Gaming Target - Xbox: NBA Inside Drive 2003

Written by Adam Woolcott on October 02, 2002

First Impressions: With NBA Inside Drive, you too can use Dynamic Player Performance to make Shaq a talentless ogre. Oh yeah, he already isЕ

Along with the surprising NFL Fever 2002, NBA Inside Drive 2002 was a prime example that Microsoft means business in the sports gaming arena. While ID 2002 was definitely a tad more arcadey than the Xbox roundball simulations like NBA 2K2 and NBA Live 2002, ID was a really fun game of basketball that had tight control, excellent graphics, and a solid feel for the game of basketball. However, the game was sorely lacking in the replay department, with a complete lack of most features sports gamers have come to expect, most especially since Fever 2002/03 has such an outstanding Dynasty mode to enhance the replay of the game.

With that said, Microsoft is prepared to unleash it's newest version of Inside Drive Ц NBA Inside Drive 2003. This time, the game will release just prior to the NBA season's beginning, instead of late January, as 2002 was. This time, Microsoft has included all the missing links that made Fever 2002 a surprise hit. And this time, MS and developer High Voltage Software are going to put out a sports game that's actually improved, instead of the status quo that Fever 2003 was. While a lack of Xbox Live support is surprising and disappointing, NBA Inside Drive 2003 is definitely a contender in the Xbox NBA game contest.

For die-hard sports gamers, NBA Inside Drive 2002 was lacking because of one thing Ц a Franchise/Dynasty mode. Sure, you could play one season, but in today's sports gaming market a sports simulation without multiple seasons is a big no-no (most likely it was omitted to get the game out before it was too late in the season for anyone to care). However, ID 2003 will have its Dynasty, giving the hardcore something to smile about. Similar to Fever, ID 2003's Dynasty will have 25 seasons of play, with off-season drafts, free agency, trading, and all the other trimmings of a multiple season mode. The best part is High Voltage will implement Microsoft's innovative Dynamic Player Performance (DPP) into the game for a deeper gameplay feel.

The DPP is a simple addition that I think should be in every sports game Ц basically, it's a way of making players better or worse depending on your play. While other sports games let your players get better in the off-season (and never upgrade based on how well they performed the season before), ID sets it so your players increase or decrease in skill from game to game. Play your 12th man for 40 minutes and give him 20 points and his attributes are sure to rise Ц but once he's on the bench getting 2 points a night, his abilities will go down. But if he plays well all season, his ratings steadily increase, making them better all-around players as time goes by (perfect for low-rated rookies who blossom into stars). It's a very cool feature because you can aim to make a great player really bad, or a good player into a superstar.

Hopefully, the Dynasty will allow for one small improvement Ц that being the simulation of stats for other games. For instance, when I was playing NBA ID 2002, I played on 7-minute quarters, but could average 107 points a game (playing old-style scoring NBA, not new-style thugball). However, the other teams' stats were simulated based upon those 7 minute quarters, not 12 minute quarters, thus the league average for points is about 55 a game. High Voltage should at least place an option, like NBA 2K2 (Dreamcast version, anyway), to set how many minutes the simulated games should be.

One minor quibble with the gameplay is the aforementioned lack of online play. Given Microsoft's push with Xbox Live, NBA ID lacks this, which gives NBA 2K3 a leg up when it comes to online play on the console. It's a given that it will be in NBA Inside Drive 2004, though it's a sour point to not include it this year.

Naturally, the audio and visual sides of NBA Inside Drive 2003 will be enhanced as well. While NBA ID 2002 was pretty looking, it was flawed in many waysЕ the game seemed dark and jerky sometimes with animations. It seems this is no longer the case. Brighter arenas are visible, as well as many different animation and detail enhancements to make ID even more realistic looking. New animations for stuff like post-ups and other facets of the inside game are looking sharp.

On the audio end of things, the team behind some of the better play-by-play teams in a while (any team that makes a joke about a car in the parking lot being on fire earns brownie points) returns, with a new member. In addition to Seattle Sonics announcer Kevin Calabro (in his rightful place, a basketball game, not NFL Fever) is joined by Marques Johnson from ID 2002, and TNT's Kenny УThe Jet (Mouth)Ф Smith to round out a 3 man team that probably would stumble over each other (if their fat egos didn't get into WW3 on the sidelines, that is) in reality as well as ID 2003 Ц only you know it will be hilarious to hear these twerps trip over each other to get a word in edgewise. All we need is Barkley and MS can just make УNBA Announcers Talking Trash To Each Other 2003Ф and sell a million copies.

Also, coaches and refs will be voiced in the game, so you can hear your coach proclaim your inability to play the game because of missing a 2 foot jumper, or a referee sticking up to the big NBA bullies (and bowing to The Shrine Of Jordan, as all NBA refs are required to). Next thing you know, you'll be able to hear the voice of the players' agents during the off-season trying to scare you into a deal.