"The first run of GameCube
releases are said and done, and another wave will soon
hit by the end of next month. With the few games out
there, I decided to give Courtside a full-court
press."
B-baaaalin'
Basketball is one of those sports, where I could never
appreciate in a "professional" arena. I love
college ball, and who doesn't love March Madness?
When it comes to basketball video games, however, I've
always loved to play them as much as I would a football
game.
From the early days of the Nintendo, I was hooked
on Konami'sDouble Dribble. Many games
were hit and miss throughout the years, and some of the
better basketball games were: Jordan vs. Bird and
2Kx series. Sega Sports produced some great
basketball games for the Dreamcast, and would
have to say NBA 2K2 to be one of the best so far.
The porting of the 2Kx lineup is being
transitioned to the XBOX and the GameCube.
Already quite successful on the XB, you won't be
able to play it on your GC for another month or
so.
So, if you are a basketball addict you are limited to
one choice... NBA Courtside 2002.
Going courtside with Courtside
When looking at the options within any sports game, the
first thing I look for is a franchise mode. Creating a
player, entering into the league and watching their
statistics is half the fun of a sports game. When I
noticed that Courtside lacked this feature I was
a bit disappointed. While other basketball games coughnba2k2cough
have this great addition, Courtside failed to
include any form of customization at all.
Since we have no customization, all other game modes are
pretty much standard, with a few extra bonuses. You can
jump in with both feet and play a quick game, or
invest a few months into season mode. The arcade
mode allows you to play arcade style with
exaggerated physics. Jumping is now above-and-beyond
normal; including dunks. Passing is quicker, and the
tempo is about double that of the season play. This is
fun when you have multiple people playing which never
dulls the action. Within the options of the arcade mode,
you can customize the game further. You can have
"hot spots" on the court and if you make a
goal from that hot spot it will reward you with
different point amounts. While I thought the idea
decent, I always turned that option off. If you feel the
need to practice your skills before heading to the
season mode, check out the skills mode; which
allows you to practice your shots.
When it comes down to what makes a game tick, especially
a sports game, it is all about the gameplay. The
majority of the gameplay is solid, yet subtle AI issues
hinder this from being a daily played game. The control
is responsive and pressure sensitive. The game also
makes great use of the GameCube controller, and
easily manipulative.
Two great features involve the use of the passing and
dribbling. Passing the ball can be easily done by
pressing your primary button. This technique is nothing
different than any other basketball game, and still is
used more than any other form of passing. Nintendo
takes advantage of the secondary analog stick. Using
this passing method allows you to give-and-go and blind
pass. Although at first it becomes slightly quirky to
use the "C" stick, it truly adds another
dimension to a one dimension styled game.
Dribbling also includes two different moves. Pressing
one button will allow you to simply crossover the ball,
and the other will produce a more "glitzy"
move. These moves are fairly unique, and make the game
more realistic. These moves can include anything from a
simple head fake to a juke and drive. Overall, the
dribbling, passing and shooting really put you in touch
with the game. If gameplay were to be summarized on
control only, it would receive high marks and flying
colors.
Unfortunately, the goods end there. Computer AI is some
of the worst I have yet to come across. Your teammates
will pass the ball without any intention on scoring, and
it is basically up to you to make the goal. Sure
it sounds like it will work, but many times you are too
involved in either covering an opponent, or trying to
break free from a defender. If a teammate happens to
steal the ball, setting up a fast break; they will far
too often opt to hold up and wait until they can set up
a play.
Once you have the ball, scoring is really a walk in the
park. I found it far too easy to score on defenders.
Simply by using your secondary dribble move, a lane is
wide open and a dunk is inevitable. Most dunks and
lay-ups are fantastic however, so you might not be as
disappointed as I am. But, without competition (even
on the hardest difficulty) the game dries up like
last weeks bowl of cereal. There are a few plays
you can call once heading toward your goal, but I found
it easier just to take the old-school approach and pass
it around until you find an opening. It seems that Courtside
tries to take the elements of a simulation (and falls
miserably short) and combine them with the action of
an arcade game (in which it succeeds).
Probably the most disturbing issue when it comes to
gameplay and AI, is the fact that there is no way
to call a zone defense. A zone defense has become one of
the most useful defenses in the league, it is crazy to
find that our defense is limited to man-to-man. This
means if a player gets beat in man-to-man, they are wide
open for an easy score. A zone defense not only would
improve the realism, but also make the game more
realistic.
Flyin' high
The true saving grace of the game is the multimedia
aspects. Graphics and audio are most impressive. Since I
don't follow the NBA like I do the NFL, I
was unfamiliar with many of the players. However, the
few that I did recognize were mirror images of their
real-life counterpart. The facial expressions were
dynamically changing, and realistically portrayed. The
players’ animations were incredibly smooth and the
character modeling bent according to their proper
physics. Not only were the players’ graphics stunning,
but the stadiums were fantastic! Each court was
fashioned and molded directly from the real stadiums
around the country. I also expected some nice lighting
effects coming from the GC and was never let
down. Reflections from the court were near perfect. The
crowd played a small part in the visuals, and was not
notable by any means. Your typical "copy and
paste" was done throughout most of the crowd, and
involved little animations. It never detracted from the
visuals though, and all of the colors were crisp and
bright.
The audio was also memorable, yet didn't compete on the
same level as the graphics. The most notable was the
crowd effects, which cheered and groaned according to
the games events. As the game intensified, so did the
crowd. I don't think the crowd was as good as FIFA
2002, but still was much better than in previous
basketball games. The announcers were professionally
done and recorded, making the game play like a
television broadcast. It was rare to hear any repeated
one-liners, and it lacked the cheesiness-factor, thus
boosting the realism a notch. The stadium sound system
was also good, giving you a nice NBA style
atmosphere. My only real complaint regarding sound, was
the lack of player talking. The players’ run around
like a bunch of mutes, and I expected to hear some
grunts, trash talk and hollering. I think if
player-speak were added to the game, it would have
bumped it up a few degrees.
Pass it off, or take it to the hoop?
I really did enjoy playing the game. The thought of
taking any sports game and make it new and exciting is a
task that any developer would have a hard time doing. Nintendo
made a valiant effort to make it appealing to not only
hard-core basketball fans, but sports fans in general.
Where they gain support from me in the control and
multiplayer (up to four players) department, it
falls hard in terms of AI and customization.
If NBA Courtside 2002 would have included a
customizable season/player, added a ZONE defense
and bumped up the AI a few notches; this could have
easily been my favorite basketball game to date. If all
of these issues would have been addressed and
they added some player chatter, this would have been the
basketball game of the century.
The bottom line here folks is this. NBA 2K2 will
be released in another month or so. It is far better in
terms of gameplay and features. It's loaded with the
great talent from Sega and truly sets itself
apart from the normal basketball genre. Although the
graphics rival those of NBA 2K2, I would sit back
and wait until the NBA 2K2 launch date. I fear if
you grab this title up now, you will be missing the
opportunity to own a better basketball game in a
month or so....
Hey, I still recommend this game; for it is a blast of a
rental. Grab a few friends and the gameplay is
incredibly fun.
7.1
