NBA 2K1 Review

Around this time last year, Sega released the first 128-bit hoops game in NBA 2K. Its crisp, detailed graphics and innovations such as an intuitive post-up game were certainly impressive, but under the overwhelming shadow of Visual Concepts' wildly popular NFL 2K, it didn't quite live up to expectations. NBA 2K was a fun little basketball game, but it wasn't nearly as polished as its football counterpart. There were complaints about the flawed passing game, the needless animation sequences that slowed the pace of the action, the pump fake that too frequently got the computer defender off his feet, the easy to master free-throw system, the lack of an effective spin move, and the frequent play-stopping collisions on dribble drives, among others. Visual Concepts took all those problems and dumped them in the trash like a reverse-360 thunder dunk from Vince-sanity. The result is NBA 2K1, a more sophisticated, refined, realistic, and enjoyable hoops game.

The game features eight modes of play: season, franchise, exhibition, network, tourney, practice, quick start, and street. Of course, the franchise, street, and network modes are new to this year's version. Like its football counterpart, the game runs relatively well over the network, but it also features a more polished network interface. In the network menu, you can set several essential filters such as the opponent's rate filter (poor to great), keyboard filter (must have, none, or both), and game mode filter (street, exhibition, or both) to effortlessly find the most suitable online matchups. Further adding to the intuitive network interface, NBA 2K1 has ten chat macros that can be set ahead of time and are assigned to keyboard buttons for talking trash during a fast-paced ball game. With all our preferences set, we took the game online. We played a couple of games without any lag-induced slowdown issues. If the mostly successful NFL 2K1 online experience is any indication, its NBA counterpart shouldn't have any problems handling networked matchups, even when thousands of SegaNet players get online.

The franchise mode in NBA 2K1 works much like the one in VC's football game. You can guide a team through several seasons with the ability to sign, waive, trade, and draft players. Virtual GMs can track everything from their team's success over several years to specific player needs by position. New to NBA 2K1 is the ability to track team and player career statistics. Now you can keep track of Antoine "employee number 8" Walker's scoring average and "Mount" Mutombo's block totals over multiple seasons. Generally the franchise mode adds immensely to the game, with one minor weakness. The draft picks' names are all combinations of the first and last names of existing NBA players. So, you'll get names like Grant Abdur-Rahim and Zydrunas McGrady. It can get downright laughable at times, especially for those who know the game and its players. Of course, it allows the commentators to actually call out the names of rookies during a game rather than referring to them by their jersey numbers.

The game's new street mode is also one of its most entertaining. It can be played both on- and offline on real-life blacktops such as Goat Park in Harlem, The Cage on West 4th in New York, Franklin Park in Chicago, and the famous Holcombe Rucker Memorial Park. The four street courts are re-created in photo-realistic detail, as specific churches, buildings, and on-court trimmings are easily recognizable. On these realistic courts, you can compete in a variety of matchups, and each of these games adds a different dynamic, from the up-tempo three-on-three contests to the more traditional NBA-style five-on-five games. This mode really captures the essence of street hoops, as there are no screaming fans or irritating announcers - passing cars and player taunts are only the ambient sounds. Of course, even the most unique modes of play are mundane without solid gameplay, and NBA 2K1 assertively delivers in that department as well.