ESPN NBA Basketball

"The greatest NBA game on the market this year"

Throughout the years, Sega and the NBA 2K series have dominated the sim B-ball market. EA Sports' NBA Live and 989 Sports' NBA ShootOut have always been title contenders, but Visual Concepts goes right through those series like Allen Iverson (the series' cover boy, no less) blows through a team's defense on the way to a dunk. ESPN doesn't fail to deliver on most accounts this year, and the name hasn't been the only thing changed from 2K3.

The first thing you'll probably noticed is the improved gameplay. The passing game has gotten much, much better from 2K3, but other from that, it was hard to improve on what VC had already delivered the year before. New also is the Isomotion feature, which lets players cross-over to get past a defender.

The presentation has also changed from 2K3. New to ESPN is the commentary team of Tom Tolbert and Bob Fitzgerald, including a pre-game show (and, if you're playing in Franchise, daily coverage) by Kevin Frasier. Also, as the new name would suggest, the presentation now looks even more like a real ESPN NBA broadcast, with Game Track, the after-game Story Line, and everything else you'd expect.

You also wouldn't believe how much detail has gone into this game. Granted, they're normally things you'd only see if you looked for it, but they're special nonetheless: Latrell Spreewell's corn rows, Rick Barry shooting underhanded from the free throw line, and others.

However, there are still a few things I would've liked in ESPN. Maybe classic teams, like everyone seems to have in their football games? Or maybe better jersey updates? My favorite team is the Clippers, and when I unlocked all the Pacific retros, I expected to unlock the classic San Diego jersey--but no, for my beloved Clips I unlock the dull-as-dirt light blue Buffalo jersey. Also, the soundtrack bows down to Live's. But other than that, flaws are few and far between.

Breakdown:

Gameplay:
Fantastic. New Isomotion feature and better passing game improve on the almost-unimprovable gameplay of 2K3.

Graphics
Also great. Pre-game, half-time, and post-game shows are just like you'd expect them to look on a real NBA broadcast. Also, lots of detail has been made in the player models.

Sound
Here's a likely interview from VC when looking for stars for the soundtrack:

VC: Can you rap?
Rapper: Uh.... shilly dilly willy?
VC: You're in!

Seriously, VC should've made the soundtrack less of an afterthought, although the new commentators are great.

Online
Online gaming sticks to basics, and doesn't really do anything that other online sports games don't.

Replay value
Better than ever. You can take a created team through Franchise mode, and there are a ton of unlockables.

Final score: 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/13/04