Just another one for the pile of bad basketball games.
Playstation 1
Released in 1998 by Konami
Grade: D
This game is totally mired by sluggish controls and lifeless gameplay. The action bares little resemblance to basketball.
Where it falls in the series
It’s the third of five In The Zone games on PS1, and it’s the first on N64. On the next generation, Konami released NBA Starting Five and two NBA 2Night games before they retired from basketball altogether.
Gripes
The control is clunky. You can hardly ever dribble past a defender; you get stuck to him as soon you make contact. The “action” button for dribble moves doesn’t help a whole lot.
You end up passing around a bunch, which really sucks because AI teammates just stand around. The game doesn’t have “plays” per se; it has a few useless “formations.” If you figure a way to work the ball around for an open shot, you’ll find that you can’t catch and shoot smoothly. You have to wait a beat before launching a shot, just enough time for a defender to reach you.
By PS1 standards, the graphics are okay, but as you can imagine, they haven’t aged well. There’s a decent amount of definition and color, but animations are sluggish and awkward. Players look like they’re running through water. The jumpshot doesn’t look like a jumpshot, and the ball doesn’t soar through the air gracefully.
The game moves slow in general. There’s even a complete stop after a made basket, where everyone stands still for a moment. It may not affect the gameplay much, but it’s just a horrible blemish that reinforces the feeling that this game is a piece of junk.