NBA ShootOut 2004
Could this year's installment of NBA ShootOut be a true competitor against SEGA's nearly-flawless, former 2K franchise, ESPN NBA Basketball? We've got our fingers crossed.
Published: October 2, 2003
You've got to give 989 Sports credit. Although they've been notorious for releasing mediocre sports games in the past, and never seem to live up as a competitor to the EA Sports titles (or as of recent, the SEGA's ESPN titles), the developer is truly making progress in change this year. Its two recent football titles, NFL GameDay 2004 and NFL GameBreaker 2004, both noted some subtle and not-so-subtle improvements, and hopefully signify that 989 is on its way to getting the sports game formula right. Thus we arrive at this year's releases of basketball titles, and 989's NBA ShootOut 2004 truly looks to have enough "oomph" to break away from the fair ratings, and dabble into being referred to as a solid sports title. An immersive online gameplay, a slew of gameplay modes, improved technical features on the court and a batch of other juicy tidbits are factors that could very well combine seamlessly in order to craft ShootOut 2004 into an impressive basketball game.
To entirely get its neck into the world of online gaming, 989 Sports recently launched an online shrine for all 989 titles known as 989 Sports Online. In NBA ShootOut 2004, players will be able to dive head first into online gaming bliss using one username that ranges across all 989 Sports games. From here on in, the online features come in by the truckload, including real-time sports tickers, real-time chat, rankings, message boards, 64-man tournaments - all key essentials for you to get your online gaming groove on. If trash talking is your thing, 989 Sports Online also utilizes headset technology, which very wisely features voice recognition so that players can call timeouts, plays, picks, and so on without having to press a button. The sharpest of the online features may very well be ShootOut 2004's Online Career Mode, which allows players to challenge users all over the nation, while along the way, personal stats, records, wins and losses are all notched on and recorded. To keep things up to date, online roster and stat updates will take place weekly, so if a player gets injured or a certain player has been on his game, these stats will adjust accordingly to your team.
You'd be wrong to assume that with all of this attention spent on enhancing online play, NBA ShootOut 2004 lacks the at-home gameplay, for the new additions and improvements here are as abundant as ever. One of the most enticing new features is the ability to unlock 50 of the basketball's greatest (but now retired) players, ranging from Patrick Ewing to Magic Johnson to Wilt Chamberlain. The key? Score 100 points in a game, and you'll unlock one of the superstars. It's like NBA Street gone authentic.
Working your way up to the top is never easy in life, but with NBA ShootOut 2004's Career Mode, it's turned into a challenging but addictive objective. You'll start out small-time as a player in the Summer Pro League (SPL) and, with luck, will then move on up to the National Basketball Development League (NBDL). Replicating the true struggle of a player trying to go pro, you'll have to play hard in the NBDL and show that you've got what it takes to get signed, when you'll then finally be in the NBA. Playing alongside the pros may be intimidating for some, but that's where ShootOut 2004's Practice Mode comes into play. Intended mostly for the youngins and those new to the game, the Practice Mode provides a number of helpful tips and techniques to enable players to get their technical play down pat.
And speaking technicalities, the in-game action of NBA ShootOut 2004 has been so tweaked and reworked that it shows sign of even challenging that of SEGA's basketball titles. First off, 989 has insured that split-second plays are actually pulled off in a split second, thanks to the new QuickPlays. No more will you have to struggle with complicated multi-button combinations in order to call a give-and-go or signal a double team, for a variety of offensive and defensive plays can now be achieved with the press of a button, including give-and-gos, swing outs, cuts to the basket, double teams, deny/press defense and intentional fouls.
The improvements take place all over the court, ranging from precise control over ball handling on offensive to a new defensive system for stopping the opposition in its tracks. While taking the ball down the court, ShootOut 2004's Total Hoops Control gives players a real edge by making jukes, screening and shooting easily accessible and puts the control of the ball directly into the player's hands. Shooters have also been given a real makeover, as they will now exemplify a realer sense of momentum by drifting in the direction they're moving when going into a jump shot, ultimately having a direct effect on the shot's accuracy. In addition, potential shots can be either passed off or redirected while the shooter is in mid-air, giving players a real chance to execute those split-second decisions. ShootOut 2004's new post up game also creates a new layer of gameplay depth, allowing offensive players to back down defenders and enabling defenders to engage the ball handler in various ways. On D, players will intelligently align in formations, such as zone, help, collapse and box outs, based on the threat of the oncoming opposition. The game's new defined and smarter AI, as well as hot and cold streaks, will drastically put your basketball skills to work. Hitting three shots in a row will put your player on fire (not literally, although it very much represents the classic hot streaks of Midway's arcade sports games), but missing three of 'em consecutively will throw your player off of his game. Oh, and did we mention the game's Create a Player and incredibly addictive Create a Dunk modes? Now we did.
Visually, 989 Sports has tacked major improvements onto NBA ShootOut 2004 to make it a much cleaner and real-looking game. Player models are more detailed and customizable then ever, and 989 has taken the liberty to double the amount of animations featured in last year's ShootOut installment, which will give NBA ShootOut 2004 an obvious graphical improvement over its one-year predecessor. From dunks to through-the-legs dribbling, all of the game's player animations are done through the motion capturing of over a dozen NBA stars. You can also expect to see smarter collision detection in ShootOut 2004, and the game's revamped camera design will allow you to view the game from one of 13 independent cameras. And to make quick reference to the game's audio department, the recognizable voices of Bill Walton and Ian Eagle will be returning to call detailed play-by-play and deliver accurate commentary.
