Lakers versus Celtics and the NBA Playoffs

The Good
Ah yes, Lakers vs Celtics. What a bunch of great memories this name evokes. A game from the days when Internet access was something that maybe only a couple of guys at the Pentagon had. Without the ability to visit NBA.com and little or no NBA Basketball on Dutch TV at all, for me names like Bird, Thomas and Magic seemed to denote almost mythical figures instead of basketball players. Me and my brother were boys in our very early teenage years back then. We didn't know much about the NBA back then but we did know some of the greatest athletes were playing "showtime" basketball on the other side of the Atlantic. For me this game has huge nostalgic value, it gave us access to NBA basketball and of course we really played this game a lot (I probably won the play-offs at least twice with every available team).

I still think Lakers vs Celtics is a great game. It has great gameplay that’s easy to learn, colourful EGA graphics, and nice sound effects (my personal favourite: the sound you hear when you sink a 3 pointer). Lakers vs Celtics offers (or at least offered) a complete NBA experience and yet the controls are so easy. You only have two action keys (besides up, down, left and right), with the 5 key you switch between players or pass a ball and with the Enter key you shoot, fake, block and jump for a rebound. Just compare this with NBA Live 2000, which has at least ten action keys.

Also the game is programmed well, there is no need for MoSlo when I play it on a Pentium II 450 mhz.

The Bad
When judge this game from a more objective point of view, I notice that it has the following weak points:

• Rebounding always seemed a bit like guessing, when it got crowded in the paint you never knew which player would come up with the ball.
• There is really way too much stealing going on in this game.
• Once you knew how to play this game it gets real easy. There is a standard recipe to win this game. Use your guards to intercept the ball at half-court (the computer is a bad passer) then make a fast break or pass the ball to your post players in the paint, they score almost every time when they’re close to the basket.
• I didn't mind back then, but some post game statistics would have been nice.

The Bottom Line
If you never played this game in the early nineties, you probably won’t like it as much as I do when you pick it up. It’s likely that modern, 3D accelerated basketball games like NBA Live have spoiled you. Yet there is no doubt about the quality of this game.

Oh and by the way Accatone is wrong, the ball does move faster than the players.

The Good
Said just now, has a great gameplay, definitely easy to get used to: All you need for this game is your basic movement controls (up-left-right-down cursor keys) and besides, only one action key: ENTER (to jump, to fake or to shoot-to steal the ball). So just enter to the world of real NBA players and teams from '88-'89 season, get the chance to play with Kareem, Bird and many other superstars. At its time you can't expect more beside perfect looking EGA graphics and fun to hear Adlib sounds (especially, when the ball hit to the metal ring) from a computer basketball game :) I think no any other basketball sims, even NBA Live Series did reach to its quality, I can't get myself playing it even today: I like watching Kareem's skyhook, long-lasting air shows-slam dunks, my ready to steal the ball standings and many other little tasteful things, all had become a perfect mixture in a perfect gameplay. A classic.

The Bad
It becomes really very easy and unfortunately quite repetitive when you play against any computer opponent, Lakers or Boston doesn't matter. One of the main reasons for this disappointment I guess is becoming because of the game speed. It is a slow game but more importantly how can the ball can go with the same speed as all the NBA players can move with? To be honest, the game becomes really a huge chase all for that little ball: Follow where it is or it might be going, stay towards its direction and get the ball, that's all. Then maybe a fast break and you get slam dunk! But in two players mode, no, we two already know what we must and what we must not to do and surprisingly NBA can be more enjoyable place to play...

The Bottom Line
Despite the lack of really good computer opponents this is the must-have computer basketball game whether you like basketball or not!

The Good
I'm was a Laker's fan (back in the 80s). By default, I was a Celtics hater. This was the basketball game for me. It remains my favorite basketball game today. This game was loads of fun for me to play, but only because Lakers vs Celtics actually meant something to me in those days.

Playing against the computer was no fun. Playing against a human is pretty fun. But I think I got too good at this game because none of my friends wanted to play me after a while :-(

The Bad
Computer AI plays more like Pokemon than Kobe Bryant. I mean, c'mon, I'm a Laker fan and all, but when Kurt Rambus is scoring more points than Larry Bird, we're no longer on planet earth!

The Bottom Line
If you want to outscore your computer opponents by 100 points using your B string, this is the game for you!