The N64 had a rather large library of basketball titles. Some were decent, and some were not. Out of all of them the Courtside series seemed to rise above the rest in control, and gameplay. Left Field have now taken their basketball skills to the GameCube court, and released NBA Courtside 2002. Does Courtside got game or is it just Double Dribble all over again?

When you flip on the game, there’s no huge basketball FMV with loads of over the top slams and kickin’ music. It’s very simple and bland, and almost looks like a N64 game intro. Rotating logos and then bam, press start, and you’re into the menus. Not a big deal, but a total switch from most other sports games (cough EA). I guess it's just not the most exciting intros I've seen.

Then it’s on to pick what type of game you want, Quick play, Arcade play, NBA Season play, or Skills mode. Quick play gets you on the court the fastest, and is just your regular game in an arena with the two teams of your choice. Arcade play is a 3-on-3 match up on the roof top court. Gravity is lessened which allows for big airtime and massive over-the-top dunks, shots, and blocks. Also, “Hot shots” (circles that appear on the court with a point value) mix up the game a bit with 4,5, and 6 point shots. NBA Season play is rather self explanatory where you can play a full season, play-offs, or a number of different series setups. Skills mode gives you the chance to play a 3 point contest, or your basic run-of-the-mill practice mode.

NBA Courtside 2002 is completely packed with options. Anything you can think about modifying within the game is possible. Want to play a quick game? Want to be able to foul like crazy? You want the camera a certain way? No problem. About everything you can even think of is modifiable.

I have played both regular NBA games, as well as tried the Arcade play so far (single and multiplayer), and have to say that Left Field have taken the solid gameplay from their previous Courtside outings and upped the ante. I wouldn’t say Courtside is a total simulation, but it’s like a simulation with an arcade feel to it. Sure you can do some amazing dunks, but you won’t win games just playing an aggressive inside game. You’ll need to vary your offensive attack or you’ll repeatedly get stuffed. The NBA play is very solid, and the AI performs well. Why you can perform half court behind the back passes are beyond me. I also noticed a fair amount of goaltending, and some strange out-of-bounds happenings. But generally NBA Courtside 2002's gameplay is fairly realistic.

Passing and shooting are very easy to perform with the GameCube controller. The C-Stick passing is absolutely brilliant and works flawlessly. The control scheme on offense is very simple. Defense on the other hand is a different story. I’m not quite sure if it’s the fact that I’m new to this game or not, but I’m really having a hard time getting the defensive control scheme down. Y selects the player closest to the ball, and X selects the player closest to the hoop. A blocks shots, and B tries to steal. Even with my forwards, I’m having a very difficult time swatting or blocking shots. I am hoping the fact that I am new to this game is the reason for my poor defense.

NBA Courtside 2002 looks as good as it plays. Most players and arenas look like their real life counterparts. I would have to argue that Shaq doesn’t look as portly in this game than he does in real life, but maybe Kobe was just sharing the love. Overall the detail on the players is commendable. Ray Allen looks just like Ray Allen, and Sam Cassell is still the ugliest man in Basketball. I do think the player animations are fantastic. Shooting, blocking, and rolling off opponents and breaking towards the hoop all look very fluid and natural. The crowd is your typical cardboard cutout crowd that has been frequenting video game sports events for years, but at least the players on the sidelines are better than the crowd.

One of Courtside’s disappointing departments is the audio. The play-by-play announcer is ok, but doesn’t seem to vary much. He knows each main star player's back story, and will usually tell it during each and every game. Every single game. The same story…over and over again. The first time is good, but the 10th you know it by heart. The commentator also knows all the players nicknames and uses them enough, but sometimes too much. The crowd and arena announcer are also quite bothersome. The crowd is pretty choppy, and when going from normal cheering to cheering ecstatically just seems…fake. The arena announcer seems unexcited and rather blah. Almost if he were ripped right out of the Bugs Bunny ether (cooooommmmeeeee baaaaaccckkkk bunnnnyyyy raaaabbbbbbiiiiittttt) episode. When Kobe Bryant goes for a slam, the announcer shouldn’t be koooobbbeee brrrryyyannnnnntt, but KOOOOOBBBBBBBEEEEEEE BRYANNTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!! It’s just very unenthusiastic, and boring. Not that music is an important part of a sports game, but it doesn’t seem like Left Field really paid a whole lot of attention to it. It almost sounds like they ripped the midi music from Tony Hawk 2 on GBA. At least the sound samples of shoes squeaking and rim noises are crisp and solid. Take the good and the bad, and you just have a rather ho-hum aural experience.

Another thing we messed around with last night was the create-a-player mode. Completely and totally customizable and vastly detailed, the create-a-player mode is very impressive. We were trying to make a player that looked like Fletch’s (from the movie Fletch) day dream basketball character, but unfortunately there is no monster-disco-afro-hair. It gets a little bigger than Kobe’s hair but that’s it. A little disappointing, but tolerable. We made a hairy-goofy-looking Millhouse type guy. It’s unbelievable all the modifications you can make to your character. I think this area is going to be loads of fun if you like this sort of thing.

I was a little concerned with Courtside’s speed after playing it at the Cube Club, but they’ve fixed that issue. So far my only complaints are the sound and the defensive controls. Defense just seems a little tricky, but I think I just need to get more accustomed to the control scheme. I am also hoping there will be codes available for different roof top courts, but that is still an unknown. Outside of those quibbles with the game, I think NBA Courtside 2002 is an excellent upgrade to the Courtside Franchise. It’s not absolutely perfect, but it’s a solid basketball game, and should not disappoint newcomers or old fans of the series.