With so much to its advantage this year, NBA ShootOut 2004 has the potential to be a solid basketball title, so long as 989 Sports delivers the goods without the unnecessary bog-downs. The game is due out it October of this year, and we're praying as much as you are that 989 gets it right this year. We'll see in due time.
To entirely get its neck into the world of online gaming, 989 Sports recently launched an online shrine for all 989 titles known as 989 Sports Online. In NBA ShootOut 2004, players will be able to dive head first into online gaming bliss using one username that ranges across all 989 Sports games. From here on in, the online features come in by the truckload, including real-time sports tickers, real-time chat, rankings, message boards, 64-man tournaments - all key essentials for you to get your online gaming groove on. If trash talking is your thing, 989 Sports Online also utilizes headset technology, which very wisely features voice recognition so that players can call timeouts, plays, picks, and so on without having to press a button. The sharpest of the online features may very well be ShootOut 2004's Online Career Mode, which allows players to challenge users all over the nation, while along the way, personal stats, records, wins and losses are all notched on and recorded. To keep things up to date, online roster and stat updates will take place weekly, so if a player gets injured or a certain player has been on his game, these stats will adjust accordingly to your team.
You'd be wrong to assume that with all of this attention spent on enhancing online play, NBA ShootOut 2004 lacks the at-home gameplay, for the new additions and improvements here are as abundant as ever. One of the most enticing new features is the ability to unlock 50 of the basketball's greatest (but now retired) players, ranging from Patrick Ewing to Magic Johnson to Wilt Chamberlain. The key? Score 100 points in a game, and you'll unlock one of the superstars. It's like NBA Street gone authentic.
Working your way up to the top is never easy in life, but with NBA ShootOut 2004's Career Mode, it's turned into a challenging but addictive objective. You'll start out small-time as a player in the Summer Pro League (SPL) and, with luck, will then move on up to the National Basketball Development League (NBDL). Replicating the true struggle of a player trying to go pro, you'll have to play hard in the NBDL and show that you've got what it takes to get signed, when you'll then finally be in the NBA. Playing alongside the pros may be intimidating for some, but that's where ShootOut 2004's Practice Mode comes into play. Intended mostly for the youngins and those new to the game, the Practice Mode provides a number of helpful tips and techniques to enable players to get their technical play down pat.
And speaking technicalities, the in-game action of NBA ShootOut 2004 has been so tweaked and reworked that it shows sign of even challenging that of SEGA's basketball titles. First off, 989 has insured that split-second plays are actually pulled off in a split second, thanks to the new QuickPlays. No more will you have to struggle with complicated multi-button combinations in order to call a give-and-go or signal a double team, for a variety of offensive and defensive plays can now be achieved with the press of a button, including give-and-gos, swing outs, cuts to the basket, double teams, deny/press defense and intentional fouls.
The improvements take place all over the court, ranging from precise control over ball handling on offensive to a new defensive system for stopping the opposition in its tracks. While taking the ball down the court, ShootOut 2004's Total Hoops Control gives players a real edge by making jukes, screening and shooting easily accessible and puts the control of the ball directly into the player's hands. Shooters have also been given a real makeover, as they will now exemplify a realer sense of momentum by drifting in the direction they're moving when going into a jump shot, ultimately having a direct effect on the shot's accuracy. In addition, potential shots can be either passed off or redirected while the shooter is in mid-air, giving players a real chance to execute those split-second decisions. ShootOut 2004's new post up game also creates a new layer of gameplay depth, allowing offensive players to back down defenders and enabling defenders to engage the ball handler in various ways. On D, players will intelligently align in formations, such as zone, help, collapse and box outs, based on the threat of the oncoming opposition. The game's new defined and smarter AI, as well as hot and cold streaks, will drastically put your basketball skills to work. Hitting three shots in a row will put your player on fire (not literally, although it very much represents the classic hot streaks of Midway's arcade sports games), but missing three of 'em consecutively will throw your player off of his game. Oh, and did we mention the game's Create a Player and incredibly addictive Create a Dunk modes? Now we did.
Visually, 989 Sports has tacked major improvements onto NBA ShootOut 2004 to make it a much cleaner and real-looking game. Player models are more detailed and customizable then ever, and 989 has taken the liberty to double the amount of animations featured in last year's ShootOut installment, which will give NBA ShootOut 2004 an obvious graphical improvement over its one-year predecessor. From dunks to through-the-legs dribbling, all of the game's player animations are done through the motion capturing of over a dozen NBA stars. You can also expect to see smarter collision detection in ShootOut 2004, and the game's revamped camera design will allow you to view the game from one of 13 independent cameras. And to make quick reference to the game's audio department, the recognizable voices of Bill Walton and Ian Eagle will be returning to call detailed play-by-play and deliver accurate commentary.
With so much to its advantage this year, NBA ShootOut 2004 has the potential to be a solid basketball title, so long as 989 Sports delivers the goods without the unnecessary bog-downs. The game is due out it October of this year, and we're praying as much as you are that 989 gets it right this year. We'll see in due time.
