NBA In The Zone '98

"Below my expectations, but an ok game"

In the Zone '98 was one of the first major basketball titles for the N64, it did a nice job of simulating the game, but didn't give me the ''Wow'' impression. The game has all the teams, except the wizards because they still were named the Bullets back then. The one thing that shocked me the most was that there was no MJ (Michael Jordan) in this game, and that is a very bad thing. Another thing was that you couldn't run plays in this game, you just ran around and passed the ball until someone had an open shot. This game is to easy, players make baskets like crazy and you get way too high of scores by the end of the game.

GAMEPLAY: 8/10

Plays just like real basketball, get the ball, dribble around, pass, pass, shoot or dunk. As stated already, the players have way too good of shots. I once made 5 in a row from half court, that shouldn't happen, but it did. The dunks look nice, which is a plus. Refs don't call a tight game, which bugs me, a play would be clearly a charge on the offense, and they would call it a block, that really got under my skin. There are some options to this game like season mode, or playoff, where you just skip the season and pick the teams you want for the playoffs. Or just play the exhibition game. You can customize the game to have no fouls or have all the fouls in there. Turn off out of bounce if you wish. Make the game harder or longer, or easier and shorter. Everything is up to you.

GRAPHICS: 6/10

The graphics are old and out dated, but graphics don't matter. If you have read any of my reviews you know what's coming next. Graphics don't make the game they only add to it. Whew got that out of my system. The players don't look to good, the court and everything else look good, except the flat bunch of colors we call a crowd.

CONTROLS: 8/10

The controls are fairly easy, it took me some time to get some of the harder controls down though. Shouldn't give much trouble.

RE-PLAYABILITY: 5/10

This game is dull, it doesn't look to good, and some of the play is just plain boring. Even your friends can't save this one, because playing with 1-3 friends just makes it even duller. If you are a die-heart basketball fan, get a game that's more up to date.

Buy or Rent

Neither, pass this one up, there are better games out than this. Winning the Championship in this game is not even worth the long, boring trouble.

OVERALL SCORE: 6/10

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 08/29/02, Updated 08/29/02