I just finished a long night of playing and I will give some quick
opinions.

Graphics:9.5
The players are the biggest you'll find and they are smoothly rendered.
If you look closely you can even se facial features of the real players.
Arenas are nice but not "virtual" in detail. Names and numbers are clear
on jerseys.

Music:9

Not alot of music but what they do have is decent. Not the concert of
NBA Live but I didn't care. I wanted to play basketball.

Control:9.5

This is where this game distinguishes itself from the rest of the pack.
Controls are fluid and plenty of them. So far this is the only game I've
seen with true post up plays. Your big man can back down the defender
before spinning baseline for the dunk. The "action" button is the best
innovation this allows advanced moves such as double clutch dunks,
crossover dribbles,behind the back passes,post plays, etc. It will be
difficult for any basketball game to play better. The last version had
no defense but this is much  improved you can take a charge as well as bump
the ball handler, block and steal.

Options: 8.5

Rating would be higher here except for one thing. No stat tracking for
the season. This will be what most people will nail it on.Every other option
is available like saving your custom teams and settings, as well as
create a player and edit jersey numbers for anyone on any team. The stats for
Jordan, Barkley and Shaq are on the game so they are easy to create.

Sound: 9

Play by play announcer is decent and court sounds are good  but nothing
here stands out. Solid though.

Playability: 9.8

You can have a ball with this game especially with eight players. I found
Live 96 to slow down incredinly with multiple players but no such thing
here. With the amount og control you have over palyer movement you can
run real offense and defense plays.

Overall: 9.4

Stat tracking aside, this game rocks!!!!!!!!!

- Daryl Jones