Sound:  
The sound on Courtside is, for the most part, very good. The commentary from the primary announcer is surprisingly deep. Most every player has some personal tidbits that are specific to them, and the announcer mixes them in well. The general commentary also manages to stay pretty fresh. For the most part, in a standard 3-5 minutes quarter game, you won’t hear a repetitive commentary more than a couple times a game, and that is pretty amazing to me. The color commentator, on the other hand, is just incredibly stupid. He has about 5 different lines, and seems to throw them out randomly. If the main commentator is talking about a player bricking a shot, the color guy will proudly state, “Truer words were never spoken, young man!” It’s stupid, and is the only thing that makes the commentary seem truly mechanically automated. Despite the color commentary, the main package still keeps my seal of approval. Usually, sports games become incredibly repetitive, and Courtside remains remarkably fresh, and I am not usually impressed by sports games’ sound. I also appreciate that all the player names are used in the commentary. I hate on games like Madden, where you draft a big time player out of college, but he has a name that isn’t recorded in the commentary, and you get to spend the next 15 years hearing about the big plays you got out of “#17”. Why not spend the time to put in any names you will use in the game? It makes it that much easier for a player to enjoy playing the game. Sorry to get off on a tangent there, but it shows how much I appreciate what Courtside did in the sound department.

Gameplay:  
The modes of play in Courtside allow for just about any kind of play you would want. There is a Season mode, where you play a season (duh). There are also Exhibition games, where you can pick up and play a game with three of your buddies. You can shoot it out in a 3 Point contest, if that’s your cup of tea. Sadly, there is no Franchise mode, but I’ll take the absence of that in place of having the game during the actual NBA basketball season. Perhaps the type of game that can be the most enjoyable, and at the same time the most frustrating, is the Arcade mode. It’s an NBA Jam type game, with 3-on-3 play and over-the-top, high-flying dunks. It’s definitely a blast, but one aspect can frustrate even the most seasoned player. There can appear spots on the court that can be worth up to 6 points if you shoot from them and make it. Somehow, the computer will tend to get a lot of these towards the basket, which can lead to them getting easy 6 point dunks, while you may only get ones that appear in 3 point territory. While they tend to keep the score close for the computer if it falls behind, it can also allow for the computer to run away with a game if it gets ahead. It’s annoying, but can also be turned off if you so desire.

90% of the play on the court is also a plus for the game, but some aspects can grow tiresome as well. The heart of the game plays very, very well. However, the play of the CPU can detract some from the overall experience. For one thing, the CPU can pretty much score whenever it wants to. It can just dribble around until it finds the hole in your CPU controlled defenders, and drive to the hoop for an easy score. Also, when the game difficulty is turned up, the CPU doesn’t really play any differently, it just gets its shooting percentage ramped up to insane levels. I played a game while I’ve been writing this, and in that game, which I played on the highest difficulty, the CPU shot 13-15 in the first half. The two shots it missed were full-court desperation heaves at the end of the first and second quarters. This is ridiculous to me. I have played a lot of basketball games, and none have had this kind of broken AI system for the CPU controlled teams. While it really is only a major problem at the highest difficulty level, it is still something that should have been worked around. It doesn’t undo enough of the good to keep me from enjoying it, but it definitely keeps Courtside from crossing that threshold of “good” sports games into the league of “great” sports games.

Control:
The scheme laid out for Courtside is well built around the Cube controller. The A button shoots and jumps/blocks. B passes and steals. On offense Y is a special dribble, crossover, etc… and X switches your hand of your dribble. On defense, X switches to the player closest to the hoop, and Y switches to the player closest to the ball. The player switching can be tough to get used to, but once you are accustomed to it, it really works out well. R will let you back down a defender or put you in a crouched defensive position. L is used as an “Adrenaline” button. It is similar to a turbo button, but instead of simply making you run faster, it makes everything you do that much flashier. Your simple crossovers become spin moves, and a dunk turns into a 360 tomahawk. It’s really a nice new concept, and is also implemented to different degrees depending on how far you hold the L button down. Perhaps the best new feature though, is the C-stick passing. It really allows you to feel like you can hit any player at any time once you get the hang of it. In all, the controls allow the game to flow well, and are easy enough to pick up quickly, and deep enough to allow for fine tuning over time.

Multiplayer:
Courtside is a fun game for you and a bunch of your friends to gather ‘round the Cube and play. Whether you throw all four of you on one team, or split up to play each other and talk some trash, it is a good time. Between regular games and Arcade mode, there is also enough variety to please even the most finicky of your friends, even though in Arcade mode you have to have at least one friend on a different team if you play with four people. (There’s only 3-on-3.)

OVERALL:
Courtside is a very complete package. It allows you to play through a full season or just pick up and play with your buddies. While it does have its down sides, they don’t overwhelm the positives enough to make it a poor game. If you are a big time basketball buff, you probably already have this one. However, with the pending release of NBA 2K2, most who are wanting a basketball game probably could wait and draw conclusions after seeing both in action.

 

The Lowdown on  NBA Courtside 2002 Aesthetics: Awesome Control: Very Good Gameplay: Very Good Multiplayer: Awesome Sound: Very Good Innovation: 4/6 Lasting Appeal: 5/6 Overall: Very Good! "A Must-Buy"