NBA LIVE 2001

You Can't Stop Shaq Daddy! Click To Enlarge

Shots Like This Make Live 2001 Awesome! Click to enlarge

"Nba Action At It's Best!!"

Gameplay:
Nba Live 2001 has some of the best gameplay I've ever seen incorporated in a Nba basketball game, only falling short to the all-mighty Nba2k1 for the Sega Dreamcast, but you have to realize this is only a regular Playstation game. Every player acts like his own real-life counterpart and this year players actually move without the ball to try and get open, big men even post up! If you are called for a stupid foul the game will cut to a scene showing you arguing with the referee, too bad you can't get ejected though. Team-mates get pumped up after a big play, its a very neat addition to an already cool game. Nba Live 2001 still features everything you loved before.. 1-on-1, 3 Point Shootout,etc. This year they even added a new mode called "Nba Challenges". Challenges include making 15 3-pointers in a game, a triple-double,etc. By meeting these goals you will get points, which can be used to purchase things like create-a-player things,an ABA ball,etc. The dunks are all here too, and each team has a "star" player , which means the best player on the court of that team has a star under their name. For example the Minnesota Timberwolves "star" player is Kevin Garnett, and the Los Angeles Lakers "star" player is Shaq. This is probably the best gameplay the Nba Live series has ever seen.

Graphics:
This is probably the category Nba Live 2001 suffers the most in. Player models have gone downhill since last year, they seem to be very grainy in this years edition. The running animations and ball moves are all looking good but there just seems to be something missing. Some of the players look like themselfs and others just look off the wall! You'll find some NBA players with an egg-like head when in real life they have a round one, or vise-versa. The dunk animations all look smooth and after a big play you will find your team-mates congratulating you in a cutscene, which is a nice addition, but can get annoying after seeing the same scene a couple times. The courts are very well designed with all the logos inserted in the correct position. But as in all Playstation basketball games the fans are just a wallpaper of cardboard cutouts which is pretty disappointing. They never seem to get involved in the action they just sit there.

Sound:
The sound is great. You have the option of either selecting play-by-play announcer or the arena announcer. This is a very nice feature if you're getting annoyed by the play-by-play announcer. For the most part he is right on the dime about what's going on in the game. The arena announcer gets more excited when the home team scores, which is a very neat feature. The soundtrack is great it features Montell Jordan and his smash hit "Unstoppable". There is really nothing more a Nba fan could ask for in a basketball game as far as sound goes.

Graphics: 6/10
Sound: 9/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Lasting Appeal: 8/10
Overall: 9/10

- StainD