EA's newest hoop title looks better than last year's attempt, but does it have the goods?


Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Electronic Arts
Genre: Sports

Elecronic Arts Sports' NBA Live series has to be the most solid basketball game franchises on the market. And with so many improvements from last year's attempt, NBA Live '98 will definitely rack any hoop fan s rim.

This game possesses all the necessary bells and whistles you could ever want in a basketball game. Updated rosters, multiple game modes, a new game engine, remodeled polygon players -- this game is already a strong title.

Some of the other added features include a new cross-over. This move enables gamers to shake up a defensive player and drive past him for an easy two. Essentially, you can re-create your favorite point guard shakes. Like Allen Iverson shaking Michael Jordan s shorts off to Stephan Marbury showing Gary Payton the back of his jersey.

Looking past all those cool options, NBA Live '98 still possesses a hint of that slippery gameplay. If you remember from last year's run, the players sort of slipped all over the court and bodies (over-dramatically) flopped and bounced all over the court. It was like ice hockey on a basketball court.

Now I hate to nit-pick, but the dunks in this game just aren t as explosive as the ones in In the Zone 2. The dunk is the most important event in a basketball game and NBA Live '98 just doesn t capture the effect. You can control what dunk you want to execute, but it just doesn t enunciate the act.

Honestly, NBA Live '98 is a strong hoop title that deserves a high-five from PSMOnline. However, there a lot of hoop games that look really promising this year... but they re not out yet. So for now, NBA Live '98 is the hoop game get.