Best NBA Video Game?
About once every two to three years I like to pick up the latest NBA video game out on the market. My first NBA video game was for the Sega Genesis back in the early 90s, NBA Live. If I recall correctly, this game was set in the '90/'91 season, making the Lakers the top team in the game, although the Bulls and Pistons were considerable forces as well.
My next NBA game was NBA Live '95, also for the Sega Genesis. This game greatly improved on the playability of the earlier game I had: the action was faster, the narration much more interesting. There was a turbo button that would make a player sprint. The only problem was that if you held down the turbo button while shooting, your shooting percentage went through the roof. Not being the most dexterous person, I could never hold down the turbo button and the shooting button simultaneously, but my younger brother could, and he would never hesitate to pull out that moved on me when I had a substantial lead. He'd just start jacking up 3s with his little cheat, hitting 80+% of them.
Following NBA Live '95, I picked up an NBA game for the Nintendo 64, NBA Live 2000. This was was set in the '98/'99 season, when the Spurs won it all. The game was all right, definitely a major improvement on the graphics, but the AI was still weak, and it still didn't feel like real basketball, but rather more of an arcade game that lightly simulated basketball.
All of this was changed with my most recent game, Sega's NBA 2k3 for the XBOX. NBA 2k3 offerred the realism that had been sorely missing from all other NBA games I had played in the past. There were some annoyances, sadly, one of the main ones being that players would stop to catch the ball when receiving a pass. Nothing is more infuriating than trying to run a fast break, trying to execute a give and go, but when doing the “giving” having the man come to a dead stop, allowing the defense to catch up. Meh. Also, NBA 2k3 made the opposing team's point guard too good. They could always blow by me as I guarded them, forcing me to call double-teams.
In any event, I think I'm ready for a new NBA game, one for the XBOX. Right now I'm leaning toward ESPN NBA 2k5, as it sounds like it's still the ideal choice for a realistic game of ball. Also, it's got quite a low sticker price, $19.95, compared to its competitors that are priced ~$35-40. The other standard basketball game is NBA Live 2005, but I've always had an arcade-like experience playing NBA Live games (too many dunks, fast breaks, one-on-one play, etc.).