Title: NBA Live 2000 Vs NBA Basketball 2000
Genre: Sports
Strap: LADEEEES AND GENNELMEN, WELCOME TO TONIGHTS MATCH UP, TO SEE WHO WILL BE THE BASKETBALL GAME OF THE MILLENIUM

It’s the final. Two teams, matched up because they have practically the same name, will tonight battle it out head to head, in a fight to see who will win a slightly higher percentage than the other. The tension in the stadium is electric, so let’s have a look at the competitors.

Wearing blue shorts and matching cardigans is Electronic Arts’ /NBA Live 2000/, the latest in a long running series, but does it still have what it takes to win basketball’s most coveted title, the PC Format One We Liked More Than The Other One Award?

Wearing nothing but its underpants is Activision’s /NBA Basketball 2000/, who has teamed up with Fox Interactive. Can the two together produce a force to beat the established EA series?

The game begins. At the top of the 1^st, it’s option menus being put through their paces, and Fox2K goes into an immediate early lead with a clear and intuitive selection that lets you get gaming quickly and easily. EA2K attempts a defense, but there are just too many screens and too many unexplained buttons to fight your way through. 2-0 Fox.

2^nd Quarter. Graphics are up next, and this time things are really head-to-head. EA2K looks strong with remarkable volumes of polygons, giving each player an identifiable face, and a range of expressions. But it’s the way things look during the actual play that swings this one, and EA have that part too. A much higher range of resolutions available, and incredibly realistic body movement brings things all square, 2-2.

Top of the 3^rd. The attention is turning to sound, both-in game, and soundtrack. EA shoot from downtown!, and… they SCORE!! A full 3 points. The better crowd noises, and nice sounding court action set things up, but it was the remarkable soundtrack that put the ball through the hoop. Superb hip-hop and funk from the likes of Run DMC, Naughty By Nature, Rahzel, and George Clinton, have really won the hearts of the crowd. Fox’s lacklustre generic tunes just don’t cut it. 5-2 EA.

Fox calls time out, taking the break to compare commentary. A wise move, as it seems their television style presentation, with two commentators chatting realistically and humorously about the game in hand, is neither repetitive, nor annoying. EA cannot compare, with a single voice giving drab and tedious remarks on the play, and not much more. The new found motivation gives Fox the edge at the top of the 4^th, and they score two in a row. 6-5 Fox.

With 3 minutes of play remaining EA appeal a foul. They claim that the live TV style Fox use is all very well for commentary, but it does mean that the game becomes little more than an advert for Fox TV in the United States. The referee rules a foul, and EA score one of the shots, taking back their 1 point lead. 7-5 EA.