NBA ShootOut 2003
Score: 90% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: 989 Sports Developer: EA Games Media: DVD/1 Players: 1 - 8 (Multitap) Genre: Sports
Graphics & Sound: NBA ShootOut 2003 is a good looking game, but isn't perfect by any means. 989 Sports did a wonderful job rendering all the arenas, as well as coming up with good looking player models for the NBA players. However, one issue I have with the graphics for ShootOut 2003 (along with most 989 Sports games) is that the animations don't look as fluid as I've seen in most games. This is less of an issue in ShootOut 2003 than it is in other games like NCAA GameBreaker 2003, but it is still noticeable. It stands out at some times more than others, however. The sound in ShootOut 2003 is good, but not anywhere close to what other games have done. The announcers are way too bland with their commentary. I haven't had the problem of them talking about something late or that isn't happening, but it just doesn't feel like I'm watching a real basketball game. There were some positive for the sound as well. One cool thing is that the crowd gets considerably louder as the home team gains momentum during a game. The sound effects of the players and in game happenings are well done. You can hear all the grunts, screeching shoes, and shaking rims of a real basketball game.
Gameplay: NBA ShootOut 2003 offers many different options for game play. You have your standard Exhibition, Season, and Playoff modes. But then you also have an interesting Career mode and a Practice mode for you to fine tune your skills. You can start right away by playing in Exhibition mode. This is just a single game against the computer (or a friend) that doesn't count for anything. If you want to go deeper, there is the standard Season mode. In Season mode, you select a team and choose the length of the season, playoffs, and turn on or off a variety of other options (like Trade Deadline). Playoffs mode allows you to skip the season and just play the playoffs. This also allows you to set the brackets up any way you want. You can also decide if the playoffs are the standard 5-7-7-7 format, or go with a single game format. They also have a Practice mode that allows you to practice your free throws or jump shots. The most interesting mode that ShootOut 2003 offers is the Career mode. In this mode, you create a player and specify all of his attributes. Then you start in the Summer League. If you perform well enough in the Summer League, you will be given an offer to play for an NBA team. If you continue to do well for your NBA team, you will remain on the roster. Otherwise, you will have to play in the NBDL (a minor league for the NBA).
Difficulty: NBA ShootOut 2003 has four difficulty settings: Rookie, Veteran, All Star, and Hall of Fame. Rookie is easy enough for someone just picking up a basketball game for the first time. Veteran provides more of a challenge to people who are playing ShootOut 2003 for the first time, but have played sports games before. On this difficulty, I was able to win 3 out of 4 games, but the games were close. When you step it up to All Star, the games got considerably harder. I lost my first 3 games, usually by blowout. I finally was able to win my 4th game, but not by much. NBA ShootOut 2003 seems to give a little you a little bit of lee-way when you are being blown out, however. I was losing by 18 to the Portland Trailblazers with about 2 minutes to go on All Star, and was able to come back and win. One of my players got hot, and the computer started getting called for a charge every trip up the floor. Hall of Fame difficulty will provide a challenge for any level of player for a while. As in all games, however, if you play it long enough, even that won't provide a challenge for you. If you find you are having problems getting the hang of any aspect of the game, ShootOut 2003's Practice mode is great for ironing out the wrinkles in your game. I had a hard time with free throw shooting, but after 10 minutes of practice, I'm able to hit about 90 percent of my free throws.
Game Mechanics: I was pleasantly surprised by the control of NBA ShootOut 2003. ShootOut 2003 offers several different camera angles, but the default camera angle lets you see everything you need to see. The only issue might be that you can't see the players that the computer is passing to because they are off camera, but I've never had that effect the game play. The controls are simplistic enough for a newcomer, but have enough advanced features to satisfy the veteran gamers. If you are new, you can get by with the pass and shoot buttons on offense and jump and steal buttons on defense until you get more comfortable with the game play. They do include more advanced things like a turbo button, unique dunks, and between the legs dribbling with more advanced knowledge of the controls. Memory card space in ShootOut 2003 is about average for sports games at 652 KB. It's hard to get much lower than that when you have to store all the stats for every player on every team. The loading times are a little slow, but reasonable. It takes about 20-30 seconds to load a game. The loading screens at least leave you waiting with a map of the controls. NBA ShootOut 2003 is a little rough around the edges, but overall a great game. It's probably the best game put out by 989 Sports and gives NBA Live 2003 some stiff competition. If you are looking at getting an NBA game this year, I would suggest at least giving this one a rent before going after another game.
-Dark Hornet, GameVortex Communications AKA Clovis Mello
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