Basketball; simple premise to get a ball into a net dangling from above. Add two teams of five players a side and it becomes a little more interesting. EA takes us (yet again) on a digitised sports extravaganza with NBA Live 2002, attempting to recreate all the thrills of a real life b-ball game in your own home. So you don't have to do it for real. Lazy buggers.

EA is the master of stats and presentation and NBA Live 2002 shows us nothing to make us think any different. Menus are clear and easy to navigate and the depth of all the statistics from all players is, well, deep. Comprehensive is too light a word. Still, it's how it plays is what counts and it does a reasonable job of authenticity. Jumping straight into an exhibition is simple enough, just select your teams and it's on to the court. The control system is quite nice, easy to play and this is perhaps its greatest downfall. It never seems that challenging and tackling is far too simple. Having a mutant 8-footer running down the court and making a tackle with a significantly smaller player should be harder than just hammering a button to get the ball. Likewise scoring is just as simple; hold down the turbo button, run towards the net and press the shoot button. 9.5 times out of 10 you'll score. Repeat and watch the points go flying up. The computer players never really pose that great a challenge and the game never makes you work really hard for a victory. Graphically, however, the game excels. The animation is very, very fluid and the transition from one animation to another is seamless. There are about 50 different animations for dunking which look very realistic with players shifting their weight and coiling their leg muscles for the jump, this all provides a mild distraction from the staid gameplay and the 'Jam-Cam' replays are particularly satisfying. Especially when playing a friend, serious gloating is backed up by the quality of the replays.

The franchise mode is detailed to the last and provides basketball lovers their chance to shine and become manager for up to 10 years. All you need to know, a lot you don't and stuff you never thought you would but actually you do is presented clearly and concisely giving you access to any stat or news nugget as quick as can be. Commentary is hilarious. It's more like listening to a wrestling match at times but mostly the information is accurate and relevant to what is going on, on the court.

EA have done exactly what I thought they would do with NBA Live 2002; Update last year's model (even if it is for another machine) and not really do much else. EA has never been renowned for great gameplay and that doesn't look to change anytime soon. What a shame because there would be a great game here if it weren't for the 'EA gameplay' underneath what is a fine basketball sim. Sort it out guys, put as much love into the fun aspect as you do with the authenticity of the players and stats and the rest will fall into place.

Gameplay: