NBA Shootout '97

"It's fun but it's not as good as today's games"

NBA Shootout '97 (which I'll just call Shootout from now on hoping you understand which one I mean) is a descent sports game. It's pretty basic and there's nothing that blows me away about this game. You play basketball. That's about it. There isn't anything that I totally hate about this game but there are a few minor complaints. It's average.

Graphics

These are pretty good. The players look good. Not too polygonol-y(yes, I know it's not a word) and they move pretty well. They run really slow though and if you use turbo it eats it up really fast. That's one of my minor complaints. Other than that there's nothing wrong with them

Sound

Okay, we got our standard grunts and groans of basketball, the sound of the ball itself, you know the usual stuff. But the announcer annoys the hell out of me. First he'll shout out there names like they're the god of our world and then he says them like they're a little peon. I hate it. He says general stuff. Who made the shot, where the assist came from. Stuff like that. But I'd really like to strangle him. That's probably my biggest complaint while still a minor one

Control

It's pretty easy. Pass, shoot, run. You have the option of setting up plays but that's never worked for me. Am I the only one? I just can't get it to work. You can hold in one of the shoulder buttons and pass to a player by pushing the icon they have over their head such as square, triangle, etc.

Replay value

If you like sports games I guess you'll play it until you get a better basketball game. Since '97 seems like such a long time ago you'll be able to pick out the updated version of this game or go with the Live series which I happen to prefer. You can play with a friend to increase the replay value but it will get old if you never lose. It's about the same as every other sports game I've played

All in all I like this game. I'll go back to it once in a while but it's nothing I'll play every day. Another minor complaint is that there aren't enough different dunks. It seems like there are only 2 or 3 different dunks. Another minor complaint but I think they could have put a few more in. Oh well, that's just me. I picked this one up from a friend for 15 bucks about a year and a half ago. I probably wouldn't pay more than that today since there are so many other new sports games on the market.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99