Console: Playstation 2
Overall Rating: 9.2 Looks like a sweet game
Summary
Antoine Walker is still on the Celtics. There you have it. That's what's wrong with ESPN NBA Basketball. Okay, there are some other things too, but nothing that stops it from being crowned the king of the courts, the cream of the cream of the crop, the best basketball game of the year. Besides, that's what online roster updates are for. This is one of those games where the more you play, the more you appreciate the little things.Jason Kidd blows a kiss into the air before a free throw. It may seem insignificant, it might even seem silly, but J-Kidd does it in real life, so now he does it in the game, and it just adds so much to the air of reality that surrounds the hardwood. ESPN NBA Basketball features the best looking player models of any 5-on-5 basketball sim ever made. Every face (not just the stars) of the NBA, all the tats inked up and down the arms and legs of your favorite players, and every player animation you can think of from the pro hop (contextual, not a button) to slam dunks that are now highlighted by player collisions and bodies crashing to the floor.But ESPN NBA is not all flash without the cash, as you can bank on gameplay that features both a realistic pace and more wide open spacing to let the runners run, gun, and throw down the jams. Shooters can shoot, passers can pass, and defenders rise up in the face of a throwdown and throw it back down to the floor. Then there's this whole other mode. Yes, another gameplay mode that has nothing to do with the NBA or 5-on-5. It's called 24/7, and it enables you to create a baller from scratch, build up his skills, and take to the streets to challenge the best street players in the country.24/7. If only you had that much time to actually play the game. Now that would be hoop heaven.
Commentary
Not only is the gameplay tight, but the addition of 24/7 mode adds a whole new level to the term "must buy". The players look as perfect as Ive seen in a sim so far, plus the new moves of IsoMotion help set the pace for a game that combines skill, strategy, and old-school button press fever.Sure, the addition of a pro hop button and the separation of the shoot and dunk buttons would make the game all the better, but even without those features, ESPN NBA Basketball is still overall the best playing basketball game this season. For the first time, basketball fans have an excuse to be playing a game at four in the morning. Its 24/7, the life of a baller. Forget Jon Robinson. The life of Jrob Andsteal has now begun. See you on the courts.
Source:
www.gametiger.com
ESPN NBA Basketball
Linear Mode
