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NBA in the Zone '98

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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

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