Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

Is ‘NBA Live 19’ any good? Try it for yourself right now

By
NBA LIVE 19 – Official Reveal Trailer

A demo for NBA Live 19 is available now on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles ahead of the basketball sim’s September 7 launch. The free demo comes in at just shy of 16 GB.

Recommended Videos

The demo lets basketball fans start NBA Live’s new story-driven experience, The Rise, which is part of The One career mode. Users have the opportunity to create their own player and compete in a 3v3 game that includes a handful of famous ballers. Your teammates and opponents include: Reigning MVP James Harden, breakout star center Joel Embiid, two-time WNBA MVP Candace Parker, and NBA legend Allen Iverson. The demo will let you create both male and female athletes for the first time in series history. The Rise takes your player on a worldwide journey featuring stops at famous basketball venues.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

If the premade courts don’t suit you, the game includes a court creation toolkit, which is available to try in the demo. All progress made in the demo transfers to the full game.

The demo also includes Play Now and Practice mode, so it gives a good look at both the core basketball gameplay and The Rise, which appears to be the main selling point of NBA Live 19.

If you’re curious how NBA Live 19 might stack up to NBA 2K19, you may want to check out EA Sports’ prelaunch event on Twitch  at 7 p.m. PT on Friday, August 24. EA will reveal a new game mode during the event. And even if you aren’t that optimistic about NBA Live 19, the vent sounds like a fun time. Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker will be on hand for “star-studded” 3v3 games and a dunk contest judged by celebrities.

NBA Live has had an up and down history, but it’s mostly been down as of late. Last year’s version made crucial improvements to the core gameplay, but it still lagged behind the excellent experience provided by NBA 2K. One thing that could tip in NBA Live’s favor, though, is accessibility. NBA Live 18 offered a more carefree and loose basketball experience, whereas our time with NBA 2K19 earlier this month suggested the leading basketball sim is leaning into realism more than ever.

Either way, it doesn’t hurt to give the NBA Live 19 demo a shot so you can make an informed decision come launch day.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Steven Petite
Steven Petite
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Steven is a writer from Northeast Ohio currently based in Louisiana. He writes about video games and books, and consumes…
PS5 restock update: Where you can buy a PS5 right now
PS5 and DualSense art.

When the PlayStation 5 first launched back in November 2020, it was nearly impossible to get your hands on the highly anticipated console. Despite demand being through the roof, chip shortages heavily cut production -- and due to sustained consumer interest, it was a problem that plagued the PS5 for years after launch.

Thankfully, we're happy to report that those issues have largely been resolved, making it pretty easy to grab a PS5 these days. The launch of the PS5 Pro has ignited another buying frenzy, and with Black Friday coming up, Sony has even cut the price of the base PS5.

Read more
The best games on Xbox Game Pass right now (March 2025)
A character in avowed stands off with an enemy.

As the Xbox Game Pass program has grown, so has our list of the best games on Xbox Game Pass. After the launch of the Xbox Series X, Microsoft has doubled down on Game Pass, and now offers well over 350 games on that console alone, meaning nearly all the best Xbox Series X games are on this service. To help you through option paralysis, we rounded up the top games on Microsoft's subscription platform.

Many titles are available on Xbox and PC, and some even have cross-save support. Most of the games are available for streaming on mobile, too, as long as you have Game Pass Ultimate. The Game Pass library is also constantly changing with upcoming video games, so check out our monthly guide for addition and removal announcements. We also keep a list of the best PlayStation Plus games so you can see what the competition is playing.

Read more
Starship Troopers: Extermination is the Helldivers 2 alternative we need right now
Four soldiers fight Arachnids in Starship Troopers: Extermination.

Starship Troopers: Extermination might have entered early access prior to the launch of Helldivers 2, but its 1.0 release this October will now have to follow up Arrowhead Game Studios' popular shooter. That's both a blessing and a curse. Starship Troopers: Extermination will no doubt be compared to the exhilarating Helldivers 2 -- I'm doing so right now -- despite the fact that it's quite different as a 16-player cooperative first-person shooter with base-building elements. On the bright side, developer Offworld also has the chance to learn from and be better than Helldivers 2 in other ways.

By adopting elements of Helldivers 2's metagame and offering up a single-player experience, Starship Troopers: Extermination could be poised for success. Considering that some players are mad at Arrowhead Game Studios and Helldivers 2 right now, this is a good time for an officially licensed Starship Troopers game to swoop in and attract some of Helldivers' audience.
A single-player experience
The primary draw of Starship Troopers: Extermination is its cooperative mode, in which players fight bugs as a solider in the Deep Space Vanguard. Extermination has some distinct flair on paper: matches that support up to 16 players, bugs remain on the ground after they are killed, and underlying character class and base-building systems underneath. To ease players into the game's complexities, Offworld is creating a single-player experience called Special Operations Group, or S.O.G.

Read more