NBA Live 98
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''NBA Live 98'' is a
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
based on the
National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...
and the fourth installment of the '' NBA Live'' series. Its cover art features Tim Hardaway of the
Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern C ...
. The game was developed by
EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they imitated real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" (EASN) ...
in 1997 for
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, PlayStation, and
Sega Saturn The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it is the successor to the succes ...
, while also being the final ''NBA Live'' game released for the Super NES, Genesis, and
Sega Saturn The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it is the successor to the succes ...
. The game introduced the now-standard feature of passing to any teammate with a single button press. Its graphical improvements included new player designs modeled after actual player photographs. The PC version introduced support for 3D acceleration, utilizing 3dfx's Glide API. The PlayStation, PC, and Saturn versions feature
Ernie Johnson Jr. Ernest Thorwald Johnson Jr. (born August 7, 1956) is an American sportscaster for TNT Sports (United States), TNT Sports. He is the television voice and a studio host for Major League Baseball on TBS, hosts ''Inside the NBA'' for ESPN, Americ ...
as studio announcer. Play-by-play commentary is performed by TNT/ TBS color analyst Verne Lundquist in the PlayStation and PC versions. The game was met with generally positive reviews, with praise for its graphics and new gameplay features, though the Saturn port was criticized as being a slipshod conversion. ''NBA Live 98'' is followed by '' NBA Live 99''.


Gameplay

The game features rosters from the 1997–98 NBA season. New features include the "Total Control" system, that allows players to choose between a dunk or layup or pass to any teammate with the press of a button. "Tight" player moves allow players to spin, crossover, back down, ball fake and more on command. Player lock lets players always control a specified player on court. Though it is set during the 1997–98 season, Chicago Bulls superstar Michael Jordan is not featured in the game. This was because Jordan was not part of the National Basketball Players Association and at the time the cost of licensing his individual name and likeness for video games was approximately $15 million a year, beyond the total budget of most video games. Jordan is replaced by the fictional "Roster Player" in the Bulls lineup. However, Charles Barkley made his first appearance in ''Live 98'' as a member of the
Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA) ...
. Motion capture work was done by NBA players Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond, Larry Johnson, Joe Dumars and Christian Laettner.


Features

New modes introduced include GM Mode, which lets players choose franchises, draft players and play custom seasons, and the Three-Point Shootout, which can be played using full or split screen. Four difficulty levels are available, including a new Superstar difficulty level, along with improved AI with smarter players and more accurate stats. With the introduction of 3D players, courts, and jerseys came an opportunity to patch and update these aspects of the game, including with the EA Graphics Editor software.


Reception

The PlayStation release received mostly positive reviews. Critics praised the detailed player graphics, new animations, interface, music, and the
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sequences. '' GamePro'' commented, "What makes Live '98 so enjoyable to play is its fantastic mixture of NBA realism and wild arcade action." '' GameSpot'' assessed it as an across-the-board improvement over '' NBA Live 97''. Critics hailed the number of new gameplay features, with the three-point competition, custom team feature, icon passing, and direct ducking all earning particular mention. A few criticisms were voiced, but they did little to impact the critic's overall recommendation. For example, Jay Boor of '' IGN'' found the dunks were not as dramatic as they should be, but still concluded ''NBA Live 98'' to be the best basketball game presently on the market. Sushi-X wrote in '' Electronic Gaming Monthly'' that weak A.I. makes it "the easiest basketball game I've ever played." However, his three co-reviewers were more laudatory, with Kraig Kujawa summing up, "''NBA Live 97'' was easily the best basketball game last year, and now ''Live 98'' has done it again." As with ''NBA Live 97'', critics reported the Saturn port to have much lower-resolution textures and jerkier frame rate than the PlayStation version, to the point where the action can be hard to follow. Critics also found the absence of play-by-play commentary in the Saturn port a severe shortcoming. Kraig Kujawa and John Ricciardi of ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'', who both rated the PlayStation version a 9/10, gave the Saturn version a 5.5/10 and 6/10 respectively, with Kujawa remarking, "Obviously, this was a quick and easy port that was paid very little attention. ... EA could and should have done a better job." ''GameSpot'' and '' Sega Saturn Magazine'', while noting that the Saturn port retains strong aspects of the PlayStation original, judged that it compared unfavorably with '' NBA Action 98'', another Saturn basketball game which was released at the same time. Gary Cutlack of ''Sega Saturn Magazine'' summarized, "Live '98 isn't that bad, it's just unfortunate for EA that
Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...
are releasing their better NBA game at the same time." ''NBA Live 98'' was a runner-up for '' Computer Gaming World''s 1997 "Sports Game of the Year" award, which ultimately went to '' Baseball Mogul'' and '' CART Precision Racing'' in a tie. Editors called ''NBA Live 98'' "the latest and best ..in EA's awesome action-oriented" series. During the inaugural Interactive Achievement Awards, the game received a nomination for " Console Sports Game of the Year" by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.


Notes


References


External links


IGN: NBA Live '98
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nba Live 98 1997 video games Electronic Arts games NBA Live Windows games PlayStation (console) games Sega Saturn games Super Nintendo Entertainment System games Sega Genesis games Tiertex Design Studios games Video games developed in Canada Video games scored by Brian L. Schmidt Video games set in 1997 Video games set in 1998 Multiplayer and single-player video games Realtime Associates games ru:NBA Live 98