NBA Live 98

NBA Live 98 is a basketball video game based on the National Basketball Association and the fourth installment of the NBA Live series. The cover features Tim Hardaway of the Miami Heat. The game was developed by EA Sports and released on October 31, 1997 for the PC, November 30, 1997 for the PlayStation and December 31, 1997 for the Sega Saturn. It was the final version of NBA Live released for the Super NES, Genesis and Sega Saturn.

NBA Live 98
PlayStation Cover art featuring Tim Hardaway playing for the Miami Heat
Developer(s)PlayStation/PC: EA Canada[1]
Genesis/SNES: Tiertex Design Studios
Sega Saturn: Realtime Associates
Publisher(s)Electronic Arts
Composer(s)Brian L. Schmidt (Genesis)
Mark Ortiz (SNES)
Traz Damji (Windows)
SeriesNBA Live
Platform(s)PlayStation, Windows, Sega Saturn, Super NES, Genesis
ReleaseSuper NES
  • NA: June 17, 1997
Sega Saturn
  • NA: December 17, 1997
  • EU: 1997
PlayStation
  • NA: November 30, 1997
  • EU: December 1997
  • JP: April 2, 1998
PC
  • NA: October 31, 1997
  • EU: 1997
Genesis
  • NA: July 1, 1997
Genre(s)Sports (Basketball)
Mode(s)Single-player, Multiplayer

The game introduced various innovations to the series, including the now standard feature of passing to any teammate with a single button press. The game also made various graphical improvements, with new player models and faces modeled after actual player photographs. The PC version introduced support for 3D acceleration, utilizing 3dfx's Glide API. The PlayStation, PC and Saturn versions have Ernie Johnson as studio announcer and TNT/TBS color analyst Verne Lundquist doing play-by-play commentary. However, the Saturn version does not include play-by-play commentary. NBA Live 98 is followed by NBA Live 99.

Gameplay

The game features rosters from the 1997–98 NBA season. New features include the "Total Control" system, that allows players to choose between a dunk or layup or pass to any teammate with the press of a button.[2] "Tight" player moves allow players to spin, crossover, back down, ball fake and more on command. Player lock lets players always control a specified player on court.

Though playing during the 1997–98 season, Chicago Bulls superstar Michael Jordan is not featured in the game.[3] (This was because Jordan was not part of the National Basketball Players Association and at the time the cost of licensing his individual name and likeness for video games was approximately $15 million a year, beyond the total budget of most video games.[4]) Jordan is replaced by the fictional "Roster Player" in the Bulls lineup. However, Charles Barkley made his first appearance in Live 98 as a member of the Houston Rockets.

The motion capture of the game was done by NBA players Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond, Larry Johnson, Joe Dumars and Christian Laettner.

Features

Various new modes were introduced. A new GM Mode lets players choose franchises, draft players and play custom seasons. The game also features the Three-Point Shootout, which could be played using full or split screen. Four difficulty levels are available, including a new Superstar difficulty level, along with improved AI with smarter players and more accurate stats.

With the introduction of 3D players, courts, and jerseys came an opportunity to patch and update these aspects of the game. Programs such as the EA Graphics Editor allowed patchers to update almost every visual aspect of the game with ease. This greatly improved gameplay and sold more NBA live games than any before it.

Reception

The game's original release for the PlayStation received overwhelmingly positive reviews. Critics praised the detailed player graphics,[5][7][10][12] new animations,[5][7][12] interface,[5][7] music,[5][12] and even the full motion video sequences.[5][7] GamePro commented, "What makes Live '98 so enjoyable to play is its fantastic mixture of NBA realism and wild arcade action."[12] GameSpot assessed it as an across-the-board improvement over NBA Live 97.[7]

Critics particularly hailed the number of new gameplay features in NBA Live 98, with the three-point competition,[5][7] custom team feature,[7][12] icon passing,[5][7][12] and direct ducking[7][12] all earning particular mention. A few criticisms were voiced, but they did little to impact the critic's overall recommendation. For example, Jay Boor of IGN found the dunks were not as dramatic as they should be, but still concluded NBA Live 98 to be the best basketball game presently on the market.[10] Sushi-X wrote in Electronic Gaming Monthly that weak A.I. makes it "the easiest basketball game I've ever played." However, his three co-reviewers were more laudatory, with Kraig Kujawa summing up, "NBA Live 97 was easily the best basketball game last year, and now Live 98 has done it again."[5]

As with NBA Live 97, critics reported the Saturn port to have much lower-resolution textures and jerkier frame rate than the PlayStation version, to the point where the action is sometimes hard to follow.[6][8][11] Critics also found the absence of play-by-play commentary in the Saturn port a severe shortcoming.[6][8][11] Kraig Kujawa and John Ricciardi of Electronic Gaming Monthly, who both gave the PlayStation version a 9/10, gave the Saturn version a 5.5/10 and 6/10 respectively, with Kujawa remarking, "Obviously, this was a quick and easy port that was paid very little attention. ... EA could and should have done a better job."[6] GameSpot and Sega Saturn Magazine, while noting that the Saturn port retains many strong aspects of the PlayStation original, judged that it compared unfavorably with NBA Action 98, another Saturn basketball game which was released at the same time.[8][11] Gary Cutlack of Sega Saturn Magazine summarized, "Live '98 isn't that bad, it's just unfortunate for EA that Sega are releasing their better NBA game at the same time."[11]

NBA Live 98 was a runner-up for Computer Gaming World's 1997 "Sports Game of the Year" award, which ultimately went to Baseball Mogul and CART Precision Racing (tie). The editors called NBA Live 98 "the latest and best [...] in EA's awesome action-oriented" series.[13]

References
  1. "E3 Showstoppers!". GamePro. No. 108. IDG. September 1997. p. 39.
  2. "NBA Live 98: EA Jazzes Up Live with a Bigger Dose of Showtime". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 100. Ziff Davis. November 1997. p. 81.
  3. Air Hendrix (September 1997). "NBA Live '98". GamePro. No. 108. IDG. p. 114.
  4. "Greedy #23". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 100. Ziff Davis. November 1997. p. 18.
  5. "Review Crew: NBA Live 98". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 102. Ziff Davis. January 1998. p. 161.
  6. "Review Crew: NBA Live 98". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 104. Ziff Davis. March 1998. p. 120.
  7. MacDonald, Ryan. "NBA Live 98 Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  8. MacDonald, Ryan. "NBA Live 98 Review". GameSpot. Archived from the original on May 1, 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  9. Kaiafas, Tasos. "NBA Live 98 Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  10. Boor, Jason (November 13, 1997). "NBA Live 98". IGN. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  11. Cutlack, Gary (February 1998). "Review: NBA Live '98". Sega Saturn Magazine. No. 28. Emap International Limited. pp. 68–69.
  12. Johnny Ballgame (December 1997). "Another Winning Season for NBA Live". GamePro. No. 111. IDG. p. 184.
  13. Staff (March 1998). "CGW Presents The Best & Worst of 1997". Computer Gaming World (164): 74–77, 80, 84, 88, 89.
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