NBA 2K3

"The best basketball game ever created..."

Gameplay: 9/10
The developers at Visual Concepts wanted for the player to control every aspect of basketball in this game, and they achieved their goal. From everything from the spin move to the way you release your shot, you'll need to pay attention. This makes the games balance very good because every time something bad happens, you know it was because of you and not some cheap AI. Now the AI does NOT hold back. If your losing badly, they will not stop to dominate you. They will try their best not to let you get to the hoop and try to draw fouls. In other words, do not relax, or else they'll pummel you.

Visual Concepts also added some new modes to their game. There's Street Ball where there's no fouls, easier to score and you can pick legends to the game. They also added Sega Sport Challenge, a place where you can see how you rank against the world, via the Sega Sports web page. They also put in some hidden teams which include some of the people who helped made the game.

The menus are the only thing I had a problem with. When you go to the draft, it doesn't tell you what their rating is(although it tells you who their NBA comparison is, very cool), so that can be a problem if you're looking to get the best. You also can't your players ability's during a game(like how good they are at 3 pointers, rebounding, etc.) which was a big problem with me.

The game itself is pretty slow too. Compare it to NBA Live, and this game will feel like it's frozen. Do to how good the graphics are, the frame rate chugs too. Now onto when you're on the court. Like I said earlier, you control everything. So if the defender is blocking you from getting to the basket, you and only you can do something about it(unless a computer will help you with a pick). Rebounding is more realistic now. You will need to box out opponents and be in the right spot to get your hands on the orange. A big problem I had with the game is the passing. It will pass when you don't want it to sometimes, it will pass very high up in the air, it will cause you turnover to skyrocket. Hope they fix it for 2K4.

Graphics: 9/10
The character models are the best in any NBA game to date. From the way they sweat and move, Visual Concepts did a fantastic job. They left out no detail within the players. That means Ben Wallace will sometimes have braids and sometimes a afro. The crowds are very detailed, the stadiums are amazing, and the colors of the teams are precise.

So why didn't it get a perfect 10? The parts where the crowd is in 3D have VERY low polygons. They look like they're made of triangles and squares. It certainly amazed me that a basketball game had lighting effects and reflection mapping, which are very well done, by the way.

Sound: 8/10
The sound in the game is very realistic. They actually recorded more than one different dribble noises and shoes cringing(when a player does a crossover) which helped out a lot. A problem I had in the game is that there's no music while you play(besides Street Ball, where music is annoying) which can make things a little boring, considering all you're listening to is the crowd cheering loud.

Replay: 9/10
With the sheer number of options you get, no game in here will ever turn out the same. You can spend days just playing multi player, the most simple mode in the game. No doubt you'll be playing this until 2K4 comes out(but you'll have to play it on your PS2 or X-box because Sega stopped developing sports games for the GameCube).

Overall: 9/10
If you forgive the games faults, you'll love every moment of it.

Rent or Buy: Buy
It's cheap now, so you'll never forgive yourself if you don't.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/06/03, Updated 05/06/03