First of all, the code:  when highlighting Difficulty in Game Options,
press L1, R1, L2, then R2.  If it worked you'll immediately see
another level of game difficulty:  Super All-Star Difficulty.
Now the comments about this game, which was underhyped, I thought, and
which has left me pleasantly surprised:
This game is a cross between ITZ2 and NBA Live '97, essentially.
The players move similarly to ITZ's same, feeling more solid than NBA
Live '97's players.  The game physics are meatier in this same sense
also:  players can have balls bounced off of them and can get
physically blocked in traffic by another body, unlike in NBA Live '97.
The player animation is very fluid (and there seems to be a lot of it,
though perhaps not as much as in NBA Live '97), similar to last year's
version.  However, this year the players don't have that odd gait
which made the original game somewhat laughable.
Dunk animations are especially impressive, just as they were last
year.  However, and maybe it's just me, there seem to be many more of
them (the package says 7 but they seem to look a little different
every time, or maybe depending on who does the dunking).  Remember
last year's dunks?  I sure do -- they seemed to get *really*
repetitive, even after a few first time viewings.  Not the case with
this year's dunks.
Player graphics are quite nice.  Player bodies look more like their
real-life counterparts than in Live '97.  However, the bodies do seem
a little less crisp, though much more detailed, up close (you can only
get close enough to notice this difference in Manual Instant Replay
mode, so it must be irrelevant for gameplay purists).
The jerseys look nice but lack names on the back (the names which
track on the floor are more than adequate, and I'm being too picky
with this).  The player faces are very clean looking, with an overall
quality which tops any basketball game to date ... you'll have a good
taste of what I mean the first time you pan in on the The Dream or The
Admiral or The Worm or The Glyde (sic).  :-D
The L2 Passing Icon feature is *really* easy to use, and liberatingly
innovative.  I really appreciate this feature in Sony Sports
Interactive Studios' games ... they lead the way in dynamic gameplay
these days, that's for sure.  When you press L2 the four button
symbols pop up above the other fours players -- just press the
appropriate button and it'll go to the corresponding player.  Or just
pass in the traditional way, ala NBA Live '97.
The Create Player feature is welcome, although it is like chewing on
cardboard compared to the fruit-flavored explosion of NBA Live '97's
same.  Really, the same holds true of this game's entire front end:
it's functional and not annoying;  it's just not dynamic and
user-friendly.  It's a minimalist design, I'd say.
Load times are minimal, noticeably so, compared to NBA Live '97:  but
both games have little or no in-game load time, so that's nice.
Unlike NBA Live '97, this game suffers from no slowdown during in-game
play.  This is refreshingly noticeable after having played so much of
NBA Live '97.
There's *no* load time when subbing in and out, but it's also mildly
cumbersome, given the tiny print at the bottom right hand corner of
the screen which indicates stamina levels;   NBA Live '97 uses a list
feature, making subbing comparably more efficient -- but both of these
games are infinitely better in this regard when compared with the
horrrendously-conceived menu system of ITZ2 (Konami puts *no* stock
into front end and menu options presentation, that's pretty obvious).
Travelling through in-game menu options is not anywhere as intuitive
as it is in NBA Live '97, but it's not very bothersome either.  
The overall in-game presentation is a very good one, arguably better
than NBA Live '97's.  Stats for particular players, along with their
photo, are regularly popped onscreen at appropriate times;  there's an
optional on-screen overlay which goes in the upper left-hand corner --
this is a very cool addition;  dynamic stamina bars at the top of the
screen are also exceptionally conceived and executed:  these meters go
up and down, true, but they only go as high as your current stamina
will allow (this is brilliant design, as it conveys both temporary
stamina and general fatigue all at once!);  the end of quarters brings
the user to a quickly accessed screen of a select few team stats, with
a decent number of player stats available at halftime and at game's
end.
The announcer is effective -- he announces player names with a variety
of emphases, and with NO slowdown (he speaks like all voice data is
always accessible, which is refreshing, after spending a lot of time
with the stilted NBA Live '97 announcer), and he frequently refers to
players by nicknames, which is something the original Shoot Out did
but not as well.  And he doesn't limit naming players to only when a
score is made!  He also will sometimes excitedly blurt out a player's
last name when, say, they take a shot from the arc.  So players are
named by their last name, full name, and sometimes by a nickname --
and he varies, I believe, the way he says full names, depending on
home or away, or something like that.
