Egads! It's here! The PSX version of the classic 16 bit basketball sim.
Being the ardent worshipper of the 16 bit NES version of NBA Live '96 that
I was, I plunked down my sixty or so bucks at my friendly neighborhood EB
and picked up the PSX version...I retreated to my Playstation for a few hours
to test it out...here's what I cam up with.

   ::Arcade, Simulation, and Custom modes.
   ::12, 8, 6, 4, and 2 minute quarter options
   ::82 (and lower) game schedules
   ::Season, Playoff, and exhibition modes
   ::All 29 NBA and two all star teams
   ::Accurate NBA roster as of late Jan. '96
   ::About 16 or so selectable camera views (more on this in a bit)
   ::Customizeable team rosters (realistic trade cutoff date too!)

   Ok, those are the bells and whistles. Let's get to the game itself. First
of all, there is a gorgeous FMV intro sequence. This is quite possibly the
slickest, most dazzling FMV sequence I have ever seen (and I have seen
plenty!). I immediately launched into starting a new season with the Boston
Celtics and tried a startup game (the first of the season vs. the Milwaukee
Bucks...)

   First of all, it went to a very high angled view above the court. EA's
virtual stadium technology has a number of views available, and not many
of them are actually useable(!). The classic NBA Live '96 views are here
too, however and are a bit better than the sky cam, etc.

   The graphics are IMHO, a mixed bag. The stadiums are gorgeous. All
the stadiums look like their real life counterparts, and slick extra touches
like the revolving courtside placards, and stadium lights reflecting off
the parquet floors are nice touches. The audience is not as detailed, and
looks sort of like a shapless polygonal blob (ack). The players themselves
also don't fare as well as I might have liked. There is noticeable pixell-
ization in up close shots, although the players do look more like their RL
counterparts than they did in the 16 bit versions (whew!).

   The animations are also a little strange. The first thing you will notice
is how bad the running animations are. Long, loping bouncing strides make
the players look more like running giraffes than NBA athletes. You get used
to it pretty quickly though. The other animations aren't quite as fluid
as I'd like...for example, the dunking animations when viewed close up with
slow-mo are NOT very realistic...

   Controls are not quite the same as the 16 bit versions, and at first
feel less responsive. One gripe is also that when inbounding the ball, it is
very difficult to determine who is catching the inbound pass (in the 16 bit
version, the star went under the player who is going to catch it). Switching
players also feels less reponsive than the 16 bit versions, and this is my
biggest gripe about it (cycling through players to put a body on a center
driving through the lane should be done quickly if you want to play defense)
...the shooting controls are generally good (you will notice an amazing 
number of the shots you put up will bank against the glass in this version),
but gone are the amazing flying free throw line dunks that were so easy to
pull off in the 16bit version. Rebounding is generally easier (I think) 
than the 16 bit versions....you'll be leaping up and pulling the rock off
the boards in no time! 

   From what I've written above, this game sucks, right? Wrong! It's very
addictive...as much so as the 16 bit versions! The computer AI has been 
stepped up considerably. No longer can you just cover a man, wait for the
shot clock to run down, and then block his shot when he turns around to shoot
before the 24 second clock expires. No more "cheap stealing" that would let
someone get 17 steals in one game. It's also easier to foul, and you'll also
notice it's a lot easier to hit the deck (you can adjust the "sensitivity"
of the foul calls). The free throw interface is similar to the 16 bit version
(hit a button to lock on horizontally, and then hit it to match up
vertically). All the fun alley-ooping, three point shooting fun that defined
NBA LIVE '96 for the 16 bit versions are here. On the whole, the gameplay is
really solid!

   The other goodies are excellent stat tracking (a must for real sim nuts),
excellent full color portraits of every NBA player, with excellent 
backgrounds (some portraits are a bit outdated, Like Pervis Ellison wearing
his old Bullets jersey..heheh). All the options are save-able to memory,
as are the season stats...it also tracks "League Leaders" as in the 16
bit versions, in all the categories, shows division standings, etc.

  The sounds and music are also topnotch, although a bit lacking in the
voices. There is no play by play here (the sole voice being a resounding
"Threeeeeee!" when you bury a trey), but the funky background music buries
the crappy music in the 16 bit version (that nasty lame metal/rap hybrid
that embarassed both genres in the SNES version). Lotsa grunting and sneaker
squeaks too (a plus).

Overall?

Graphics  8/10
Sounds    9/10 (no kidding!)
Gameplay 8-9/10
Replay Value 10/10 (addictive)

   Please don't followup comparisons to NBA Shootout yet...I rent that one
tonight!

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{} rogerw@millenium.tiac.net  {}           O< -----SqUaWk!
{} "Good lord...look at the   {}     ^^^^^(*)^^^^^
{}  size of that...parrot!"   {}      ^^^ / \ ^^^
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