NBA Inside Drive 2004 Review (Xbox)

STAFF REVIEW of NBA Inside Drive 2004 (Xbox)

Friday, November 21, 2003.
by mattgame

I am going to start this review with a little history of myself. I have played organized sports all of my life and I still do. So I want my games to emulate my experiences. I am pretty good at telling the difference between simulation and arcade in other words. NBA Inside Drive is the best basketball sim out there. Forget ESPN, Live 2004, this is as close to real basketball as it gets.

The gameplay is improved this year. The passing controls are wonderful. It is more than just press a button and that's it. For instance if you double click the pass button you get a perfect touch pass between your players excellent for the give and go. The movement and feel of the game is authentic. No one stands in one spot for too long ala ESPN and no one can fly up and down the court without feeling defended against ala Live 2004. It's a sim and it does it well.

Each year the visuals get better and better and this year is no exception. I can only enhance my picture with the S video input but even that enables the game to look so much better and brighter than in years past. The only gripe I have is that some of the player models are way off. Yikes!

The sounds are all there the crowd the trash talk, the commentators. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say the commentators for this game are the best I have ever heard in a sports game. My only problem in this area is CUSTOM SOUNDTRACKS! For God's sake, why not?

Suggestions:
Custom soundtracks, make the ability to dive for the ball at any time, make the players look better. I holla.

Overall: 9.0 / 10
Gameplay: 9.0 / 10
Visuals: 7.0 / 10
Sound: 8.0 / 10