Sega's solid Basketball series takes the honors on the Xbox.
One thing that the Xbox has had plenty of since launch, is good sports titles. The same can be said more specifically for Basketball fans, as 3 games are now in the books for the Xbox, with another still on the way. The latest (and greatest) comes from the dynamic duo of Sega and Visual Concepts. These guys took the crown on the Dreamcast for the last couple of years, and now look to accomplish the same feat this year, despite the stiff competition. What makes the game so great? Take a look.
The first thing you’ll notice is that the game is not just pretty, but accurate as well. The player models and stadiums are captured wonderfully. What’s more, the faces of the NBA superstars are not just mapped on, they are recreated polygonally to look like their real life counterparts. Add the emotion on the faces with each monster jam and you have a game that captures the excitement of the real thing. All the trademark hairdos and tattoos are evident as well. Each player moves very fluidly, with many animations for running, dribbling, slamming and jamming. The stadiums are massive and impressively detailed with great lighting, reflection effects, and an animated crowd to boot. At this point the crowd really does needs an upgrade, as it’s the same crowd which has been used for the last two years. It still remains one of the better crowds out there though. Overall the visuals do very well and surpass most games out there, but there is so much more that can be done for the “box” next season.
The sounds of the NBA are also captured pleasantly in NBA 2k2. All the sounds are here, including whistles, squeaky shoes, trash talking, and an interactive and lively crowd. The commentary also does a great job calling the game accurately, and without much repetition. Captured in true Dolby Surround sound is reason enough to shake the house with this title. All in all the sounds are more than adequate and have little room for improvement.
Gameplay is NBA 2k2’s benchmark. Not only do the controls react accordingly and responsively, but also the A.I. is about as good as you can get without throwing down with a friend. The Xbox controller also plays very well with this game, as it is similar to the Dreamcast controller, which fans of the series can easily adapt to. What’s more is you can use the triggers once again as your free throw measuring tool, which works far better than the analog stick setup that the PlayStation 2 version required. If you are new to the series you better work you way up on the difficulty levels, as you will get spanked bad by the incredible A.I. Being a veteran of the series, I still get beaten down on the hardest setting. If you want to play the best round ball game on the market that holds true to the real life games, look no further.
NBA 2k2 doesn’t skimp in the options department either, with the exception of one issue… there is still no way to use a create a player throughout the franchise mode. If you want to hear me rant on that one, read my PS2 NBA 2K2 review, as the issue still stands. Otherwise NBA 2k2 has it all. A franchise mode, season mode, exhibition, playoffs, and even a deep street mode that could be a game all to itself, round out the massive game that is NBA 2k2.
Microsoft really has their work cut out for them. Sega and Visual Concepts have marked their territory in the Xbox basketball department, and it looks like they won’t be beaten for some time to come.
