re no longer even going proves they sacrificed long term gains for short term ones, which in turn hurts their long term potential. Great video and insight

[chraaaa]

I remember downloading this demo and it was nice. Switching hands to do a reverse lay up was amazing. Too bad it never came to be I always played live back in the day and only switched to 2k when this never dropped

[satan]

I think this game would be great to polish up, give better graphics, and update the rosters and release today in 2022