Most would agree that last year's NBA Live did not live up to the high expectations for a definitive hoops game on a supposedly superior console. Problems included inconsistent frame rates, jerky player animation and a loose control mechanism. Therefore, once again the expectations for a much improved Live game was high. Unfortunately, nothing much has changed. The graphical end and presentation are top notch and are much better than last year, but who cares? As with any sports game, playability must come first and it would appear the developers missed the mark this year in trying refine the gameplay to match the glossy front end that EA Sports is famous for.

The graphical improvements are very noticeable when compared to last year's game. Players have been brought to life by increasing the number of polygons to give a very natural life-like appearance. Life-like bodies and heads virtually make every NBA player a spitting image of their real-life counterpart. This includes fine details such as: tattoos, accessories, afros and shoes. The animation is incredibly fluid thanks to the developers ability to implement hundreds of new motion capture animations and a more steady framerate. A nice visual touch is how the developers paid a lot of attention to the players' faces. You can now clearly see what is going on from the player's eyes. There is a heavy emphasis on cinematic moments from pre-game through the heat of the moment by introducing new cut scenes which focus on emotional player-player and player-referee interactions. The instant replay camera offers some special effects like motion blur and letterboxing to add to the intensity of the on court action.
An attempt has been made to recreate each arena but this is nothing more than adding a few court details and changing the clock. And even after all of these graphical upgrades the game still does not feel or look as natural as it could be.

The gameplay suffers in most part from the annoying camera. Even though you have the ability to cycle through a number of views, not one of them allows you to get a proper viewpoint of the court. The end to end camera is too low and as a result things can get choppy and confusing. I fell in love with how Visual Concepts handled the camera in the NBA2K series. Ever since, I have had difficulty finding anything else comfortable. Then try controlling the players. It is a lesson in frustration as they do not respond as they should. Running out of bounds happens much too often, especially when using spin moves. Trying to get rebounds is near impossible. Most of the time the ball goes through bodies, drops to the floor and is eventually picked up by someone. Just pray that someone is on your team. The A.I. doesn't seem to effect strategy all that much. For example, I can have my defense all over the ball carrier, yet it does little to effect his ability to take a perfect shot every time. The alley-oop move is too easy to use and becomes much too common in an average game. The thrill of pulling off alley-oops tires quickly. Even the free throw mechanism is ancient. Try to center the shot as one ball goes horizontally and then vertically. Surely the advanced analog features of the Dual Shock 2 could have been utilized here to try something different.

As with any EA Sports product, NBA Live 2002 is full of gameplay modes and extra features. Main modes include: Quick Start, Season, Playoffs, Practice and the new 1 on 1. The 1 on 1 mode is similar in many ways to NBA Street minus all of the glitzy moves and dunks. Therefore, what was the purpose? It's fun to play as Jordan in this mode but you are left feeling a little flat as there is little emotion. Speaking of Jordan, the game also sports a nifty Legends roster which allows you to take Hall of Famers and Court Legends 5-on-5 or 1-on-1. You can even trade current players for them. We enjoyed teaming up Jordan, Bird and Carter on the Raptors. The create-a-player mode is present and easy to use thanks to the unlimited creation points. The franchise mode is a welcome addition as you can build a team from the ground up and then manage them from season to season. This includes drafting rookies as you push into the post-season.

NBA Live 2002 does offer a lot of replay value if you can tolerate the shoddy gameplay mechanics. Otherwise in a couple of months Sega's NBA2K2 will be available and judging from their experience with hoops, things should be a lot tighter.