NBA Live '98
Reviewed by Dyson Turner
NBA Live '98 brings back fond memories. This is the absolute
best Live to ever hit Playstation all the other lives need
to tremble before it, this is the back bone of them all.
Seriously look at the 3 NBA Lives after it you will notice
that they are all similar to this one except with a few new
features and players added. NBA Live '98 still and always
will be my favorite Live it even toppled the mega giant
known as NBA Live '96. No one thought it would be done it
was possible this Live had it all dunks smooth animation
speed everything in the basketball you could want. It wasn't
lacking in any department in my opinion.
Graphics 10/10
Smooth as ice graphics for '98 all other sports sims at the
time could only dream of graphics like these for there sim.
Live '98 had a huge characters and highly detailed faces,
this is the first time the faces were this detailed in a
live, and almost all the major players looked similar to
their real life counterparts. Live '98 scored big in the
section of basketball court realism the court was done well
although the fans could have used the tuning but for the
first time the bench moved! This was a good choice and even
added to the realism and gave something for the on looker
who watched you play to look at. The dunk animations
couldn't been smoother everything moved with a true to life
fluid realism that you really had to admire. The animations
just haven't been this good, and finally we get a game
that's decent to look at and decent to play.
Sound 10/10
NBA Live was always notorious for it's great music and this
game wasn't any different/ This live had the best options
menu music you could want. Everything sounded great and
actually got you pumped up when you were tweaking those
options for play. The commentary on this game was equally
good I had no complaints in that market. I mean it could
have been better but this is when they were just learning
but they at least tried to keep up with the action, which is
a difficult thing this day and age. The on court sound
effects were pretty good as well you had a variety of them
from player yelps after a hard flagrant and them hitting the
hard wood, to the sheer pop after a big guy just took it
hard to the rack. The dribbling was perfectly in sync with
the basketball movement on the screen, which was noticeably
absent from the 97 version. Overall I enjoyed the music on
this game and I have to say it did come close to what my
expectations were back then.
Game Play 10/10
This game was for 1-8 players. It offered a lot of new modes
way better than the '97 version. The created player mode
took a huge step in the right direction. It had new and
better faces, you can make a bigger guy, and weight actually
matter. You can make a 7'10 guy weighing in at 130 and he'll
get bowled over by mostly everybody in the paint. In '97 it
didn't matter as long as he was tall. You also had the
regular season mode short 26, medium 52, and long full 82
games. The A. I. was still weak. Even at superstar you can
easily blow pass them by unbelievable scores. You also had
custom teams that you can name and you had 8 different logos
to choose instead of just 4 like the older ones. There was
also the generated all star games. This game also
had the 3 point contest which was always fun this year the
guy of choice would be Kukoc he had the highest 3 point
rating next to him would be of course Glen Rice. Most
players played true to life, it didn't matter who was in the
paint nobody was stopping Shaq. Rodman could grab
over the best of them just like real life. EA sports real
put a lot in the realism of this game. That's what I liked
about it unlike other games where a guy like Stockton can
give Shaq body in the whole none of that is seen here. Then
you had the realism in the calling all the realistic calls
were there none of the street ones like reaching that were
seen in games like NBA Jam which I like better. I like the
fact tat they only stuck with true NBA Calls. The difficulty
was adjustable. This game took 7 blocks of memory for a full
stat tracked season.
Overall 10 out of 10
This is a absolutely fabulous game and one of my all time
favorite games, and it shows. This game really defined what
NBA Live was all about and why it was so much fun to play it
should have been Sports Game of the Year easily. Just
because it looked and played so much better than the
previous Lives and every other Basketball simulation on the
market. It was the best sports game at the time in my
opinion. The fun factor on this game is through the roof
since this one was fast like the 00 and 01 version, and was
just more fun no nonsense. The replay value is high even
though 3 lives came after it I still would rather go and
play this one in a tourney than the latter 3. This game had
it all and was the most complete out of all the NVA Lives.
Although finding a brand new copy of Live 98 today would be
really rare since I doubt there are too many left. I advise
getting a used copy and reliving the enjoyment or seeing for
yourself just how great this is it's really worth it and I
really advise you getting it.
Debt Help - Free Credit Report - Mortgages - Loans - Cheap Flights 