This isn't "progress", per se, more like a first impression.

I finally played a little of my Sega 2K1 sports games.

I started with NBA2K1. Well, it seems made well, from a technical perspective. There's seems to be a lot of in game commentary, and it sounds very natural (as opposed to sounding like spliced-together sound files). There's lots of options, create-a-player mode, "super" teams from various decades, etc., etc.

In games like NBA Jam or Hangtime, if you make a shot, it'll almost certainly go in. It might not score if it's blocked, but shots never simply [i]miss[/i].

Not so with NBA2K1.

Let me just cut the crap. When I play a basketball game, I want an experience like the one described in PWOT's review of NBA Live. I just want to foul the computer over and over, and make hundreds of baskets.

Okay, maybe not. But it'd be nice to have a balance between a game like NBA Hangtime, which is sort of accessable but seems pretty shallow, and a game which might possibly be deep but only if you know everything about basketball that is or ever was. Or at least lets you sometimes make shots if you're playing on the easiest difficulty setting.


Anyway, I then tried World Series Baseball 2k1. You'd think these two games would represent about the same level of technical profiency, but this game seems more primative. It doesn't even let you know what the controller settings are (so I had to waste several at-bats trying to figure out how to swing or bunt). The videos are of in-game graphics (NBA2K1 has has videos of actual games), and the voice-overs aren't as good. You can clearly tell where the variables have been spliced in. ("The .... Yankees .... are up by .... two.") And when I first started playing, I don't believe I was even controlling anything. I started another game, and things were different. When you actually do control what's going on, a box showing the batter's strike zone is displayed. Then, you (as either batter or pitcher) can move a cursor around that box to determine where the pitch or swing will be. For the pitcher, the control of the cursor is much more sensitive. For the batter, the cursor controls fine; the trick is timing the swing. I suppose that makes sense. (Though you're lacking the binocular perspective necessary to gauge how far away the ball is; but you probably can get used to that in time). Anyway, maybe because baseball is a simplier game (in the sense that at least during pitching, you only need to worry about controller one person, and one opponent), this game seemed a little easier to have fun with on the first play. But I doubt I'll be sticking with either of them right now.
I LOOOOOOVE Flying Omelette!!
Crawl and 1000