Sega Genesis
Released in 1996
Grade: B-
This retweaking of the NBA Live engine only changes things for the worse.
Where it falls in the series
It’s EA’s eighth basketball game on Genesis, but just the third with the NBA Live name and trademark gameplay.
Praises and gripes
At a glance, it’s hard to tell the difference between this and NBA Live 96. The familiar diagonal view, quick players, and responsive controls are back again. That’s all good.
On the downside, the impossible rebounding, braindead defenders, random fouls, and limited offensive strategies also make their return. That’s not all good.
And what’s worse? The players now have butterfingers. They lose the ball constantly. Whenever players come in contact, they slide around together, and it’s either a foul or a loose ball. And what’s even worse about that? Loose balls can be really hard to pick up in this game. The players are so quick they’re tough to control in small spaces, and you’re bound to run right by the ball more than a few times.
I suppose this change could be meant to inspire more passing, and one strength of the Live series is that passing works well. But nobody told the CPU players, who stupidly dribble in place until you knock the ball away, even on the “all-star” difficulty setting.
Other new additions include shadows on the uniforms and new layup animations; in other words, nothing is substantially improved upon from the previous version. There’s a three-point contest, which inexplicably requires you to learn a new shooting system, and a “shootout” mini game, where you can actually practice shooting and practice picking up the ball, which, as luck would have it, will actually be useful if you plan to play this game seriously.
It’s a bummer because it’s obvious what they could have changed to make a better game: better defensive AI, easier rebounding, less sliding, an offensive play that actually works, something resembling a screen … any of these things.
In EA’s defense, they were busy making NBA Live games on PS1 and Saturn around this time, and 32-bit basketball presents its own challenges.
This game is good enough that if I was dropped on a remote island with a Genesis and only this game, I’d play it a lot (after adjusting a few settings). But since I own NBA Live 96, I probably won’t play it again.