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DEVELOPER
Konami
PUBLISHER
Konami
AVAILABLE
Now
MEDIUM
Cartridge
PLAYERS
Four
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 n developing a really entertaining basketball game, there has to be a certain level of arcade action involved. Even in the real thing, players are gravitating towards flash and singular feats of athleticism while they incrementally leave behind careful team planning. NBA In the Zone has always been about fancy dunks and swift play, a mimicking of
the higher energy points of the NBA stars. But along with the manic arcade play, there still needs to be some method to all the crazy dunks and quick one-on-one penetrations, and it seems that in their newest version of In the Zone, Konami is attempting to pull back the speed of the past titles by adding additional elements of a solid simulation.
Or maybe not. Maybe In the Zone 98 is just so poorly programmed, the lethargic players lumbering down the court are nothing more than a by-product of inept coding rather than a misguided attempt at a different design scheme. After an unrelenting battle with the illogical controls, you'll understand quickly that no matter what the initial
intentions of the design team were, passing that takes an eternity and flaccid dunks that compel you to stick with the jumpshot which is equally laborious will only remind you of the need for a different basketball game.
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The confusing camera angles can sometimes hinder your ability to make the play.
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If by chance you are yearning for a basketball game on the Nintendo 64 so badly that you feel the need to at least give it more than a few minutes of play, it may be possible to get into the molasses flow of the game. It won't be an easy task, though, as the poor camera angles will always add to the struggle with ample frustration. The players never seem to be positioned quite right to give you a proper view of the play, yet even if they were, there's nothing worth seeing clearly anyway. While animated adequately, the players look like they are being viewed through coke-bottle glasses -- blurred, jumbled, an indistinguishable mass when grouped together. In fact, the entire stadium is an exercise in extraneous anti-aliasing. It's a wonder just how sloppy the polygons are under the already horrible masking of fog. It's also a wonder why games like this are made.
-- Brady Fiechter
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