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 In the PC hoops stakes, EA Sports’ NBA Live
series has ruled the roost for a long time now, and even though
NBA Live 98 is a real doozy, there’s always room for some
healthy competition. NBA Action 98, Sega’s first basketball
outing on the PC, takes the ball right at EA Sports, and despite a
few rookie mistakes, does a bang-up job of giving basketball fans
another option.
One of the most
noticeable mistakes is the lack of 3D hardware support. This game
supports several resolution modes, but even at the highest setting
of 640x480 with 16-bit color (which requires a P200 or better to get
a decent frame rate), the on-court graphics, while good, don’t
compare to Live 98. In the lower-res modes, things become a
blocky, pixelicious mess, giving you fits while you try to follow
the ball and your players’ positioning. The motion-captured moves,
however, are outstanding. There are even "signature moves" for
certain players. Real faces have been texture-mapped onto the
players, and the height and girth of each is accounted for in the
modeling. Again, while not quite up to Live 98’s standards,
it’s a decent job all around.
Which brings us
to the interface. While it’s not a sparkling example of efficiency
or style (you can’t use the mouse for example, betraying the game’s
console roots), it gets the job done, and allows you to tweak every
facet of the game to your liking. You can also create your own teams
and players with the easy-to-use editor, and the game will keep user
records so you can keep track of your individual stats.
The most
important area of any game is how well it plays, and this is where
Action 98 struts its stuff. Sure, there are some problems
that need to be addressed, but such is the case with every sports
game (including Live 98). The most noticeable ones are being
able to steal the ball from the computer too frequently, and
computer-controlled players that have the shot-blocking ability of
Manute Bol. The game clock moves a bit too slowly, so you’ll have to
cut down the quarter length to the eight-minute mark. And at the
highest difficulty level, the computer team has a marksman-like aim
at the basket. This last aspect actually gives the game good
longevity in the single-player mode, as it will take all your skill
to hang with the computer opponents. The middle level of difficulty
is quite challenging as well, and the intelligence of the players on
the court is exceptional. They will find the open man with a pass,
set monster picks to free up teammates, and play some tenacious
defense. They will even throw a long outlet pass to a teammate
streaking down court on the fast break; something that rarely
occurred in Live 98. The most noticeable of the improvements
over Live 98, however, is the presence of free throws. You
can adjust the frequency of calls at the start of a game, and calls
will be made for and against both human and computer-controlled
sides. The CPU squad is still favored by the zebras (referees), but
the discrepancy is tolerable. Multi-play supports as many as five
players, but only at the same computer using daisy-chained
controllers -- no LAN, modem, or Internet play is
available.
NBA Action
98 is a game that has to be played to be appreciated. If you
were to view Action 98 and Live 98 side by side, there
would be no comparison when it comes to sheer production value. But
you have to remember that EA Sports has been refining its basketball
franchise for a few years now, and Sega’s game
is a first effort, at least on the PC. The playability of both games
is similar, with each having a few flaws, but the nod actually goes
to Action 98, if only for the foul shooting. Kudos to Sega
for making an extremely playable and fun game, and I hope that next
year it can continue to improve on this solid effort and bring the
technology up to date.
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