989 Sports has always seemed to be chasing the
pack of EA and Sega in the basketball videogame universe, and the 2K4 round of
games is no exception. There are several very interesting features within NBA
Shootout that keep your interest, but ultimately, the collision detection
problems and erratic AI keep you from placing this game on the same level as the
competition.
First, the goodness. The NBA Shootout Career mode approaches life differently
than the other games. Here, you get the chance to create a player, play with him
during summer leagues, and go for the big contract to play in the big show or go
back to the minors for more skill development. Unfortunately, the “offers” I saw
didn’t go into dollar amounts, etc, amounting mostly to a pass/fail type
approach to making the team. Show me the money!
Another major innovation that just might make the leaders sit up and take
notice is voice recognition. Having the ability to call for a pass, set a
defense, send cutters, etc by yelling it out rather than pressing a series of
buttons, really adds to the immersive aspects of the game. Online voice chat
(meaning trash talking) also give you that “almost sweaty” feel to the game that
means you are having fun while schooling the pretenders.
A neat feature is the automatic slo-mo action shots of your most spectacular
dunks and blocks. You know you nailed it and your opponent can only sit back and
groan as King James crashes the lanes and throws down a monster jam in full slo-mo
glory. This is a fun game to play with kids, because they can pick up the
controls easily and be dunking with the best in no time.
Finally, the “create-a-dunk” feature allows the player to customize one of 12
dunks to fit their specific style. This created the single funniest episode of
my gameplay here, by hitting a dunk where, at the end of the dunk, my feet and
body were 12 feet up in the air and parallel to the floor. We ran that through
instant replay several times just to get all the laughs. Unfortunately, the
“create-a-dunk” portion of the dunk was compressed into about 0.1 seconds of the dunk
time, so without slo-mo instant replay, you would miss it.
The flaws in this game are mostly related to graphics and player AI. There
were a fair amount of collision detection issues, with players hands passing
through other bodies, dunkers going right through the backboard, etc. The
referee models were highly realistic, in that they seemed to be sleepwalking
half of the time. It was kind of funny to see a ref kicking a ball ALL THE WAY
down the court just trying to pick it up and never quite able to. Players away
from the ball often seemed to stand around and not be very active. Another big
problem with the AI is what happens when you do knock a ball loose from a
player. No one dives for the ball, not even the player you stole it from. It
takes at least a second or two for anyone to react.
Passing the rock is pretty simple, just keep pressing X until a guy is open
and then take the shot. The shot control is pretty tight, with some nice action
and options for adjusting your shot on the fly and passing out of a jump shot. I
never could get the mini-plays feature to work very well, but you can send
cutters or call for a pick, etc.
All in all, 989’s effort is interesting, giving us a 3rd option on playing
NBA basketball on the PS2 but I’m afraid that it still lags significantly behind
the leaders. The voice recognition is cool, but probably not enough to make it
worthwhile to pick up over the Sega and EA offerings.
Gameplay: 7.8
Voice recognition, individual career mode, and create a dunk put NBA
Shootout on the right path. Improving the player and referee AI will take the
journey further. As mentioned before, the game is very accessible to fans, with
a simple control scheme and easy access to options that make the game enjoyable.
Graphics: 6.9
In this day and age, it is critical to get collision detection right, player
models have to look realistic, and arenas need to look as real as possible. 2K4
looks good, but suffers in comparison with the other games in the genre.
Sound: 7.0
The sound seemed spot on, really almost not noticeable as a separate game
element, which means it did its job. The voice interaction and chat components
really do add to the overall game experience.
Difficulty: Easy
My son and I were able to sit down and immediately launch into a series of
games, with more instruction from me on the finer points of basketball play than
what buttion to mash. This game was very accessible to all players and doesn’t
let the complexities take away from the fun. The difficulty level can be
ratcheted upwards by trying to master the 50 challenges laid out to unlock
historical players, such as score 30 points with a point guard from the Knicks
or get five blocks with a center from the Rockets. This adds to the replay value
of the game, especially if you want to play with some of the old players from
NBA history.
Concept: 8.1
I give 989 kudos for being willing to branch out and try a new tack in
career/franchise building. Allowing games to build up a player RPG-like through
summer leagues, etc, gives a new twist to an old game idea. I would love to see
the same idea played out in baseball, football, and hockey, but with realistic
player contracts, injuries, etc that you must deal with
Multiplayer: 7.5
Online voice chat and lag-free gaming make this a contender in the online
Overall: 7.2
I enjoyed playing NBA Shootout 2004, and will probably keep it near the
console for the winter so I can use it with my boys as we prepare for basketball
on the real courts. If you are a 989 fan, this game is definitely worthwhile and
will give you hours of play time, but if you are looking for the best b-ball
game on the consoles this year, look to Sega and EA, as they triumph once again.
