Courtside or Curbside?

"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's Double 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.



-gameplay- five out of ten
I score every time, and I don't even like basketball

-graphics- nine out of ten
Prettier than a Red Rider at Christmas

-audio- seven out of ten
I wanna hear some booyas.. c'mon

-replay- seven out of ten
More peeps = more fun

-overall- six out of ten
A bit better than average