NBA 2K

by Sega

Product Features

• This item comes with no original case, box, sleeve or artwork. Media ONLY. Discs, tapes and games will ship in clear generic case. This item MAY have been a previous rental.

Product Description

Editorial Review

When it comes to digital hoop action, there's no doubt that NBA 2K sports the most luscious visuals ever seen in a basketball game. It's not the best-playing basketball game out there, as it does commit some serious fouls with its questionable artificial intelligence. But like NFL 2K before it, this is yet another sports game that Dreamcast owners will want to show off to friends.

The clean graphics show some extremely well-detailed players, stadiums, fans, and even coaches. While the player animations aren't quite smooth as glass (there are quite a few speed-ups and slowdowns), the players do move in a fairly realistic manner. When you see the instant replay of your favorite power forward delivering a massive dunk, you'll cheer. To complement the visuals, Sega has added play-by-play and color commentary to document the on-screen action. While this does get a little repetitive, this feature ultimately adds to the atmosphere of realism.

NBA 2K shows some trouble with controls. This is most apparent in handling loose balls. You'll cringe as you occasionally watch long passes sail out of the court, resulting in mindless turnovers. This is especially painful to watch when the Dreamcast can't complete passes to computer-controlled players. These stupid turnovers can, will, and do affect a game's final score--and have even caused a few games to be restarted in disgust. On the positive side, NBA 2K contains a new finesse-based method of hitting foul shots that requires that you squeeze the control triggers in near perfect synch.

The create-a-player and coaching options make it relatively easy to lead your team from postseason TV watchers to championship ring owners.

While the 2000 season's prettiest basketball game offers more than just the most delicious eye candy, there is still a lingering feeling that NBA 2K could've been much better with a little more fine-tuning. At the very least, while NBA 2K is recommended, it is anticipated that the successor NBA 2K1 will offer even more backboard-breaking fun. --Mark Brooks

Pros:

• Spectacular graphics that show plenty of detail
• Play-by-play and color commentary add to the fun
• Easy to play, but different from most console roundball games
• Foul shots are a highlight

Cons:

• Graphics suffer from occasional slowdown for no apparent reason
• Controls could be stronger

GameSpot Review

Whether you're a fan of other basketball games or not, once you've played NBA 2K you can never go back to those other games. NBA 2K is an officially licensed NBA game from Visual Concepts, the developer of NFL 2K. It features all the real players, teams, and arenas, as well as the usual basketball modes, like exhibition, season, and playoffs. The game also has an extensive create-a-player option, and it lets you tweak just about anything. So those of you still living in the past will be able to create a pretty good facsimile of Michael Jordan.

Visually, NBA 2K is the most dazzling and realistic-looking basketball game ever. The game moves at 60fps and features more than 1,500 motion-captured animations and more than 400 individually modeled players. Almost everyone looks just like their real-life counterpart. When Kobe Bryant, Latrell Sprewell, Patrick Ewing, or any of the other big names walk onto the court you can instantly recognize them. Eye movements and facial expressions add to the frighteningly real look. Players open their mouths when going up for a dunk, smile after sinking a shot, and so on. While these are nice touches are truly amazing, the only time the camera is ever close enough to appreciate these small touches is during the player introductions and instant replays. Even the detail of the crowd in the stands is amazing. You can see individual people in the stands turn their heads, clap, and pump their fists in the air. The benched players on your team jump up and clap and do all kinds of stuff when you put some points on the board. The coaches and the players watching and reacting to the action along with the animated crowd not only make the game look incredible, but it actually makes the game so much more of a realistic and fun basketball experience.

NBA 2K also does an amazing job of delivering an authentic re-creation of the sounds of an NBA game, as well. With two men in the announcing booth, a PA announcer, on-the-court chatter, crowd cheers, chants, boos, and a little music thrown in, there's never a dull moment. The play-by-play calls and commentary are right on the mark. It's quite impressive when you have a situation where you must sink a three, and you shake and roll a defender off you, post up at the line and drain the three. The announcers not only call the play out as it's happening but also comment on it after the fact with the appropriate enthusiasm.

But for all its graphical and aural touches, any good sports game has to truly deliver in the gameplay department. NBA 2K does just that.

The control setting and overall feel of NBA 2K is extremely responsive and intuitive. The control lets you do a variety of moves with relative ease. The analog stick gives you extremely precise control of your player's movement and speed. The ability to pass the ball, either by using the traditional direction-passing method or icon passing is excellent - having both methods available gives you the ability to really work the ball around the court quickly and accurately.

