While all the pieces are there, they just don't fit well. Player animations are chunky and lack fluidity. And when the graphic detail is cranked up, frame rates drop significantly. But even as an action-oriented basketball game, NBA Basketball 2000 is not only disappointing, but also frustrating. And NBA Basketball 2000 developer Radical Entertainment deserves praise for accurately rendering the faces of a whole slew of NBA players, though some journeyman players don't get quite the beauty treatment of their higher-paid comrades.
Control is disappointing.
Using a Microsoft SideWinder GamePad, four of the eight buttons did nothing on offense. One button alternates between crossover dribbles, spin moves, and dribbling between the player's legs, but those moves are pointless as far as game play is concerned. And NBA Basketball 2000 doesn't always look good. Smaller players heading for a dunk often look like they've been hurled several feet toward the basket by invisible hands, and bigger players seem to defy gravity by literally hanging in the air before flicking the ball to the hoop. NBA Basketball not only looks strange, but often also plays poorly.