NBA Courtside 2002

"This is what basketball is all about"

When NBA Courtside 2002 first came out, I knew it was a must have. I did not know how good it was, until I played it. After my first game, I became addicted.

NBA Courtside 2002 has great graphics and gameplay. Shooting is a little bit easy at times. By that, I mean that when you shoot the ball, it can goes in a lot. What the game lacks is shooting airballs. Every time you shoot, you are guaranteed to hit the rim, even if you shoot the ball from full court. Blocking in this game is also fairly easy. You can block any shot, even dunks. Something that takes some of the realism out of the game is how defenders goaltend. Defenders could jump higher than the hoop itself. The sound is fairly good. Crowd noises are a little weak, and so are the noises on the court. But that is probably because there are comentators.

This game has 8 kinds of modes. Arcade, Quick Play, which is just a normal exhibition, Season, Playoffs, 3-Point Contest, Practice, Create A Player, and Update Roster.

Arcade mode is probably the most fun of all modes. You can jump extremely high, do insane dunks and alley-oops, and hit shots worth 2-17. There are circles that appear on the court with a number on them. You must dribble to them, and sink a shot from the circle. If you do this, you are awarded with 5-17 points.

Quick play, is just another way of saying Exhibition. This is more a simulation type of game. 3's are fairly easy to sink. But the dunks are pretty week, sometimes, though, a player like Vince Carter can pull off a fairly sick one.

Season is pretty self explanatory. You play a season consisting of about 82 ball games. Then comes the playoffs.

Playoffs are at the end of season mode, but also another mode. A flaw in playoffs is that there is no celebration when a team wins the NBA Championship.

3-Point Contest is also pretty strait forward. It is a contest where 10 or so shooters gather and shoot 3s.

Practice is another mode that does not need much explaining. In it, there are hints given to you about the game.

Create a Player is where you can create a player. Getting good stats with your player will get him attribute points. A flaw in creating a player is the limited selection of clothing and details.

Update Roster is where you go to update your rosters. When a reality team makes a trade, this is where you go. You can trade, add, and drop players.

NBA Courtside 2002 is a solid game. It may have 1 or 2 minor flaws, but the outstanding gameplay makes up for it. On a scale of 1 to 10, I rate this game a 9/10.

P.S. This was the first review I ever wrote, so it may not be as good as others. (If you have any suggestions on what I should add to my next reviews, e-mail me at: Stinger12345@aol.com)

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/26/02, Updated 03/26/02