On the topic of names and players, most players have pix, including
rookies (yea!).  Further, Jordan, Shaq, and Barkley are not in the
game by name but have black Roster XPosition to replace them, thank
god.  Remember last year when those sillies made the Jordan
replacement guy a little blonde-haired white guy, and Shaq a gigantic
white bear-thing, as though that would throw off litigation?  Not this
year, thank god.
Shoot Out '97 also makes use of a one-button, revolving set of
defensive sets (only two) and offensive sets (about 8 or so, including
Box, Hi-Lo, and even one called Alley-Oop), depending on whether your
in offense or defense.  It's not as expansive a set choice as NBA Live
'97, that's for darn sure, but it's also not as confusing, so you
decide which would be better for you;  however, I should mention that
Shoot Out '97 and Live '97's use of sets differ by more than merely
complexity -- for Shoot Out '97, the set one is in is evidenced by a
set indicator in the upper corner (uncluttered and unobtrusive, don't
worry).
There a couple of hare-brained elements to this game, but they don't
annoy that much.  One is the opening jumpball:  you have to press 'X'
to jump for the ball, but through the rest of the game otherwise jump
by using the 'triangle' button;  however, you can direct where you
want to tap the ball with the d-pad, so that's a plus.
The other bother is the confusability of moving through the menus of
the Instant Replay feature, and the options screens in general --
they're inconsistent, meaning that in some places a button press will
execute one type of movement through the menu, while other places the
same button press will do a different thing, or nothing at all.
Doggone it, programmers, if the 'triangle' button is for moving back
through a menu, then make moving back through EVERY menu ALWAYS
achieved by means of the triangle button ... in Shoot Out '97, they
toggle the START button with the triangle button, and it'll lead to
confusion for many users, I have no doubt.
About the camera placement choices:  they don't suit me the way NBA
Live '97's do.  Live's camera choices are MANY and dynamic:  I can
choose from about 9 views, all of which can be zoomed in
differentially (within and without-arc);  Shoot Out '97's camera
placement are few and mostly static:  I find myself wishing I could
adjust the camera for closer zoom.  But the views which are there are
pretty functional, if not generally too zoomed out ... the programmers
should've placed the cameras on a zoom continuum, ala NBA Live '97.
Shoot Out '97 outdoes Live '97 in a special way:  the
animation-to-gameplay ratio, if there is such a thing, is very high.
What I mean is that when a gameplay element is executed, the player/s
associated with that element animates SPECIFIC to that element.  For
example, when a player fakes a shot, his hands animate in a way unique
to the fake;  or when a player blocks a shot, he actually swats at the
ball (as opposed to Live '97's static jump animation for block
attempts).  This means a lot to me, and I can't exactly say why ...
just that it does.
Shoot Out has "special moves" for players, also.  They are executed
with the 'triangle' button.  They look natural and do predictable
things, unlike Live '97's auto-pilot special moves which are somewhat
unpredictable.
I haven't gotten too deep into the statistics feature of this game
(sorry), having played mostly in Exhibition mode so far.  However, the
stats seem a little high in the rebound category (especially in
offensive rebounds) relative to the other stats, but the shot
percentage is noticeably lower than Live '97's unrealistically high
team and player shot percentages, so I'm generally pleased with the
stats in this game, and the proportion of gameplay elements which
produces them (such as a realistic number of shot blocks per game,
unlike in NBA Live '97).
There are two strategy options which are handy:  Double Team (ON/OFF)
and Crash Boards (ON/OFF).  The Double Team option *automatically*
doubles the best man on the opposing team, which is kinda smart, if
you ask me.  And unlike the Crash Boards feature in Live '97, Shoot
Out '97's really makes a difference in getting back to the other side
of the court expediently.
The Crash Boards feature of Shoot Out '97 leads me to another
observation:  Live' 97 has a schema for the opposing team which
entails that the ball will almost ALWAYS be passed around in a
predictable way to set up what really feels like a random shot
opportunity, whereas Shoot Out '97 feels much, much more like a
fast-paced basketball game ... you see, if you Crash Boards in Shoot
Out '97, you better HURRY back down the court unless you want to be
scored on by an opportunist fastbreak.
