User Rating: 8 | ESPN NBA Basketball XBOX
I was really psyched for this game but it's let me down in a couple areas. Might as well go bit by bit. Gameplay -- It's pretty darn accurate. I wish there were more movement on offense, but i'm probably not picking the right plays. Passing is sharp, haven't gotten a feel for IsoMotion and it's that beginners touch that i think causes all the charging fouls, not the gameplay. I've read a lot of complaints about the blocking and I'll confirm it, simple matter of using the sliders to fix but they really did set the default too high (in one five minute quarter there were about five or six guard blocking forward/center's shots, not very realistic). It moves well, slow, but if anyone's ever watched an NBA game from tip to final buzzer they know these games aren't the slammin jammin in your face all the time action commercials make it out to be, and VC has done a good job of replicating that without making it too sludgy. One problem, and this may just be with my xbox, occasionally on offense my players get stuck doing a stationary crossover dribble. Even when inbounding after an opponent makes a shot the guy will be sitting there crossing over and i get called for 8 seconds unless i lob the ball to another guy who's gonna sit there crossing over. Seems to be working now, but if this pops up on a regular basis it's a bigggg problem. Graphics -- The2k series once again reins supreme. The players look terrific. But I think ESPN NFL wetted my thirst for more and this game hasn't delivered. There aren't many cutaways to the bench, the crowd, it's all pretty plain. And the crowd, they look horrible! I remember seeing screens of close-ups of players and the fan immediately behind him was nothing more than 5 different shaded boxes, looks like something on the Apple IIC from the mid 80s. Was hoping that was just a screen from the demo and it would be fixed, nay. There are no player introductions before the game, VC really dropped the ball on this one! It's a couple pre-game shots of stretching or the team huddled up, then cuts to the tip. Really disappointing. I've also read complaints about the camera angle, and i agree, it is a little far off. Unless you're playing on a 30 plus inch screen you can forget about seeing what's going on down low by the basket, it's too small. I've been playing on a 13 inch and it's really tough to navigate sometimes. But then again, most video game aren't really developed with small screens in mind, so I'm more pointing this out than complaining, I'm sure once the house guest leaves and I can plug into the big TV again it'll be fine. OTHER STUFF -- I was disappointed the Email system wasn't implemented into Franchise. I think it would have actually had more relevance in NBA than NFL. The game seems to be missing a lot of little things that would just spice it up nicely, like logos next to team names on the schedule. Much like the complaints on NFL 2k3, this game doesn't seem to be polished. Oh, things left out....sound. Well, much like watching the NBA on ESPN, I turn the sound down. It really has nothing to do with how technically accurate the developers were, I just find it hard to listen to those guys. This actually may be a complement to the makers of the game, they did a good job replicating the guys in the booth, so good that I have to hit the mute button. Haven't really played around with 24/7, but I'm a franchiser. I consider anything like 24/7 to be an interesting add on, a novelty, but I'm really only interested in games of 5 on 5. I had 2k3 for PS2 last year, and i think on of my biggest problems with this year's game (and note, I still give it high marks) is that it just doesn't seem all that different from 2k3. As a fan of the New Orleans Hornets I'm glad they actually have the right court in place, of course they don't have the Arena name correct. There's a reviewer here at gamestop that I know feels sports games really have two or three year cycles between significant changes that are really worth buying a new game. Well this ain't that big year. If you're a fanatic and need the latest it's an alright buy. If you're just looking for a hoops game and perfectly accurate rosters aren't a huge deal to you I'd save some dough and get a used copy of 2k3. 
