If you've never played any of the
NBA series, start now with
NBA 2K2. The reason: it's the most realistic basketball sim out on the market today. Not only are there high-flying dunks throughout the entire contest, but you'll also find yourself passing to the open shooter in the corner, just waiting to bury the three. On the defensive end, your entire team makes an effort to steal lackadaisical passes, and swat down anything weak that's put up down low. Not that I expected this to change from the
Dreamcast version from earlier this year, but alley-oops were automatic, unlike from years past where they were controlled by the press of a button.
With the Xbox just coming out and needing titles almost immediately to compete with other systems, the one thing that separated the Dreamcast's NBA series from all the other basketball games, was NOT included on the Xbox. I'm speaking, of course, about playing online. I would expect this feature to show up on next year's version, but I was really hoping we would get a chance with it this year. Let's move on to what NBA 2K2 does have, which is everything else imaginable for a quality basketball game. With Practice, work on your jump shot alone, or with the "new" feature this year, run plays from the playbook against another squad. You can play against your friends or the computer with either Exhibition or Street Court. The difference between the two is with Street Court, you can play any combination from 2-on-2 to 5-on-5 on any of the nine outside courts allotted. You can also play through a Season, just the Playoffs, or set up a Tourney between you and your buddies. But if you're like me, you'll just play the Franchise mode until the wee hours of the morn'. That's where you play through an entire season, including the Preseason, then head to the Off-season where you take on the role of the GM, signing free agents, drafting upcoming superstars, and trading for someone you hope is a diamond in the rough.
Other features that are highlighted in NBA 2K2 are the Create-a-Player, Create-a-Team, and the Legends Teams. With the Legends, you can finally answer the question of how the basketball greats from the decades past would fair against the all-stars of today.
