The game lets you play exhibition games, shoot around in an outdoor practice court, or take on a full season (which can run 12, 28, 56, or a full 82 games). Graphically, NBA Basketball 2000 looks pretty good but lacks much of the polish and flash of EA's NBA Live 2000. Also, although many of the NBA stars in this game have been made to look like their real-world counterparts, most players on the court look plain and blocky.

Controlling your players is simple enough, but the artificial intelligence is so weak that you can often march a player right down the court and to the hoop without any difficulty at all. Of course, you can miss easy, open shots, while the computer routinely nails 70 to 80 percent of its jumpers, even from three-point range. The result is deceptively simple basketball action that often frustrates players with unfair game results.

Other weaknesses: spoken play-by-play and color commentary are usually weaknesses in sports games, but in this one these features are particularly lousy. Also, NBA Basketball 2000 offers a paltry array of game modes and in-game features. There is no draft option, for example, and players have only four offensive plays to choose from during a game.

Overall, NBA Basketball 2000 is suitable only for bargain-bin shoppers. Serious basketball fans will take no pleasure from this game. --Michael E. Ryan

Pros:

• It's cheap
• Decent graphics

• Terrible AI
• Limited game-play features
• Bad play-by-play