NBA Elite 11 by EA Sports is the Buzzer Beating Shot that Makes it a Winner [Review]

NBA Elite 11 iPhone

NBA Elite 11 iPhone

NBA Elite 11 by EA Sports [rating: 4.5/5]

Only a week into the 2010/2011 NBA season EA Sports have released the latest in their sports range of games to coincide with it, enabling you to recreate the excitement of one of America’s most popular professional sports.

As you would expect with EA the game is fully licensed and so you’ll get to play along with over 450 of your favorite players, 30 NBA teams and unlockable legends from years gone by. These all look great on the iPhone 4’s retina display too, from the polish of the courts to the life-like players you are in for a visual delight when playing NBA Elite.

When launching the game a tutorial is launched to show you the basic controls of the game. This is all done in game and shows you how to move and sprint using the virtual, floating d-pad on the left hand side of the screen and the two action buttons on the right.

The buttons change based on whether you are on offence or defence, stealing & blocking on defence and passing & shooting on offense. A simple tap activates these moves and will suffice for most when playing on the easiest of the three levels.

However, if you want to play a more entertaining game, and/or wish to play at a higher difficulty level you’ll need to learn the more advanced moves. These advanced techniques are shown via an optional tutorial and it shows how double taps and swiping of the action buttons enable special turns, skill dunks and other moves that enable you to add a little flash to your average game.

NBA Elite 11 EA Sports

The tutorials are short and effective and before long you’ll be starting to put your skills to use in anger. You can jump straight into an Exhibition game, Full Season or take your team straight to the playoffs and see how you play in the post-season.

Choosing Full Season or Playoff mode doesn’t take too long to set up and you will soon be taking your 5 players onto the court. As mentioned previously the graphics look great and the players pop off of the screen. From tip-off to buzzer the game play is fast and smooth even when all 10 players are jostling for position on the screen at the same time.

The skills learnt in the tutorial are easily put to use and it was extremely satisfying to find myself spinning, shooting 3pts, steeling and dunking in my first game. This was on easy difficulty though and as I tried the other difficulty levels things became increasingly difficult, which I guess, is the point!

There are a lot of games in a NBA season and so if you want to speed things along a little you can simulate individual games or whole seasons, not that you’ll want to as playing each game is a real pleasure.

Getting your team to post season, and then winning the NBA finals will not only be rewarded with glory and satisfaction but also by unlocking an NBA legend which you can then draft into your team for your next game.

NBA Elite 11

All this is done to a great soundtrack which pumps up the atmosphere, this can be easily changed to your own tracks from your iPod if you so wish. Also customizable is the choice of camera angle, TV mode moves the camera about attempting to show the best angle while baseline and corner fixes the camera in those positions.

An additional mini-game is also included in NBA Elite 11 and that is the famous 3-Point Shootout which puts you up against other NBA All-Stars in a fast paced shootout from the 3 point line. This is a fun addition to the game and requires fast fingers and quick reactions.

If basketball is your game then NBA Elite will be $5 well spent especially with it’s in game roster updates that will provide you with the latest roster changes throughout the season. The lack of a multi-player mode for either the main game or the 3pts shoot out is disappointing but shouldn’t stop you from buying this quality game that sets the standard in basketball games.

Pros

  • Sparkling graphics
  • Intuitive controls
  • Pumping sound track

Cons

  • No multi-player mode

$4.99 (View in iTunes)
Category: Games
Released: Nov 04, 2010
Version: 1.0.1
1.0.1
184 MB
Languages: English, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish
Seller: Electronic Arts
© 2010 Electronic Arts Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Rated 4+
Requirements:Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *