NBA in the Zone '98
Reviewed by Scott McCall
After some rather impressive showings on the PlayStation, many
had high hopes for NBA In the Zone '98 on the Nintendo 64. Well, all
hopes have since been squashed. Even though I'm not a big basketball
fan, I can still tell that NBA In the Zone '98 is a paltry attempt
at a b-ball game. After International Superstar Soccer 64, how
could have Konami gone so wrong? I'm guessing the different
development teams had something to do with it, but it's still
amazing just how much worse NBA In the Zone '98 is.
For starters, the graphics in NBA In the Zone '98 are some of
the worst on the system. The animation is quite choppy, the
game moves too slow, and the graphics are just plain blurry.
But graphics aren't the game's biggest problem; its biggest
problem is that it doesn't play realistically -- and that doesn't
mean it's more arcade-like to be fun. The way the ball drops after
rebounds, along with the other inaccurate ball physics, the lack
of strategy, and the terrible passing scheme all completely
ruin the experience. Furthermore, the artificial intelligence is
woefully lacking, with guys standing by idly and the computer
hardly trying to play a team game.
Everything about the game isn't bad, however. As a matter of
fact, the sound in NBA In the Zone '98 is pretty good. There are
some great-sounding rap tracks at the title screen and in the menus,
and there are a ton of sound effects, including calling out player
and team names and the score as well as some occasional
play-by-play comments. On the other hand, all of the effects sound
tinny, and the environment isn't very enticing with rare organ music
and rare crowd reactions.
Another good thing is all of the optional choices in the game. For
example, in the options you can change the quarter length, toggle
stamina, choose a different camera angle, and change the
difficulty level. Some of the rules you can change are the
various second violations, fouling out, goal tending, and the
shot clock violation. You can also change the controller
configuration, which is a very good thing, but there are some
limitations to doing that, which also makes this a catch-22
situation. For instance, you cannot assign a button to do two
things, you cannot use the L or R buttons, and you cannot use
the Control Pad.
Even though it had a two and a half month head start over all
other five-on-five basketball simulations on the N64, you
would have still been better off avoiding NBA In the Zone '98
because the graphics are yucky, the realism isn't there, and
overall, the game just doesn't feel right. Konami's next effort
is going to have to take a gigantic leap if it expects to compete
with the likes of NBA Courtside.
Graphics: 2.6 out of 5
Sound: 3.3 out of 5
Control: 3.0 out of 5
Gameplay: 2.3 out of 5
Lastability: 2.7 out of 5
Overall: 2.8 out of 5