Product description
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.com
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EA Sports promises that "the soul of hoops comes to life" with
NBA Live 99. Hype aside, the company has delivered a solid
basketball game that will keep you coming back for one last .
With excellent graphics and new features such as play-by-play
commentary and real-life player reactions, this virtual NBA
exhibition will score big with basketball fans.
NBA Live 99 may be a bit frustrating to play until you're
familiar with the controls, but once you've mastered the basics,
you can do quite a bit. Our favorite moves include the crossover,
spin, fake, and, of course, the slam-dunk. Luxuriate over
close-ups of your greatest s with the "instant replay"
feature. To add to the competition, you can play complete
48-minute games with as many as eight players. A memory card (
/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00001wriy/${0} ) will come in handy to arrange
full seasons and playoffs. The variety of camera angles adds to
the feel of a real NBA game, and its exhilarating pace and
competitive options will get almost anyone hooked on this game.
--Sal Barcia
Pros:
* Excellent graphics and variety of camera angles
* Play-by-play commentary and real-life player reactions
Cons:* May be a bit frustrating to play until you're familiar
with the controls
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Review
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The NBA Live series has produced basketball's proverbial "game
to beat" since the days of the SNES and Genesis. While the 32-bit
offerings have been good, they haven't really captured the fun of
the old 16-bit versions. NBA Live 99 is a ton of fun and has
enough options to ensure that players of all skill levels will be
able to play proficiently.
Like previous Lives, you can customize just about every feature,
right down to which fouls get called and which are ignored. So
you can make the game as complex as the real thing or strip it
down to the basics and play it like a five-on-five version of NBA
Jam. Aside from the usual exhibition, season, and play-off games,
there is also a three-point shooting contest, reminiscent of the
one found in EA's classic Jordan vs. Bird: One on One. On the
managerial side, you can trade and release players, making them
free agents, to build your own superteam. You can also create
players at will to place on your modified teams.
The gameplay is standard for the genre. You can play it with two
or three buttons, but every single button on the controller does
something. So if you want to pull off advanced maneuvers, they're
reasonably easy to execute. Icon passing and defensive-player
selection are in the game, and you can call different offensive
and defensive sets. You can, of course, leave the play calling to
the computer if you wish. The AI of your teammates is pretty
good. They'll shuffle around the court in an attempt to get open,
and they'll defend the basket pretty well, though they aren't
aggressive enough to get many steals. The sing team AI ranges
from moronic (rookie) to "just set the controller down, because
you don't have a chance" (superstar).
The graphics in Live are good, and the animation is nice and
smooth. In replays you can see the players' faces really well,
including their changing expressions. The game's frame rate is
also very solid. Sound-wise, Live is great, and the commentary is
well timed and frequent.
NBA Live 99 has enough options and tweaks to allow anyone to play
it. New players can pick it up, learn a couple of buttons, and do
reasonably well against the computer, while longtime fans of Live
can pick this one up and fall right into their old ways. The NBA
season may still be in jeopardy, but Live is open for business
and always ready for a game. --Jeff Gerstmann
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