I picked up this game to see how it stacked up against other basketball games I've played and I must say it did well.
The first thing that caught my attention was the ability to save to the game pack and though that may seem like a big "so what", I thought it was great. I have a stack this high of memory cards and it's hard to remember whats on which, so when I can save to a cart it's always a plus.
One thing I'd like to see in all games in a high level of attention to detail and in that category this title delivers. The most obvious detail I noticed while I was playing was the character models and their facial expressions. That's right, each player has different expressions for different circumstances and they all have two full rows of perly white teeth to boot. It's probably not a big deal by the current gen standards, but I thought it was a nice touch.
The next favorable display of attention to detail was the character animations. I've played a number of sports game in my day and one thing that bothers me is when a player receives a pass directly through their body. For example, say I pass the ball from my active player to one further down court, in titles like NBA Live 99 (which is still a great game) the ball will blast right through the target players torso and into their hands. Call me crazy, but that just isn't right. However, in NBA Courtside 2, the target player turns to face the ball and catches with their hands, instead of their entrails.
I could go on about the many things this game does right, but all things being equal I should mention that the sound is a bit weak. The announcers sound choppy and stitched together with little to no emotion and they lack a decent vocabulary so you end up hearing the same phrase over and over. The majority of the sound effects are good, but scrolling through the menus gets annoying because every time you change items the sound of a bouncing ball rings out. I would also like to have had a more robust dunking sound. All there is is a meager swishing noise, even for a "Monster dunk."
Of all the basketball games available for the N64 I would say that NBA Courtside 2 ranks high on the list of mus buys. Even if you're not a virtual playa you can still have some fun with this one. If you do happen to live and die on the court I would recommend taking the time to find this title, it would definitely grace the ranks of you collection.