The list of options and rules that can be turned on and off is quite extensive. One great feature in NBA 2K is an option it gives you to set up the game so you're not always the ball handler. The computer will take the helm, leaving you with the sole responsibility of setting up for a shot.

The AI is fairly intelligent, and as in NFL 2K you'll have close games and blowouts depending on what the matchups are. Your computer-controlled opponents and teammates do a lot of things just as they would in the NBA. For instance, when the game's almost over, and a team is down by a few points and out of time outs, one of its players will intentionally foul to stop the clock.

The three levels of difficulty really let you set up the kind of game you want to play. The rookie setting, as the name implies, lets you familiarize yourself with the control without the computer stomping you at every turn. The pro setting is the medium setting, and it's really well balanced. All-Star is pretty harsh. To succeed you must really use the plays, know which ones to call, what situations to call them in, and what player matchups you have the advantage of.

The one thing that may aggravate players who aren't die-hard basketball-simulation fans is NBA 2K's realistic representation of the number of fouls that are incurred during play and the number of passes that miss their mark and find their way out of bounds. If you are trying to heave a pass way down court, it's considered a high-risk pass, and it will sometimes not get to your man.

In the end, NBA 2K's dazzling graphics, superb control, and strong AI make it the most dynamic basketball video game ever. However, Visual Concepts fell just short of delivering the same seamless gameplay of NFL 2K. The game's visuals and control, while both outstanding, just don't have the same cohesion that made NFL 2K so flawless. But even with these few problems, playing NBA 2K will just about ruin you for all other basketball games. --Ryan Mac Donald
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc.

Product Details

• Item Weight: 5 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B00000K4CC
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (101 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #127,276 in Sports & Outdoors (See Top 100 in Sports & Outdoors)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars NFL 2K it ain't, November 30, 1999

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: NBA 2K (Video Game)

It seems silly to not give five star rating to the best basketball game of all time, but that's just what I'm doing. If you are a basketball or sports fan, this is a must-buy, but that being said, it has problems. The overall presentation of the game is incredible, but not quite as seamless as NFL 2K, which is the new benchmark for video sports. This game has great gameplay, just like NFL, and absolutely unbelievable graphics. The only problem this game has, actually, is the fact that it's not terribly fun. Maybe it' because I like football better than basketball, but this game doesn't give me the thrill that NFL 2K does; rather, it frustrates me horribly. The discrepency in execution of plays between the the computer and human is enormous, and a lot of the ratings for players and teams are way out of whack. All of that being said, it absolutely blows away NBA Live 2000, probably the next-best B-ball game, for the PC, which will now collect dust for the rest of time. Games like this one are the reason why I and many others bought Dreamcasts: Sega's painstaking dedication to making the best sports games around, which the Genesis made them famous for. I can't wait for NHL 2K.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars NBA 2k. The Best of The Best and Better Then The Rest!, January 18, 2000

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: NBA 2K (Video Game)

Wow. This game is the greatest basketball game to ever grace the Earth. Remember all those other basketball games with the shoddy graphics and horrible framerates? Well, forget 'em. This game has great graphics with amazing detail, from the holes in the characters uniforms to the tattoos on Jason Williams arms to the facial hair on Shaq's face. The characters also correspond to their real-life counter-parts. From Patrick Ewing's slow run to Jason Williams' famous fancey foot work. Oh, it also runs at a steady 60 fps. The game also plays grrreeaattt! Pulling off a perfect play, alley-oop, dunk, 3-pointer, whatever feels great! The game does have some flaws that keep it from being perfect. Some strange calls from thee ref really get annoying, and sometimes people on your team will catch the ball with one foot out of bounds. Why? There is also some strange missed passes, but thos are actually kind of realistic. The last flaw is that during a season game you can't check stats from other games, just the one your playing. Oh well, a great game non-the-less. Definetely on worth buying. It just never seems to get old. Peace.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best hoops game ever made!, December 6, 1999

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: NBA 2K (Video Game)

This game easily blows away every other basketball game on the market. The graphics are superb and the sound is pretty good. From the players, to the arenas, and even the fans in the stands.... It all has a tremendous amount of detail. The only reason this game didn't get 5 stars is because of glitchy play-by-play and the inability to pass out of a dunk or layup. This leads to a lot of unnecessarily blocked shots that could have easily been avoided by passing out to a team-mate. Other than that, it's a fantastic game.