Konami has never been known for great graphics when it comes to sports games, and ESPN NBA 2Night 2002 is no different. The player models themselves look OK at best, but the facial features leave something to be desired. Basically, they look very blocky and are not smoothed over. Another reason for the lackluster player models is the fact that they move almost robotic-like. Don't get me wrong, animations were used, but they just don't flow at all when it comes to jumping or shooting around. Ironically, the basketball venues and crowds look great. When the crowd applauds, they stand up and cheer.

How can I put this? If you have ever watched Stuart Scott on Sportscenter, then imagine putting all of his little catch phrases onto a disc, and that is his color commentary. If you're a big Stuart Scott fan, maybe you'll like this. However, I tend to think he gets a little annoying, and was almost ready to swear off ESPN entirely because of it. Sadly, he at least sounds better than his commentary counterpart, Brent Musberger. I'm not kidding when I say the computer voice from the National Weather Service sounds more lifelike. Hell, some of the times, he doesn't even finish his sentences. Meanwhile, the sound effects are nowhere to be found. Besides some crowd noise here and there, I was craving much, much more.

Unlike their poster boy, Tracy McGrady, NBA 2Night 2002 doesn't have much game. It's really too bad, because it has all the components necessary for competing with other basketball games on the market. 2Night contains Exhibition, Season, Playoffs, and Franchise for the game modes. And with Franchise, you get plenty of great options within the mode by playing the General Manager, drafting rookies, signing free agents, and trading away or cutting unwanted players. They even have awards at the end of each season like MVP, Most Improved, Defensive Player of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year, and Rookie of the Year. And if you don't like what's out there for free agents, you can always just Create-a-Player.

But when it comes right down to it, I didn't like playing the game. It really felt like I had five robots out on the court, just standing around with or without the ball. Konami really didn't concentrate on the gameplay whatsoever when making the game. I really noticed this on defense, where nobody, and I mean nobody, would ever go up for a rebound on my team. In a game where the quarters were only four minutes long, Elton Brand of the Clippers had 12 rebounds at the end of the first half. And nine of them were offensive! I don't care how good Elton Brand is, this is very unrealistic. Another thing I got tired of was how I would have to use a low-post move every time I tried making a shot down low. Even my best shooters were missing two-foot baskets because they weren't posting up prior to their shot. Maybe this sort of thing happens in an 8th grade C-squad game, but not in the NBA. They're paid too much money to miss gimme shots, and should be recognized for that in the video game.

I just don't know if I can take a game seriously when the difficulty levels sound like a second grader named them. ESPN NBA 2Night 2002 contains five different levels: Easy, Normal, Hard, Very Hard, and Super Hard. Are you kidding me with this? SUPER Hard? I mean, I know that it seems pretty generic to have level names like Veteran or All-Star... but Super Hard? Why not get rid of the Easy and Normal, and replace them with Kinda Hard and Pretty Hard? Whatever way you want to call it, things get tougher the higher the level on both ends of the court.

As I referred to earlier, you need to use low-post moves to hit any sort of shot when you're less than ten feet away from the basket. However, I'm not a big fan of pressing more buttons than I need to, and ESPN NBA 2Night 2002 was no exception. I like using one button to position myself, and then regarding how I'm guarded, press the shoot button either for a jump shot or a slam-dunk. But with this game, you're never capable of getting into a rhythm because you're constantly pressing buttons to post up, then either one set of buttons to shoot or another set to dunk. Meanwhile, the rest of the mechanics aren't too bad. The loading times don't take too long, although there isn't much for graphics or animations in this game, so that's not really a surprise. Plus, your memory card won't be bogged down too much, so you'll have plenty of space for other games of importance.

I've had the pleasure of playing some great basketball games this season. ESPN NBA 2Night 2002 was not one of them. Rent if you must, because this game throws up a huge brick!