Wrapping up, this game has some other goodies, such as a crowd which
boos if a guy just sits there with the rock (I've seen this sort of
booing at a game before, man), dunk replays, multiple difficutly
settings (at least 4), an actual, functioning shot clock above the
basket, and a this crazed nude woman who streaks across the floor at
halftime.  Okay, maybe I'm lying about that last option.
All in all, I'd give this game the following ratings, as compared to
Live '97:
*Graphics:                         SO'97 - 9.50;   Live'97 - 9.00
**Animation:                       SO'97 - 9.50;   Live'97 - 8.50
Commentator/Music:                 SO'97 - 8.00;   Live'97 - 7.00
FrontEnd + Pre-game Menu Options:  SO'97 - 6.75;   Live'97 - 9.95
Gameplay:                          SO'97 - 9.75;   Live'97 - 8.35, and falling
In-game Presentation:              SO'97 - 9.00;   Live'97 - 8.25
In-game Menu Options:              SO'97 - 6.50;   Live'97 - 9.50
Stats, Player Data, Player Mod.:   SO'97 - 6.00;   Live'97 - 9.85
Overall:                           SO'97 - 9.5;    Live'97 - 9.5
*  The former has more accurate players, while the latter has more
accurate arenas [so'97/live'97]
**  The former has higher quality, while the latter has higher
quantity [so'97/live'97]
[Further comments after more play]:
First of all, I want to re-emphasize how much fun this game is for me!
I spent about 15 minutes replaying Hakeem stealing the ball from the
other team's lone Point Guard at halfcourt, then gliding through the
air from the foul line for an unforgettable slam.  Has anyone else
seen The Dream's t-mapped face up close in Manual Cam mode?  Geez,
it's photo quality, really.  Never seen nuthin' like it, man.  :-)
Secondly, I want to extend my impressions of this game into a couple
of areas which I hadn't much exposure to the first time around.
The statistics in this game are poor.  One could make an argument that
they're passable, but I'm unsatisfied with them.  The League Leaders
Feature only shows the top 7 players in 8 categories.  This fumble
goes beyond the rationalization:  "Yeah, but the game plays well!"
But at least the 8 categories can be highlighted and re-calculated
individually, but it hardly matters with only the top seven players
available for viewing.  Furthermore, only one's chosen team (you can
only play as one team per season) has viewable player stats.
Stat tracking is oddly skewed, resulting in sometimes outrageous
imbalances.  For example, in a 9 minute quarter per game setup, the
league leaders in shots blocked (including data from CPU-sim'd games)
in my first season are averaging upwards of 10 blocks per game.  Yet
another example:  league leaders in rebounds were averaging about 30
rebounds a game.
The create player/trade/release/sign scheme of this game is also a
poor demonstration of design.  This game had a great many
misplaced/missing players due to late season trades and so on, and
making everything right was an exercise in tedium.  Why?  Because,
among other things, the FA pool only fits about a dozen players, and
the create player feature is of kindergarten-quality design (with the
exception of an *adequate* attribute assignment component).  Finally,
each team cannot hold a full complement of players, so I've found, for
example, that not every L.A. Laker can be on the team (sure, some of
them are benchwarmers, but why should I have to leave them out?).
I'm also disappointed in how the in-game menu selections don't save
their path/position, ala NBA Live '97.  For example, I'm bothered by
the camera choice in Instant Replay mode is always reset to Manual
Camera (my preferred viewing choice) through a four to five button +
multiple d-pad presses path to get back to Manual Cam Mode for each
new replay.
I don't mean to tear holes in this game's design, as the gameplay is
quite good.  However, this game's minimalist design detracts from my
ability to mesh with it in a personal way.
I look forward to followup games from Sony Int. Studios which respect
sports gaming enthusiasts desire for good stats (whatever happened to
hierarchical stat presentation, ala Tecmo 16-bit?) and options.  I
also hope for the addition of components which further an intuitive
interface, such as path-saving menus, and dynamically-adjustable
configurations (place gameplay/menu configurations on sliding scales,
for instance).
Finally, I ask that programmers/designers get away from tricks and
hidden gimmicks for *sports* games.  Instead, make every option
AVAILABLE ... and, most importantly, make them adjustable across a
continuous dimension.  This will allow for maximal personalization.  I
believe this is a major part of the magic behind people's enthusism
for create-player features -- spread this magic over the rest of your
game!
-----------------------------------------------
Rick Brown, *formerly* at
brow0130@gold.tc.umn.edu,
currently in between addresses
-----------------------------------------------