When playing down low, however, there are some new bright spots. EA added a new post game for those that like to pound it into the paint for big men like Shaq, Garnett and Duncan. Sky hooks, fade aways' and little drop shots are all at the gamer’s repertoire. While this adds to the game’s strategy tremendously, the touchy and often times unresponsive buttons brings the game back down to Frustration Land. The delay time between buttons and reactions are usually not as quick as past hoops games have been. Now the percentage of faking out a defender and doing a fade away or leaner shot is purely on how the game wants to react, and not honestly how fast the gamer thinks.

For the most part, though, NBA Live 2001 plays fairly well. If you’re accustomed to the past Live games, then the ’01 edition should be of little change. Ball physics are carried out finely, and the realistic behavior of field goals made has been seriously toned up in the high difficulty levels for 2001. Though the complications with the button timing and the annoying "player auras" detract from the game’s score, most hardcore Live purists should still find a lot to enjoy with the 128-bit adaptation.

Of course, the most prominent change to Live 2001 is the graphical makeover. For the first time in the history of the Live series a console version can now nearly mimic the visual excellence of the PC adaptation. The player models are textured realistically and properly proportioned, unlike the beefed up hulking monsters found in NBA 2K1. Animation, for the most part, has been done very well. Dunks, lay ups, fade aways and other movements are represented with a high, realistic quality. The courts and arenas themselves are sleek, shiny and contain great lighting in opportune places.

However, Live 2001 does slip up in a few visual areas, too. The frame rate, while a step up from the PSone version, is still not as smooth as it could have been. Oddly enough EA Sports’ more graphically intense PlayStation 2 titles, such as Madden and FIFA, stay at a rock solid 60 FPS. Also, the transitional movements in Live need a lot of work. Seeing a player run down the floor at an open basket and suddenly be at the start of his dunk animation – without any significant showing of a jump-and-lifting movement – makes Live seem rather unrefined when stacked up against the sleek, polished NBA 2K games.

The one outstanding cornerstone of Live 2001, though, is EA’s excellent appliance of sound. Montell Jordan, among a few artists, supplied theme songs for the game. The hip-hop tracks give a light, jumpy mode to the game and definitely put you in the basketball mode. Commentary for the game, if not a bit dry, follows the game fairly well and never really gets off track. Bob Elliot and Don Pior are the men for color and play-by-play commentating, and although Bob’s comments can become a bit repetitive, Pior’s voice realistically heightens during exciting parts of the game. Other nice touches, such as players arguing calls and the crowd’s screams becoming louder as a big three pointer is shot or when the action becomes frantic, add to the overall fantastic aural showing in Live 2001.

In the end, what it comes down to is what certain aspects of basketball a gamer will expect out of Live 2001. For some, just the upgraded graphics and a season mode is enough to satisfy their NBA thirst. However, long time ball players like myself expect a refined representation of all facets in basketball – I need deep gameplay, multiple, long lasting modes and a presentation worthy of appearing on an NBA TV show. Sadly, EA Sports first basketball try out on the PlayStation 2 simply does not capture that.