By: Jube
Are you missing your daily dose of b-ball? Lockout
got you bummed? Hoping the greedy players and owners will
settle up in time to save this year's season? Well if this is you,
NBA Live '99 will keep your craving for hoops satisfied. As
usual, I am going to give y'all the low-down, without any time
wasting extras. There won't be any filler about my childhood
love for the game, and I will keep my stance on the free agent
trading system to myself. So here is the straight dope on EA
Sport's NBA Live '99. Game on.
When it comes to a new game in a series that is
updated every year, the most important question to ask is: Is it
better then last years game? Have the graphics been
improved? Did gameplay flaws get ironed out? Has multiplay
been fixed? Yearly, titles face two levels of evaluation. Not
only are they compared to every other game of the genre
released, they also face the standards that they set for the
series with the previous effort. What does this mean to you?
Well this is the measure that decides whether you should
finally uninstall NBA Live '98 or if you should wait till '00.
It is in my expert (yeah right) opinion that this years
NBA Live is definitely worth space on your hard drive. Both
hardcore basketball simulation fans and less devout gamers
will enjoy its mix of realism, action and variety. Many major
flaws have been fixed, including enhancements in the previous
dumb-as-wood AI and the stoic facial features of the players.
However, I don't want to fool anyone into thinking that this
game is perfect, it's far from it. There are flaws, some more
noticeable than others. And this is where that "does it out
perform last years game" comes in. While some of the flaws I
found might be considered nit-picky, I feel that NBA Live series
should be expected to fully round out and improve its new
additions in every way.
Most noticeable of the enhancements in Live 99 is
the brand spankin' new graphics engine. Gone are the 10 static
uninteresting players. Now each player responds to play with
changes in posturing and facial expressions. They will squint,
yell, smile and frown. There is something so nice about hoopin'
up over Karl Malone and watching your player "Raise the roof"
while running back down the court. In addition to the new
faces, the general movement of each player has been
improved drastically. They no long stumble and bump into
each other constantly. Expect to see a lot of new moves
included, such as elbows during post out defense and about
five jukes that will have you jumping for that replay button.
Not only does it look better in terms of player movement and
their facial features, the frame rate is better! This really blew
me away. My Monster 3D was able to handle the floor
reflections, crowd movement and player shading with
surprising smoothness. In a period of gaming that requires
immense computer systems to achieve decent performance it
is very nice to have something that improves upon the previous
standard without forcing you to cough up $600 for Voodoo2 SLI.
In the audio department, there really isn't anything
new. It is hard to improve in a category that EA Sports is known
for doing constantly right. Why didn't it get a 15/15 you ask?
Well little things. The play by play is somewhat uninspired, in
comparison to another EA game released this year, NHL '99.
Though it too had its flaws, I enjoyed the variety of color and
statistics that NHL had. The play by play NBA '99 lacks the same
unique flavor that other EA games have, and it gets a small cut
because of it.
Well, I hope your calendar is free. This game
delivers plenty of gameplay in a great looking package. It's all
here. The full season, the exhibition, playoffs and
championship modes. There is even a practice mode which
allows you to select one player and hoop it up in warm ups on
an outdoor court. The practice mode lets you get used to the
feel and abilities of specific players, and helps improve your
overall game.
The biggest flaw in Live 99's gameplay is the revised
passing controls. I suppose the intention was to provide an
alternative to the "cycling" method of player selection. That is,
to change players you just tapped the cycle button until the
circle was under the desired player. It is a method that has
been used by many basketball games and most everyone who
has played a few games can quickly become proficient with it.
However EA Sports has changed the in-game player selection
controls, and it does not work. You have to press in the
direction of the player you want to select then press the cycle
button. Playing with a gamepad made this semi-possible, but it
often took me several tries to get the right man. I can imagine
gamers using the keyboard being even more frustrated.
Basketball is a fast paced game, and this method of player
selection just does not allow you to keep up with it.
While we are on the subject of flaws, can I please
wage an official complaint against EA Sports for consistently
doing a half-ass job of implementing Internet based multiplay?
LANs are fine and all, but how about some TCP/IP? As I recall
while reviewing NHL '99 the TCP/IP modes were originally
hidden, and had to be unlocked with a code. Is this more of the
same? Well, I am not digging the hoops EA is making us jump
through to play hoops on the net. (Sorry, bad pun, won't
happen again..)
Overall NBA Live 99 comes through, it is better than
its predecessor in many ways. I recommend this game for all
gamers, it's a great translation of the fast action game of
basketball. However there is still room for improvement.
Snazzier play by play, better/new cameras angle, and for the
love of god change the cycle controls back. But all in all this is
a fine game, worthy of your best slam dunkin' juke bustin' foul
tossin' moves.
Highs:
Major Improvements
Groovy graphics
Fast paced
Loads of modes/options
Lows:
No TCP/IP
Same camera angles
New passing controls
Graphics: 20/20
Sound: 13/15
Gameplay: 28/30
Fun Factor: 19/20
Multiplayer: 2/5
Overall: 9/10
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