It's basically a solid game, but anyone who played NBA live 2000 will not find enough new stuff to keep them hooked.
User Rating: 6.6 | NBA Live 2001 PS2
This is EA's first NBA Live game for Playstation 2. it's a perfectly fine game on it's own right, but because of the recycled animations and sounds and lack of modes, it could have been much better. Other then the aformentioned modes, eveything from NBA live 2000 is in this game. From the Season to the custom teams to the '50s to '90s all star teams. The modes that are missing are the Franchise mode, the NBA challenge mode and the 3 Point shootout minigame. That only leaves season, playoffs, one-on-one and exhibition modes. The season mode is fairly straightforward, in that you play through one season of basketball with your selected team. During the season, you can trade players and the other normal season stuff. It's very boring compared to last year's robust franchise mode. Playoffs simply allow you to skip the season and get right to the NBA playoffs as you go for the title. Season and playoff are both pretty boring, especially if you played last year's game a lot. One-on-one isn't all that exciting either, you are taken out of the basketball stadium and put on an outdoor court. just like in real one-on-one the onject is to get to a certain number of points before your opponent. Thi gets real old, real fast. Exhibition is self-explanatory, just one game. The only new things in this game are the various moves you can do to trick your opponent or get a good shot off quickly, like spins and turnaround jumpers. This makes playing on offense a little deeper and easier. Defense suffers, though, from bad control. It's actually fairly easy to steal the ball from your opponent, but it's very tough to make a rebound because you rarely ever know where exactly the ball will hit on the ground. At least until your opponent is either shooting if they made a defensive rebound, or rushing up the court if they made an offesive rebound. Either way the opponent almost always gets it. The graphics have also been updated. they are pretty good for a game that came out around this time. The character models look pretty good, but most animations were recycled from last year's game. The benches have the actual players sitting on them and the frame rate is consistant, with no noticeable dives. The sound in this game is decent at best. The sounds for shoes hitting the floor, the ball bouncing and the hoop are all spot on. The commentary is provided by Don Poier and Bob Elliot. All of Elliot's lines are new, but most of Poier's lines are recycled from NBA Live 2000, which just feels lazy. Overall, though, the commentary is fine. The music is all hip-hop that fits the basketball theme, but not everybody likes this kind of music. a more varied soundtrack would've helped. What it comes down to is, anyone who wants a decent basketball game who's on a wicked tight budget who doesn't mind if the game has an outdated roster will do well to shell out the 2 or 3 bucks for this game. Otherwise, I feel gyped. because this game isn't anything new from last year's game. In short, it's basically a solid game, but anyone who played NBA Live 2000 on the PC or Playstation won't find enough new stuff in this game to keep them hooked for another year. 
