If you don't have an XBox then you're out of luck, but if you do have an XBox I highly recommend this if you've got an extra $20 to spare.
I'm going to borrow someone elses review to highlight what I like about the game.
Now we get to the good stuff. Not only does “Inside Drive 2004” have team specific tendencies, but player specific tendencies as well. I hate that in the majority of basketball games, most players will not play like themselves. Anyone who watches basketball knows that Antoine Walker shoots a ridiculous amount of threes, even though he plays power forward. The problem with most games is that because Walker plays power forward, the majority of the shots he will take will be from the paint. The game sees a power forward, and will assume that he should take shots from the inside and not take into consideration the individual player. This is thankfully not the case in “Inside Drive 2004”. Power forwards like Rasheed Wallace and Antoine Walker will take outside shots while guards like Bonzi Wells and Jason Kidd will take shots from the post. On top of that; player tendencies are totally customizable, so you can help determine where and how often he shoots.
This year there has been a big improvement in the post game. High Voltage added a step-out move to the post game and players seem to be more active in the paint and battling for position. There’s another key aspect of this game that adds to the realism, and that’s the existence of a true mid-range game. Most games don’t focus on this part of basketball because they know most people only focus on dunks, lay-ups and three pointers. “Inside Drive 2004” is different when it comes to this - and for good reason. In most games, once someone learns to perfect his defense against drives to the basket, the CPU will begin to have trouble scoring because it refuses to take a mid range shot. That’s not the case in “Inside Drive”. The CPU will take the best shot available considering the player, offense and game situation. If you play off of Steve Nash because you think he will drive, he will pull up and drain a jumper in your face. The on-court aspect of this game is slowly getting close to being perfect. True basketball fans will be able to really appreciate this game. Hitting a three with Reggie Miller after he runs off a pick, hitting a fadeaway jumper from the post with Kobe Bryant and turnaround jumpers with Tim Duncan are all things that you can do against the computer and the computer will do against you. It simply doesn’t get any better than “Inside Drive” when it comes to on the court action.
“Inside Drive” is finally online this year with the addition of XSN. For the few of you who don’t know what XSN is, it’s a service that allows you to setup your own leagues amongst friends and it keeps the stats for you. This adds something to the overall experience of “Inside Drive 2004”, and it’s the only game that offers a feature like this on the Xbox.
Last year, the lack of fouls in the game were a huge problem. This can cause a problem with stats because it can lead to an abundance of field goal attempts. Last year, even after placing the foul slider as high as it goes, you were still lucky if you got more than 6-8 free throws a game. This year, there are fouls galore and all types of them. This is the first basketball game that I’ve seen off the ball fouls, pushing, blocking and shooting fouls called consistently. Fouls seem like such a small thing but when it’s done right, its something to behold.
Grab a copy when you have a chance.
Here is a link to the full review...
http://reviews.operationsports.com/Reviews.aspx?game=insidedrive2004
