Sketchy but playable 2D basketball game
NBA Live 95 could have chosen to be in 3D. By the mid 90s many sports games had made the jump, some of them rather ok, though not too great either. At any rate, what NBA Live 95 offers, is a watered down basketball game, not bad at all, in spite of the 2D isometric perspective, but soon to become boring and a bit too uneventful. The tactics of the play are quite well caught in the game, even the timing of the bouncing ball is actually simulated. But you're not going to be able to try too many innovative things, until the engine begins to show its limitations. Collision detection is calculated rather arbitrarily, or, rather, by following a system or a model that is just not that interesting, too well. The phases of attack and defense are still ok, for the engine and for the physics which are rater simulated as strings of events rather than realistically. Thus, there's really no mass to a collision, and it can be quite daunting how a larger player doesn't have an effect on a smaller one when running into him. Anyway, for a rather arcadey with elements of simulation title, NBA Live 95 is ok and it deserves a try, but don't expect anything too exciting.
