basketball

If you're a real basketball fan, you will probably find NBA Live 2000 pretty disappointing. I love the game of basketball and have been playing basketball video games since the days of "Dr. J vs. Larry Bird" for the PC (remember?). EA Sports always follows the same pattern: after releasing a worthy HIT (like NBA Live 99, for example), they always seem to take a few steps backward with the sequel by adding too many unnecessary features. The gameplay of "2000" is unrealistically fast-paced and the graphics seem much choppier than last year's version. Adding the one-on-one and Legends features are cool but not enough to raise the overall fun-factor of the game. So far, the "99" version was the best of the series. If you currently own "Live 99" and have a little free time, do yourself a favor: utilize the "trade" and "create a player" features, do your best to update the rosters, and save your money. If NBA Live 2000 is supposed to simulate real-life NBA gameplay, it falls far short.

NBA Live 2000 was one of the first games to have realistic players' faces that don't look like the faces were postage stamps pasted on heads. Although some are hit-and-go (Ewing looks like an Ewok), others are alright. EA Sports has tried to make the gameplay and graphics as realistic as possible with the ageing Playstation technology.

Players' movements are realistic, and many moves are executable, although a delay between the time the button is pressed and the move is executed is noticeable. Your player can execute stutter steps, spin moves, alley oops, box outs, post ups, steals, etc. You can call plays like high posts, low posts, pick and rolls, etc. The crowd gets into the game with cheers and jeers, but look like cardboard cutouts from up close. The players get into the celebrations after a big jam, but you can turn off the option to speed up the game. The Dual-Shock vibration feature lets you know just how going up against Shaq will feel.

NBA Live 2000 is an enjoyable game. The variable difficulty settings allow a spectrum of users--from beginners to experts--to play the game. The one-on-one feature allows you to go up against His Airness, MJ. Playing the game through to the playoffs will unlock some legends, like Wilt Chamberlain, you can use in your team. The incredible array of moves (choose a skillful player, though) made me sit down and try all sorts of moves to get past the opposition.

For the casual player, or when you have friends over for parties, with the multi-tap, up to 8 players can go at it on the arcade mode, where the only rule is that you score when the ball goes in the basket. (Think: Handcheck the opposition into the hardwood floor!)

For the more serious player, there is the simulation mode, where you can adjust the settings to your liking, depending on how close to the real game you want it to be. Go to the draft and choose your players for the playoff run. Trades are realistic, and the CPU teams will actually trade among themselves.

Awards are given out at the end of the season for the MVP, All Defensive Team, etc. There are video clips of halftime entertainment, one for each of the divisions.

In the end, I found myself going back to the game, and wondering how else I could dunk in Shaq's face (tough), or how else I could get Garnett to block a shot (easy). And to illustrate how realistic the game is, out of the thousands of lay-ups and long bombs Jason Williams made, he had just one monster jam on the break-away, just like in real life.

The replay value is good, and this is definitely a game you can play when you have friends over. The graphics look good and are only hampered by the processing power of the Playstation. The sound is alright with a range of hip-hop songs, but gets repetitive after going to the menu for 100 times. The control sticks sometimes, like when you try to perform a dunk after two spin moves, so that means you have to time your moves properly. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go see if Garnett can actually block a monster Shaq jam.

this games graphics are horrible,other than that this game is great.