NBA 2K3 : Web Wombat : Games

As such, they usually enjoy the chance to jump into the streamlined and sponsored Nike trainers of their favourite stars, in this case the slam-dunking giants of the NBA, and hammer three-pointers from the half-court line.

There are plenty of games out there that'll let you do so, but it's always come down to (despite the number of titles on the market) two giants slugging it out for the throne...

This year, it's EA's NBA Live 2003, and Sega Sports' NBA 2K3 (Sega developing under the name Visual Concepts), and, while the competition is tough, I'd have to say that Sega's NBA 2k3 wins out in the end, mainly because it's just so true to the sport that it endeavors (quite successfully, I might add) to represent, more so than EA's attempt at the genre.

First off, we have the ESPN license, something which must have cost Sega oh-so-dearly. From the ESPN-styled menus to the professional commentators, to the quite nice blue/chrome colour scheme, it's all so…official.

Included in the license agreement is the right to all players' associated names and visages. Since the game is all about recreating basketball down to the finest detail, this is a very important point to note.

However, this point is double-edged in that while NBA2K3 does away with all the frills of arcade basketball, those looking for something to pick up and play aren't catered for.

As far as gameplay mechanics go, we have the Quick Game mode, which does what it says on the box and offers straightforward, ready-to-go exhibition games, as well as Street, Season, Playoffs, Tournament, Franchise, and Practice modes.

Practice and Tournament modes, again, are pretty much self-explanatory, Tournament giving you the ability to set up smack-talking matches against your buddies or, if you lack said buddies, the AI players who, it must be said, can play some mean B-Ball.

Playoffs is another version of Tournament, except that with Playoffs you can bounce the big orange sphere in real NBA tournaments as opposed to your own.

Booyah!

Season, you would think, would be the main section of the game, letting you take control of an NBA team and bring them through a season, but it isn't, actually. What is, then, you ask? My answer: Sit down and wait, we're coming to that.

Street takes you back to the blacktop, where you can duke it out from 2-on-2 to 5-a-side with either your mates or the skilled CPU players. It would be fair to say this is the "arcade" mode of NBA2K3, although that doesn't make it any less fun despite lacking franchise features.

If anything, it's more enjoyable to those unable to take the hefty collections of rules that make up modern Pro basketball, especially when the rain comes in and the whole court glistens and thunder rumbles overhead, just as you take a flying leap to the hoop, bringing down the ball in an overarm swoop (is that a Tomahawk? - Ed) with all the subtlety and tact of a 10-ton grand piano down concrete stairs.

In other words, enjoy the weather effects.

Now, we only have one mode left to measure up, and that is the Franchise mode: This mode is, indeed, the heart of NBA2K3, and where B-Ball fans will probably get the most out of the game.

You acquire a team, and then take them through a season, playing through pre-season games, training, as well as being able to mess around with player assignments and such.

I must note however, that some of the pre-season content seems rather incomplete. For example, you can send players off for training in particular skills, yet you'll never actually know what effect this had on the player, and there's no data you can consult and no graph you can read.

All you can do is watch the next game and observe this so-called "improvement."

A small niggle is that sometimes things aren't explained to you. For instance, you can only access your PDA by pressing a certain button at a particular time, and you have to get diving through the quite-detailed manual to find out how it is you can look at your little Palm-esque pocket computer.

This probably wasn't the best idea that Visual Concepts could have come up with. On-screen instructions don't go astray Sega, ya hear?

So much for a non-contact sport...

However, most of this is negated by the general depth of the Franchise mode, and the best part of it is that you don't need to stay stuck looking at menus all the time.

You can be altering funding for players' personal gym time and such, adding another element to the whole money-management component of NBA2K3, or even end up watching TV. Wow.

As I said when starting this review, Sega acquired an ESPN license last year, and they've used it to great effect in producing games for the Black Box of Sony, and although only those of us with cable will appreciate the total mirroring of ESPN's trademarked style, it's still very well done, with mid-match replays and "Hot of the Half" (the best player of the match's first half).

The commentary is especially good compared to other games in the sports genre although, even with all its fluidity and context-sensitivity, it can become somewhat repetitive.

NBA 2K3 leads the pack in basketball games, edging out its EA Sports equivalent. The models are motion-capture animated and all textures are crisp and high-res, which only adds to the feeling of faithfulness to the sport. Polygon counts are high across the board, down to independent facial features (moving mouth, blinking eyes etc).

For those of us who are basketball fans - serious basketball fans - this is the game for you, with its deep and meaningful Franchise mode and ESPN license.

However, for those of us who do not belong to that group of people who fantasize constantly about big orange balls, this is not the arcade basketball solution you've been waiting for.

Go out and pick up a copy of Street Hoops if you're looking for that pick-up-and-play fix: Only heavy, and I mean heeeeaavy, B-Ball fanatics need apply here.

Game: NBA 2K3
System: PS2
Players: 1-4
Memory Card: Yes
Developer: Sega Sports (Visual Concepts)
Distributor: GameNation

Rating: 90%

(Ratings Key/Explantion)

NBA 2K3 is on the shelves now.

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