Oh, lordy!  This is NBA ShootOut with all the features we wanted from
the previous year's NBA Live '96.  It's what everyone fondly dreamed
of last year:  ShootOut-quality graphics and sound, and NBA Live '96's
playability and features.

It's here, everybody.  It's here.

This game is so comprehensive that it outdoes, easily, most every PC
basketball game in completeness.  I don't know where to start.  I'll
just tell what it doesn't have -- the kitchen sink.  You think I'm
kidding, but....

The gamespeed, upon viewing it for the first time at the store, seemed
somewhat slow.  But when I got it home, it played fast -- sorta
view-dependent, the speed is;  at the store, the view was really close
in -- a fairly unusable view, but it's neat regardless.

Lemme run down a couple of features at this point:

- 44 create-player slots which are *very* dynamic -- created players
have actual names and numbers on backs

- fully saveable configurations, moreso than last year's

- many new dunks, very well-animated ones *VERY*

- huge playcalling system which is like last year's, but more dynamic

- many, many more actual players in this game than in ITZ 2, including
many rookies who actually have a picture (Marbury, Iverson, and so
on)!!!

- a menu system which I believe is the simplest and easiest of any
sports game to date

- extremely variable height and skin color (many shades!), as well as
facial hair and body weight

- polygons which don't break up at all, best I can tell, even when
zooming way in, which you can do

- a dynamic auto-replay *option!* and instant replay which is the best
of its kind, dramatically improved over even last year's, which was
quite nice

- EA's sweet hot-streak flash indicator now also goes darker as player
becomes more tired (they also slow down, duh)

- very impressive statistics, especially in-game updates -- e.g.,
scoring run updates (by time or points, varies)...I kid you not!

- what I feel is a superb (superior to any before it, IMO) fouling
system, which is on a gradient and what you would expect in a real
game, when you're in 'sim' mode -- player shooting style varies!

- a Player Highlights feature which has superb audio clips of
interesting accomplishments in so-and-so's career, including awards
granted in High School and College (about 3  different clips per
player - *very* professionally done, too)

- exceptionally hi-res. graphics with notably smooth framerate!

- can pick and choose which aspects of in-game coaching you wish to
have control over versus be automatic -- you can pick and choose what
you want and don't want control over:  it's all saveable, too!

- decent announcing and commentating, though sparse, as you'd expect
from such a smooth looking and playing game, due to RAM limitations;
players' names are announced more or less excitedly, depending on how
impressive their scoring effort was (!!), and player subs. are often
announced, as well as fouls;  also, certain play situations are
commented on, but not every time, thank god -- seems more free form
that way, of course

- player attributes manifest themselves in visible ways which actually
make each stand out from the other, can you believe it?!

- loading times are extremely short, being almost nil in-game, all the
while music plays in the background (good stuff which isn't on a 2
second loop, ala ITZ2), and, somehow, background art is vibrant and
photo-real

- there are multiple instances of statistical milestone-referencing;
this is the something which, along with all the other stuff, pushes
this game into the stratosphere, making it without any even *remote*
peer

- I sense no 'skating', but I'm sure *someone* will -- player legs
move in a way which makes them seem to cover the appropriate amount of
ground

- the players animate closer to human-like than I've seen in a sports
game with polygonal players (or otherwise, given this level of detail)

- 3 levels of difficulty, with the first one being easy enough that I
could win the first game I played as the Timberwolves against the
Bulls;  however, the harder levels *requre* smart passing and playcall
variation.

My ratings for NBA Live '97:

GRAPHICS:  9.5/10  *would've been 10/10 but players lack the facial
uniqueness of ITZ 2's player features (but still look cleaner and more
life-like, no question about it);  the hi-res poly players, crowd,
stadiums, and floors are the best I've seen in a basketball videogame,
yet the frame rate is still as smooth as a game like PS Doom, in most
views.

SOUND:  9.0/10  *crisp, unfaltering (from what I've heard) voice of
Vancouver's announcer!  Player names called in multiple ways,
depending on how impressive a player performs!  Ocassional
context-specific comments which seem to be a natural part of the
experience

PLAYABILITY:  9.5/10  *controls are responsive and varied depending on
player skill (!!), and the passing game has really impressed me with
its speed and execution;  very intuitive to me, though I owned last
year's Live '96, so this might explain my ease with it

REPLAYABILITY:  9.5/10  *it's got that special feel, and I've played
way to many games to mistake it -- this'll be played about 4X's as
much as Madden '97, and I adore that game

To those of you know how rabid I was about Madden '97, I'm impressed
with this title doubly, which means that most of ya will think that
it's *okay*.  :-D

Happy gaming!


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Rick Brown
brow0130@gold.tc.umn.edu
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