Maybe you’ve played with him on the court: the guy who dribbles down the court hoisting three-pointers at every opportunity, barely catching rim while teammates under the basket are more open than a liquor store on New Year’s Eve.  Running back upcourt, he’ll selfishly gamble for the steal while his man scores an easy two under the basket.  Back at the house he plays the same way on your console machine.  Smacking the buttons, twisting the joystick, and molesting the controller.  That style of play reaps MVP honors on most console basketball games, but not so with Konami’s ESPN NBA 2Night 2002.  The game would burn him like a jalapeno enema.  And this is what makes NBA 2Night 2002 quite enjoyable. 

NBA 2Night features nearly up-to-date rosters for each NBA team in the 2001-2002 season.  Although the game was released well into the season, some of the later trades weren’t included.  The rankings of the teams and players are sometimes as poor as the Clippers’ draft picks of the 90’s.  The last place New York Knicks are the highest ranked team at 85, while real-life first place teams like Detroit and New Jersey wallow in the mid-60’s.  Released in late February, NBA 2Night should have adjusted ratings based on this year’s statistics. 

NBA 2Night features the usual modes of gameplay.  Exhibition, Playoffs, Season, and Franchise offer the gamer several choices for commitment.  Recreate your likeness in create-a-player and deliver facials to the cream of the court. 

Actual gameplay is good or bad, depending on how you look at it.  If you are a frantic button pusher who likes to see three-pointers caress the bottom of the net regardless of how many defenders are on you, this game isn’t for you.  NBA 2Night pushes you to come off a screen or hit the open man off a double team to score, not just free wheel and fast break.  Stealing the ball requires anticipating passes and jumping into the passing lane instead of harassing the ball handler.  Practice makes perfect, and a few reps of the game and you could well be on your way to your own three-peat.  Almost every great play in the game is earned, a satisfying feature.

As is essential in any sports game, much of the little things other games overlook are done well in NBA 2Night 2002.  Little intangible features make the game run smoothly and keep downtime to a minimum.  Substitutions can be set up for the next stoppage in time, controlling a specific player is easy to assign, the computer will make mistakes, and length-of-the-court passes are authentically difficult.  The title screens may look a little outdated, but navigating them is fairly easy.

NBA 2Night’s graphics are very good… from afar.  Although you can’t see Kevin Garnett’s signature scowl, you can see him fluidly move down the lane and finger roll his way to a deuce, which is more important.  Players move well, fakes could break ankles, and the motion captured dunks look ferocious.  Once you get close up, however, players aren’t quite as detailed, making it hard to tell who is who.  NBA 2Night does lack a bit of atmosphere that makes the NBA enjoyable to watch.  The courts and arenas look plain, whining coaches are nonexistent, and nothing outside the court comes into play.  The graphics serve the game of basketball rather than the celebrity of its players, which is alright by me.

ESPN’s Stuart Scott and long time commentator Brent Musberger team up for the gameplay chatter consisting of the usual talk plus Scott’s trademark “Boo-Yah!”s and other ESPNisms.  NBA 2Night suffers from the same untimely praises for mediocre plays other sports titles do, but Scott’s originals provide some amusement.  Most of the music is horrid.  The intro rap sounds like winners of your local junior high school talent show, and none of the tracks deliver the goods needed to get players pumped for the big game.  The audio does get a boost from the stadium.  Crowd chants and bleacher stomping sound great, and generate a real live feeling. 

Because NBA 2Night gives more attention to the actual game of basketball than the glitz of the NBA and the glamour of its players, basketball enthusiasts will enjoy earning their points.  Arcade-style sports fans won’t be disappointed, but may want to crossover to another title.

Gameplay: 8

Setting picks and hitting the open man make this a more technical basketball game than simple drive and dunk.

Graphics: 6

The player motion hits nothing but net, but the detail is an air ball.

Sound: 6

Most of the music sounds like rejected demos, and Stuart Scott and Brent Musberger don’t quite fit the bill, but the stadium ambience creates a good setting.

Difficulty: 8

It helps to know how to play basketball, and getting used to using all the buttons can take some time.

Concept: 6

Nothing new and exciting here.  Simply NBA basketball.

Multiplayer: 9

Playing against each other or as a team is almost as fun as the real thing.

Overall: 8

A very good basketball game provided it’s given a chance.  Perhaps not the most complete basketball title, but definitely a contender.