Sega Genesis
Released in 1997 by EA Sports
Grade: B
It may not resemble real basketball a whole lot, but this game is certainly fun and lighthearted.
Where it falls in the series
It’s the last of four NBA Live games on Genesis. All four games basically use the same engine with some of the dials tweaked and a few new animations each year. I think NBA Live 96 is the best, most balanced game in the series, but most other people seem to prefer NBA Live 95.
Praises and gripes
This game has quick action that doesn’t try to emulate how basketball players actually move around on a court, but rather in a way that makes for fun video game basketball. The court feels large and the diagonal view helps make passing intuitive. You don’t often pass to the wrong guy.
The controls are simple (pass, shoot, and turbo), and you may as well ignore the convoluted playcalling system, because your teammates just move around randomly anyway.
The same old NBA Live problems are back: rebounds and loose balls are tough to track down, and AI defenders constantly get switched up and leave someone wide open. Fouls are random, but this game can be enjoyed with fouls turned off. On the bright side, the old trick of steering the other player out of bounds is fixed somewhat here, and the constant steals that ruin NBA Live 97 are dialed back.
There are some new animations for layups and dunks, but you’ll still see some awkward shots and accidentally shoot from behind the backboard.
The big difference in this version is that the game logic favors fast breaks and driving to the hoop. Deep shots don’t fall often enough (partly due to tricky timing on the shot animation) to be worth it.
The frequency of fast breaks is very unrealistic. Even after your opponent scores, you can sometimes rush upcourt for an uncontested dunk. This reminds me of youth basketball, where players work hard to score but are lazy about running back on defense. It works nicely for this game though, since playing patient half-court offense isn’t much fun with this simplistic basketball engine.
The end result is that it’s a fun, fast, silly game. I still think I prefer NBA Live 96, or at least I’d recommend it if you were only going to buy one of the NBA Live games.