NBA Live 2002

"You Know This Game Is Bad When..."

After playing many many games of NBA 2k2, I was relieved when I finally went to my local game store and rented NBA Live 2002 for a little comparison. And after playing it, alls I felt was a let down.

Graphics: 9. The graphics are really nice, but not as detailed as I hoped. They were missing a few things I was hoping for, but as far as player models go, the game is perfect in, and that's about it.

Sound: 8. Ah, the sound of NBA games, Live does an OK job of recapturing the sounds of the game. But I want to move on to why I gave this game a 6 overall.

Gameplay: 5. First, as the topic states - You know this game is bad when people like Hakeem Olajuwon is hitting 3's. It seems like anyone can threes, and hit them often. My very first game, my whole team had at least 3 from each player, and I very easily put up 62 points with Allen Iverson. My friend only put up 59 points the whole game with the Lakers. The game is not realistic at all. I don't want to see centers like Shaq, Mutumbo, Hakeem hitting 3's. I am glad you can actually block people in the paint in Live (something you can't do in NBA 2k2) and another thing that irrates me is the free throw crap. It's way too easy. Press X, Press X again, wow that's hard. In NBA 2k2 you have to line up arrows, which sometimes causes missed throws, but in Live pressing X twice, usually means you'll sink the free shot, even with people like Shaq and other centers. The gameplay definitely needs much improvement, then Live for the xbox will be a complete game. At least this game had some other modes to try to highlight the gameplay.

Rent/Buy: Rent, then decide. Some people might like seeing anyone in the NBA hitting 3's but not me. Again, the graphics in this game are life like and realistic looking, but the gameplay takes a dive. Choose wisely, and like I said above, you might want to rent this one first, then decide if you want to shell out the money for it. The only thing I can say to EA is maybe next year.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 02/21/02, Updated 03/10/02