maybe the best game out for the genre this year....BUT not good enough
The graphics on the game is good, but not great. The ps2 version is appealing to the eyes, although i think nba live 2003 boast the best graphics of any b-ball game. The main negative point to this is the tendency for the player animations to do akward things.Trying a drop step to a shot might result in a sudden skip of animation to a jump hook on the opposite side from where you spun from giving you a weird looking shot. There are hardly any slow up in the frame, and generaly with the exception of a slow ps2 system, you can expect that there will be no problem. The player models don't ever seem proportioned to the basket. It makes it seem as if these guys are playing on an 8 foot court. The dunks seem akward. I can't quite pin the tail, but the animation for dunks don't look smooth. Sometimes it takes one step too many for a dunk, wich may result with the dplayer looking like it has been pushed back while its momentum if falling forward. This game has one of the ugliest crossover dribbles. They chose to have it only come from behind the back, which isn't realistic since most NBA players do crossovers from the front. All in all the images are good, even great, but the animations really make this one of the more horrible portions of the game.
The sounds on this game is great. The commentary, although a tad bit annoying with Bill Walton's awfully cheesy commentary, hardly delays and goes with the flow quite well. The crowd is solid, but i found that a bit more is left to be desired. The music lineup is great. The inclusion of great underground hiphop artists like aceyalone and del adds to the solid sounds, but with a hard interface, most average gamers will never find the time to take advantage of the music in the game.
The gameplay is the meat of the game. There are many modes that anyone who loves basketball can get into. The main focus on my agenda is the franchise mode, and actual gameplay fundementals that are flawed. The team chemistry factor iis a nice concept that was not implemented correctly. You find that it becomes rather tideous and bothersome when you get the same options to choose from. The rating systems for the players seem way off. There are things that this game follows through tradition, but in hopes of coming out with a better game next year, they should think about getting in depth their rating system with more categories.
The play is what i despise the most. It is sooo slow. The burst seem to only work for the computer with success, while my burst have little or no success. Another thing i hated was the pass icons that would only appear for a few seconds then dissapear despite holding the L1(or R1, i forget when i'm not playing) button which leads to a lot of half court shots or traveling calls.. What i find most annoying is the A.I. on my side of the ball. As a player, you face a clunky set of teammates that don't converge on dribble penetration. The ESPN franchise is known as being more defensive in nature but it only occurs on the computer side of things which makes my game experience with me screaming at my help defense. There is something wrong when i get blocked everytime i go for a fadeaway, while the computer can shoot face up with no space and score over me.The shots look way off. How can Tyronne Lue score 20 points, where he shoots 20 ft. one handed lay ups over Ben Wallace. This animation, or whatever category this is put on is annoying. The crossover dribbling leaves more to be desired as mentioned above, and the fact that u get 30 TO a game is just way off. The offense for the computer on the harder levels are unstoppable which makes games reach above the 120's to win, which unless you are the Dallas Maverrick or Sacramento Kings, make it rally unrealistic.In all fairness, all basketball games suffer from the same fundemental flaws.
In conclusion this game for me was a bit of dissapointment since most of my friends reccomended it. I think that i would not have gotten this if it weren't for the fact that it was $20. I personally think this genre just isn't quite there yet and maybe the next gen consoles can remedy these problems. Most people think this game is great, which is probably accurate but as far as i'm concerned it threads the line of mediocrity.