NBA Live 2003

"Same old, same old"

If you played NBA Live 2002, don't waste money on this game. The better things for this game are the Roster Updates. That's right, the only new things are the music, by the way is better since they took real music artists, not a bunch of people I haven't heard of, and the rosters are new and updated. Same gameplay, same options, same graphics and same intro and fonts.

Intro: 1

C'mon EA Sports, at least make a new intro since this is the last game for the PS1. The menus are the same, and the background where the player flashes on the right side of the screen is mostly the same, but I did see some new people. Everything is the same when you walk around the menus and everywhere else.

Graphics:4

If you watched the intro movie, you saw what you thought would be the NBA Live 2003 that you were going to play. Way off buddy. The graphics are the same, but when you play one on one the player detail seemed they stepped it up. But when you play 5 on 5 the crowd is a bunch of dots, no ref in sight, players, floor, and the arena look the same. One thing that I noticed is that Zhizhi Wang looks nothing like Zhizhi Wang in reality. Why you ask? Because this Zhizhi Wang is black!

Gameplay: 4

The gameplay is about the same. I hit square for a shot, circle for a foul, and i tap R2 for a juke. This is the best part of the game. There are no new modes but they should've added Franchise mode instead of practice or the draft. They should've added the draft into the franchise mode they were supposed to put. At the end of the season they give out the awards. But they only give out 3. In Shootout, they give out all the awards, 6th man to MVP to ROY. Way to be realistic EA.

Sounds/Music: 6

Didn't I hear this commentary in 2002? The same old dudes do the same commentary and say the same things which get annoying after a while. There is new music from Fabulous, Snoop Dogg, and Hot Karl. The music is much better than last years instrumentals.

Overall, if you had a choice between NBA Live 2003 or Shootout, I would buy neither and get a PS2 and buy NBA 2K3, which kills Live and Shootout combined. Do not buy this game for PS1 because you will be wasting $30 bucks on a replay of last years game. Unless you like playing things over, get a PS2 and 2K3.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 12/03/02, Updated 12/03/02