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News: Tom Morello stars in Guitar Hero III
Activision has announced that Tom Morello, from Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, will guest star as a boss character in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. Click here to read the article.
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NBA Starting Five
NBA Starting Five was developed by Konami, better known for the Metal Gear franchise and not sports games. Rightfully so because this game is bad. Before, Konami had the ESPN but since the games sucked so much, ESPN decided to go with SEGA, experts in sports games. Sadly, Konami's attempt, and hopefully final, at basketball goes up for the slam dunk with no one covering it only to brick the ball in front of millions of people!
Gameplay is your normal everyday day gameplay... except Konami managed to make the sport of basketball something hideous. You will run like you are 88 years old with your legs tied together while someone is holding down the slow motion button. Player movement is so slow at times it makes The Matrix's bullet-time effect look like a speeding cheeta running after its dinner.
I was expecting more in the terms of enjoyment. I mean c'mon! Basketball is one of the most entertaining sports to watch with its speedy passes and high flying dunks but it seems as though Konami hasn't even heard of the sport. I am very dissapointed and somewhat insulted, as you should be too, that Konami would try to pass this off as a $50 game right next to NBA 2K3 and Inside Drive 2003. Seriously Konami, if you're going to do a basketball game do it right or don't do it at all. Stick to creeping in the shadows with Solid Snake Konami.
Visually, NBA Starting Five is just as bad. This game looks like it belongs on the Dreamcast, even that is saying too much. Players hardly resemble their real life counterparts and animation is horrible. Players tend not to have any fluid movement, in other words, they seem stiff most of the time. And don't even get me started on the way the players jump. Overall, the graphics are horrible. Plain and simple.
Doesn't it sound like I'm saying the same thing over and over? Well yes... gameplay is bad, graphics are bad and now ... you guessed it. Sound is bad. Ambience while playing is lacking. On court sound effects are minimum. Announcers are slow. Music is dull.
Overall, Konami really managed to mess this game up pretty badly. This seems like it should be an early tech demo showing off the progress of the game in order to get more funding for it to continue production. But it's not! Its the final version. I am very dissapointed in Konami at the moment... maybe they can cheer me up by announcing Metal Gear Solid 3 for Xbox. :)
Report Card:
Gameplay = 5
Graphics = 5
Audio = 5
Replay Value = 5
Overall: 5/10
Click here for the NBA Starting Five screenshots gallery!
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