NBA Inside Drive 2003
- October 14, 2002 00:00 AM PST
Inside Drive is back and tries to get back home-court advantage. With very few tweaks, that could be a tall order.
NBA Inside Drive 2003 makes adjustments to last year�s frenetic tempo, but still can�t find the depth needed to break through to the next level.
2003 or 2002?
Similar to NFL Fever�s approach this year, very little has been changed at the core of NBA Inside Drive 2003. The graphics have received minor tweaks here and there, but you wouldn�t be able to tell the difference unless you did a side-by-side comparison with other basketball games. A comparison of that sort shows that the visuals are still solid and look better than NBA Live�s, but NBA 2K3 leaves Inside Drive in the dust.
Xbox owners with home-theater systems will notice that the Inside Drive�s surround-sound support is the most highly tuned of the competing games. However, great crowd effects and stadium noise in the rear speakers is offset by very average play-by-play commentary from the front side.
Slow Poke
The main gripe with Drive 2002 was the speedy, arcade-like gameplay that destroyed the game�s simulation value. The pace has been slowed dramatically, but this has only fixed half of what was wrong in the first place. The CPU-controlled player A.I. is still highly suspect, and the ball physics need another once-over. One area that benefits greatly from the relaxed tempo is the controls, which really shine now.
NBA Inside Drive 2003 is a slightly better value than 2002 with tweaked gameplay and a few new features. The problem is that the competition has jumped ahead substantially within the same time frame.
