You'll have at least a complete season under your belt before you really master all combinations. Figuring out what the buttons can really do, however, is a major task. Crossovers, fakes, and alley-oops are yours to command. If you do, then you're in for a treat thanks to an enormous variety of moves and shots. First of all, the controls are very well done, provided you have enough buttons on your gamepad. Actually, I think that this game is as close to a true simulation of basketball on the PC as is possible right now. The surprise is only complete with noting that NBA Live 99 is very strong in the gameplay department. Certainly, a major area to upgrade for the next edition. It's as if you're playing training match with a few dozen people hanging around the arena. No trash talking from the players, either. The announcer is more the standard stuff and nothing to write home about while the in-game sounds are close to a silent court: you hear the feet and the occasional defense, defense! but nowhere near as much noise as you expect from your average NBA game. Furthermore, the sound effects are relatively weak. The mix between typical gamepad- and mouse-maneuvering is just not convincing even though it sure works if you know how to handle it.
The same holds true for post game statistics, save game screens, and so on. If you don't know where you can control the substitutions you will have a hard time finding them. Watching them for a minute can give you a headache after a good day's work. Not because of the image quality but because the video sequences are too short.
Actually, the video is as bad as it gets. It was big news to me that this year's edition of NBA Live is no good in that area. Let's begin with the introduction video which is a usual EA strength. And this year, I volunteered to look at NBA Live 99 and guess what: it's a pleasant surprise. Last year, I played the surprisingly strong NBA Action 98, which offered gamers a direct understanding of the usual gameplay weaknesses in EA Sports titles. You know, I am not addicted enough to churn out solid money for only partially improved versions.
The last edition of the NBA Live series I played was back in 1996. Therefore, most of my experience comes from playing computer basketball since the legendary Dr. Rumor goes that there is a rule calling for this to be a non-contact sport, but you know, it's wrong. In school basketball, I usually got beat fair and square in the shooting and in the physical game. Sadly, the truth is if I am bad at any sport it must be basketball.
People assume that since I am comparably tall (hey, I edge out Johnny Stockton, ain't that good?) I should be good at the game. Every once in a while, I am asked to play some street ball.
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