With the birth of a new console, do we get a new style of basketball game?

The NBA live series goes back a long way. In fact the first game in the series was released in November of 1995 for the SNES. NBA Live 1995 set new benchmarks in basketball video games. Since then, the game has been updated every year with the really big jumps happening with the launch of a new console. The game play manages to stay the same with a few tweaks here and there but essentially and fundamentally NBA Live 2002 is the same game as it was in NBA Live 1995. Sure the faces have moved around. MJ is now a Washington Wizard instead of a Chicago Bull. Shaq-diesal is now a proud member of the world champions Los Angeles Lakers instead of the perennial whipping team the Orlando Magic.

"...extensive franchise mode which will keep you busy for a long time..."

Lets start with the good stuff first. Graphics wise NBA Live 2002 is very impressive. The dunks are animated very well. And I found myself several times while playing the game going to the rewind feature to watch an amazing dunk. The power and explosiveness of the dunks in NBA Live 2002 is captured very well. EA captured over 50 different and unique dunks this time around.

Electronic Arts spent a considerable amount of time capturing the little moments that happen during the game. For example, during a free throw attempt your player will make a shooting gesture to get his form correct. Or after a foul where you can see the offending player talk with the other player explaining why he just fouled him. The facial expressions are also done very well. For example, Michael Jordan goes for a slam, his mouth opens as he readies him self to make a rim shaking dunk. You can see the anger and the intensity in his face.

The player's faces are quite often hit and miss. Some cases the players look very close to what they do in real life, while others are a strange caricature of the real deal. The player models have a shiny plastic look to them, which is somewhat unsettling at first glance.

Presentation wise, NBA Live 2002 shines very well. Say what you want about everything else, but just based on the Menu style, and the production values with the music and the sound effects, NBA Live 2002 looks like a million bucks. I have always said that Electronic Arts has the best production values anywhere. The frame rate is a rock steady and I didn't notice any slow down what so ever during my time with the game.

The commentary can be done much better, and this is one area where NBA Live 2002 falters a bit. It seems like EA was content of recording only a few sound bites, so the commentary never really establishes a flow like the commentary in NBA 2K2 does. It can be somewhat distracting to hear the same tired cliché over and over again.

"... found myself... going to the rewind feature to watch an amazing dunk."

The musical track for this game is mostly a hip hop groove to it which doesn't get too tiring after a extensive play time. Unfortunately, you do not have the option to use your own soundtrack from the Xbox hard drive.

NBA Live 2002 has a good mixture of modes. Unfortunately the popular 3-point shooting contest is nowhere to be found in the Xbox version. The game does feature a extensive franchise mode which will keep you busy for a long time trying to establish a dynasty. The game also features a 1 on 1 practice mode, which is very cool. It's a blast when you have your buddy. Another cool feature making its return is the "create a player". I found it to be very easy to make a close approximation of my self. Now you can be the hoops here you always knew you should have been.

The game play still fells like the Playstation 1 version, which to some may be a good thing. Others will not see it this way. One problem that I noticed while playing the game is that once you perform the cross over dribble (by pressing X) you really don't have control of your player. This means that your player could do a sweet looking cross over and end up out of bounds forcing a turnover. Naturally, this became a source of frustration. Another thing that didn't seem to come together is the jumping and trying to block shots - it just does not feel natural. There seems to be a delay from the time you press the jump button (which is the Y button) and the time your player actually jumps. Rebounds seems also to be a problem, because even when I did time it properly the ball still is not picked up by my player.

NBA Live 2002, seems to be a mixture of simulation and arcade aspects. But the problem with that is that by trying to do both it excels at neither. NBA Live 2002 is arcade in the aspect that it seems that every player in the game is equal and has the opportunity to drive the lane and score at will. Which normally would not be a problem if the game were like NBA Street. But NBA Live 2002 is touted to be a simulation of the NBA. It should be as close to what actually happens on the courts as possible. I don't know about you, but any of the NBA games I watch on TV there is some defense happening on the court. No lie, I played NBA Live 2002 on the hardest setting and still burned the opposing team by over 30 points. The AI in this game has some serious issues. Which I honestly hope is fixed for next year's version. Another small nagging point is that on the hardest level the computer AI does not get better. It simply cheats. I mean, all it has to do is look at you funny and it's a turn over and they're trotting down the lane for a basket.

With a bit more work on the gameplay (and taking advantage of the Xbox hardware) this could have been one of the greatest sports games. What we have is good, some might say really good, but it left us wanting for a little more.

Mike Regan
Uses the create a player to play with himself a bit too much.