It's basketball season again, not only on the court, but also on the PS2, with 989 Sports' latest installment of their basketball series NCAA Final Four 2003. There've been a few unique changes to the game we remember last year, but the developers have had quite a hit and miss history so the real question is: How does this one add up?

Visually, NCAA Final Four 2003 isn't among the most appealing... Lighting, ground reflections and specular highlights are realistic, but the team player models are rigid with unrealistic motion and slow reactions. Most unacceptable are the disappearing polygons on different parts of the court - almost as if the court was programmed into the graphics engine instead of drawn... and again, the people in the crowd are obviously bill-boarded textures (God, I wish these sports games would get that straight).

There is something to be said about the sound effects: shoe screeches, bands, and crowds all sound pretty realistic, thankfully. There is something I haven't quite figured out about the music though. At times the theme songs are played by real school recorded marching bands which sounds great, and then other schools seem to have pre-synthesized music. For some reason the synthesized themes always stand out like a bad note...

How much a player gets out of NCAA Final Four 2003 will really depend upon how much they can stomach the graphics and the AI... more on that later, though. It has a few new modes such as Career and Dynasty Mode that are sure to make owners of the 2002 version thankful. Career Mode is designed to let the player go through multiple seasons, working their way from a Graduate Assistant to Head Coach. Dynasty Mode can be very huge, as the player goes through many seasons and is allowed to recruit team members and train them over the course of their career to get the team into the championships.

989 Sports made a few strong attempts to recreate the current team-specific playbooks to make the game as consistent with the team strategies at the time of release as possible, and in this respect their work is commendable. Princeton will take their time up the court and try to control the tempo of the game while Kentucky lives on the three-point line.

The commentators are dull as always, injecting such nuggets of wisdom as ''Boy, he cut through that defense like a knife through butter, he did.'' Boring clichs make up 90 percent of all sports games, so it is hard to be critical with this one, but I have a real beef with developers (including EA) that make zilch effort to correct something that has stood out so obviously for nearly three years...

AI is not a strongpoint in Final Four 2003; actually it is among the games weakest areas. Passes very seldom go in the most logical direction, and team members regularly make unwise decisions at critical points in the game. I've had a hard time stealing the ball from the computer without fouling, but the AI seems to have no such trouble. Such inconsistencies can get frustrating.

NCAA Final Four 2003 has four difficulty settings ranging from Freshman to Senior which is rightfully defaulted to the lowest. Seasoned vets will probably have no problem catching on, but how one goes about shooting and dodging isn't immediately obvious. The AI can make really half-brained decisions, but this doesn't make it any easier on you since AI accounts for the other four members of your team.

The right analog makes certain interesting moves much easier; some games have started making more use of that dusty right joystick in such ways. In this case there are jukes and spins, unique dribbles and other neat things one could fool the defense with. Actually shooting the ball into the basket can be a nightmare to catch onto, however, as it follows the technique of golf games in that you have to wait until a moving ball matches perfectly over the circle before releasing the shoot button. Many times this isn't caught onto immediately.

NCAA Final Four 2003 isn't a bad game and is definitely worth a rent. I wouldn't purchase it without having played it a few times, though. It doesn't stand up to the AI and gorgeous visuals in the EA Sports counterpart (NCAA March Madness 2003) by any means.