NBA Inside Drive 2004

The only NBA game with XSN online support? Find out more now.

NBA Inside Drive 2004 features a decent amount of upgrades and balance tweaks, but it?s still lacking in the excitement department.

Loaded Bench
You?d expect a basketball game from Microsoft built exclusively for the Xbox to come beefed up, and in most respects, NBA Inside Drive 2004 does. For one, the commentary booth is packed with the likes of Kenny Smith, Kevin Calabro, and Marques Johnson. At times, they don?t really sound like they?re talking to each other, but it?s nice to get a wide range of comments and play-by-play.

The players feature great facial details and animate smoothly, but likenesses still don?t quite cut it with only slight improvements from last year. Some players are also saddled with uncharacteristic celebration animations, which may annoy those who prefer a more realistic approach. The new Drive Cam has its quirks but is very functional once you get used to it.

Slow Drive
Inside Drive 2004 is Microsoft?s first basketball entry into its new XSN online service, and that?s no small bonus. The sports service tracks an impressive amount of user stats, allows custom player leagues, and compiles various records from other XSN titles, which certainly allows for some nice bragging rights for accomplished multisport players. The controls are similar to last year?s and are quite good. The new juke move works great against the computer, but it?s not that effective against a human opponent. The tweaked A.I. yields better help from your teammates and tighter defense, but it?s not up to the same standards as that of competing basketball titles on the Xbox. However, the biggest problems are the game?s speed and pacing issue. Even if you ramped up the overall speed of the game, certain animations?like block shots and steals?take way too long to execute. Even big dunk drives unwrap a bit slower than you?d like. It makes building momentum and excitement in a game that much harder if not impossible.

NBA Inside Drive 2004 is a decent basketball game with an excellent online tie-in. Still, this series needs a serious wake-up call if it hopes to compete with the likes of EA and ESPN next year.

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