2003 Sega
While Basketball games (and all other sports games for that matter) continue to find their way to both PS2 and Xbox in abundance, the humble GameCube may not get them all but its no slouch when it comes time to host one of the virtual renditions of a real-life sport.
The silver lining to Nintendo not receiving as many sports games is that when we do get them, we normally get the good ones, with the real stinkers finding their rightful place on other consoles.
While the Dreamcast never played host to any of EAs blockbuster sports franchises, sports game fans werent left out in the cold, because Sega came to the rescue and came up with some serious competition for EA. In the Basketball arena, Visual Concepts came up with their NBA franchise.
And this is the franchise that now follows Segas platform-agnostic approach and has hit all current consoles, finding its way to GameCube in the form of NBA 2K3, which confidently takes its place alongside the GameCubes Basketball elite.
Features
- Realistic interpretation of the real-life game
- Detailed players and stadiums
- Deep Franchise mode
- Virtual draft and configurable playing roster
- All-star teams from yesteryear
Mark Medina: The first thing youll notice when you boot up the disc is the sheer professionalism of its presentation. Using the newly acquired ESPN licence, all menus and interfaces are as smooth as silk. While initially confusing to the new player, once gotten used to the interface never gets in the way of the gameplay. After the first few matches youll be calling plays, substituting players, taking time outs, and passing to the correct players as though it were all second nature.
The graphics are more than what you expect from a Basketball game, all 10 players on the court are modelled with impressive accuracy, to the point where you can easily recognise players by face. Stadiums and the crowd are also just as impressive, and the player animations during gameplay and replays are absolutely top-notch. The speed of the game is also impressive, when compared to other GameCube NBA games (in particular NBA Courtside). Visual Concepts have had years to refine their Basketball franchise, and the 2K3 iteration is clearly their best effort yet.
Ball physics are just as impressive, as players dribble the ball it all looks impressively realistic; no matter if theyre simply bringing the ball down from defence or showboating around the court with crossover moves; the ball never looks like its stuck like glue to the players hands.
As with other modern Basketball games, running commentary is present and generally works well. Sometimes the commentary is a little stilted during quick-fire possession exchanges, but this minor problem doesnt affect overall enjoyment. The crowd also responds to the occasion, where theyll cheer wildly for their home team and jeer when the away team is winning.
The control system works very well and is quite intuitive, with analogue passing being the only thing worth complaining about due to its inconsistencies and leanings towards the closest teammate, but using the icon passing system adequately solves this, such is the completeness of the control system.
In terms of game modes, Visual Concepts have attempted to cater to everyone by including an extremely comprehensive Franchise mode, as well as a Tournament mode and Street mode. Gamers who love to cut their teeth into a long 82-game season, complete with player trading, coaches commands, All-Star weekends, rookie drafts, MVP awards, and all the other season-long goodies will easily waste away hours of their lives with the Franchise mode.
Those whod rather get straight into the play-off groove have the Tournament mode to keep them happy, and non-simulation fans have the equally entertaining Street mode to occupy themselves with.
As a simulation, NBA 2K3 is definitely the most realistic of the lot. In fact, itll take at least a few full matches before you register your first win, unless youre a veteran of Visual Concepts take on Basketball. In order to score consistently, an arcade style approach must be thrown out the window, and youll have to adopt a more real-life style of play to consistently score and eventually win matches.
In addition to the gripes mentioned above, another issue I wanted to mention was the lack of a 60hz option for the PAL game. While Basketball doesn't depend on a high framerate, it still would've been nice if Sega had incorporated a 60hz option as they did with Super Monkey Ball. If only to satisfy "Freeloader" users looking to play the PAL game on an NTSC system. It's a small complaint, but I think it's worthy of note.
The final thing to keep in mind is that NBA 2K3 requires 57 blocks to save its data, which in effect takes up an entire Memory Card 59. Clearly that data is reserved mainly for the Franchise mode, but it's an extra expense that should be taken into consideration when considering purchasing the game, though it's pretty much a similar story with most sports games on GameCube. Just keep that in mind.
In any case, its a game really for the hardcore Basketball fan and is probably a little too realistic for those brought up on NBA Jam whove now graduated to NBA Street and use EAs NBA Live series as their franchise game. Its easily the most realistic virtual interpretation of Basketball on console, as opposed to the slightly more arcadey EA interpretations, and worlds apart from the over-the-top arcadey NBA Street and NBA Jam.
Therefore, its an excellent game that probably wont appeal to most tastes, but if the utmost realism is paramount to your enjoyment, NBA 2K3 definitely fits the bill and is clearly worthy of your hard-earned currency.
So in conclusion, I wouldnt recommend it to the overall majority of sports game fans, but definitely for those who prefer the more cerebral game of Basketball.