NBA 2K2 now offers a number of new features designed to improve upon Sega Sports' basketball franchise, which began on the Dreamcast in 1999. In addition to the NBA teams, players, and stadiums from the 2001–02 season, the game includes five legends teams starring legends such as Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Julius Erving, Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson, and Bill Russell. Each player's abilities reflect those based on the 2001–02 season, so the location of shots is important depending on the athlete. Moves such as crossover dribbles, pump fakes, speed bursts, and both icon and directional passing allow players multiple options to move the ball down the court. While approaching the net, players can press a single button to pass to the man closest to the basket or use their athlete's size advantage to back down a defender. Players can also call for a pick with a press of the button, pass out of a shot, or select one of four in-game offensive plays from a roster of 16. Defensive moves include steals, a combination block and jump button, as well as the ability to face up a ball handler, double-team a star player, commit an intentional foul, and call one of seven defensive sets such as Man-to-Man or Half-Court Trap. Before playing a game, adjustments can be made for game speed, quarter length, and difficulty. In-game features include instant replay and a choice of five different camera angles. User statistics as well as season and franchise progress can be saved after each game.
Features
Modes of play include Exhibition, an adjustable Season, Practice, Tourney, Playoffs, Fantasy, where players can create a custom tournament or league after drafting, and Franchise, which involves signing free agents, cutting players, making trades, and scouting for new talent before embarking on consecutive seasons. Players can also edit or create a team using ten custom logos as well as design their own star athlete from scratch.
Differences from Dreamcast
There are differences from Dreamcast and the other three consoles PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Nintendo GameCube. The Dreamcast version is similar to the previous game NBA 2K1. The PlayStation 2 version has differences from the Dreamcast version. On the PlayStation 2, the intro featured R.O.C. the rapper on the intro, where Hip-Hop soloist LUNATIC was featured on the Dreamcast version. On the Dreamcast version, choosing a team on Exhibition, they show "Home" and "Away" on the screen. The PlayStation 2 version did not show these on the screen. The loading screenon the game had a background music showing the title and the basketball on the PS2 version, but with the Dreamcast however, the loading had it very similar to NBA 2K1 with the background music with a crowd cheering in the ending. The starting of the game with the Dreamcast version shows "Today's Game" whatever team you chose shows it there but with PS2 it does not show this feature. The PS2 version only shows just the team and the logo. While playing Street courses shows a background music on the game while playing. On the Dreamcast version did not have BGM's but have SFX sounds on the background. On the PS2 version, playing the practice mode shows a stadium like in "Exhibition" mode. But on the Dreamcast version, have a practice basketball gym just like in the previous NBA 2K games.
Reception
The game received "universal acclaim" on all platforms except the PlayStation 2 version, which received "generally favorable reviews", according to video game review aggregatorMetacritic.
