If you've ever been to an actual NBA Game, you'll find that NBA Live 2002 will mimic the real thing close to perfection. This starts with the look of the game, where realistic player models and amazing animations rule the court. New to the game this year are the cutaway shots of the bench and players chatting with each other or with the referees. Meanwhile, every arena you step into looks and feels like the real-life counterpart. Of course, with EA Sports, you always get nothing but the best in this department.

Sadly, the audio shoots a brick this year, as it has in the past. Don't get me wrong, the sound effects and the crowd noise is great, but with any sports game, the commentary is the most important aspect to the quality of sound. Everything is same old and repetitive. Plus, I can hardly understand what the color man is saying half the time since he sounds like Boomhauer from 'Kind of the Hill.' Truthfully, I think EA should head back to the drawing board on this one.

Much like the cover man (Stevie Franchise), NBA Live 2002 has game. After years of waiting, Live finally has provided us with a Franchise mode, though it's not without its flaws. Yes you can sign, draft, and trade players in the attempt to create a dynasty, but it's not easy. I don't understand the player progression at all, and I'd love to have an actual financial system in place of the point system that was created. Meanwhile, the other game modes of Exhibition, Season, Playoffs, and One-on-One are all standard from years past.

The handling of the game itself is a little frustrating as well. Rebounding is the worst, as it's impossible to do on a consistent basis. On the end, scoring is tricky at first, but really it's quite simple to do once you have found your main man. I find myself driving to the hole every time because it's not as easy to hit the open jumper. However, if you're looking to expand your game, you can use a ton of the post moves provided.

In case you're wondering, Jordan IS a Wizard. And in case you cared, Washington IS good because of him. Nice job EA, way to make it realistic.

Live has four different degrees of difficulty: Rookie, Starter, All-Star, and Superstar. Much like years past, the game gets harder by the level. Still, like I said earlier, once you've found your knack on offense, you're set. The AI of defense doesn't ever really catch on.

Your controls for NBA Live 2002 are easy to use, and you should catch on quick. This year, EA put in a few new low-post moves which are controlled through the directional pad and the shoot button. They are fairly easy to control, so you shouldn't have much trouble backing down the competition. I was expecting the load time to be a little longer than I like, but ironically, it wasn't. Sadly, a chunk of your memory card will be used up after saving. The other problem I found was that the game menus were a little confusing at times. It's better than a year ago, but I still found myself pressing a whole lot of buttons for little results.

All in all, NBA Live 2002 is a decent game, and it's the best the series has produced. If you've been a fan in the past, you'll be a fan for this year.