The game's graphics are good, with a wide range of motion capture moves
including a nice array of dunks. The player models include the same
tattoos, braces, and arm or head bands worn by the real players. The
facial models resemble the actual players, but they are not exact likenesses.
You'll be able to recognize most of them in uniform, but you'd be hard-pressed
to identify them all from a line-up of headshots. The game also tries to
capture some of the fun atmosphere of NBA games with short animated scenes of
the bench players reacting to fouls and shots, or just clowning around for the
camera. The animations are a nice touch, but they are pretty limited in
number, so they'll quickly begin repeating on you. Luckily you can press a
button to skip them when they begin to feel repetitive.
In
addition to single games, you can play NBA Live 2003 in several other modes
including season, tournament/playoff, and franchise mode. The franchise
mode allows you to guide a team through consecutive seasons, managing players
through trades and a draft while keeping an eye on the salary cap. You can
choose to play a short, medium, or full 82 game season, so you'll spend most of
your time playing games rather than managing. You can initiate trades
yourself or respond to offers from other teams, and the trades always seem to be
well-balanced and logical rather than random player swaps. Between games
you can check out stats for all of the teams in the league, and keep your eye on
the race for League MVP. The game does a good job of adjusting the stats
for the length of the game's you are playing. If you are playing two
minute quarters, the league leaders will average about 15 or so points a game so
that you have a sensible benchmark to compare your performance against.
NBA Live 2003 also provides support for online play for those who own a Network
Adaptor. Connecting and finding a game is easy, and there are
player-matching lobbies for four different skill levels. The game tracks
players' win/loss percentages and their number of disconnects, so you can get a
little information on the other players before issuing a challenge. Online
games suffer from occasional lag, even with a broadband connection, but it only
causes problems a few times a game. Due to the game's speed and the
Freestyle Control, online games are very fast and high scoring, with little
chance for players to mount any sort of consistent defense. If this is how
you like your basketball, then you'll be happy, although those looking for a
more sim-like player versus player experience might not appreciate it.
Also, to have a large choice of potential opponents from which to select, you'll
need to play during primetime hours. On off hours the lobbies can be
sparsely populated, although this will surely change as the Network Adaptor
becomes more prevalent among PS2 owners.
In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated:
84%. A very fast-paced and more
arcade-like basketball experience, but a lot of fun nonetheless.
« Page 1
