NBA Live 98 is a basketball video game based on the National Basketball Association and the fourth installment of the NBA Live series. Its cover art features Tim Hardaway of the Miami Heat. The game was published by EA Sports in 1997 for Windows, PlayStation, and Sega Saturn, while also being the final NBA Live game released for the Super NES, Genesis, and Sega Saturn.
The game introduced the now-standard feature of passing to any teammate with a single button press. Its graphical improvements included new player designs modeled after actual player photographs. The PC version introduced support for 3D acceleration, utilizing 3dfx's Glide API. The PlayStation, PC, and Saturn versions feature Ernie Johnson Jr. as studio announcer. Play-by-play commentary is performed by TNT/TBS color analyst Verne Lundquist in the PlayStation and PC versions. The game was met with generally positive reviews, with praise for its graphics and new gameplay features, though the Saturn port was criticized as being a slipshod conversion. NBA Live 98 is followed by NBA Live 99.
Gameplay
The game features rosters from the 1997–98 NBA season. New features include the "Total Control" system, that allows players to choose between a dunk or layup or pass to any teammate with the press of a button. "Tight" player moves allow players to spin, crossover, back down, ball fake and more on command. Player lock lets players always control a specified player on court.
Though it is set during the 1997–98 season, Chicago Bulls superstar Michael Jordan is not featured in the game. This was because Jordan was not part of the National Basketball Players Association and at the time the cost of licensing his individual name and likeness for video games was approximately $15 million a year, beyond the total budget of most video games. Jordan is replaced by the fictional "Roster Player" in the Bulls lineup. However, Charles Barkley made his first appearance in Live 98 as a member of the Houston Rockets.
Motion capture work was done by NBA players Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond, Larry Johnson, Joe Dumars and Christian Laettner.
Features
New modes introduced include GM Mode, which lets players choose franchises, draft players and play custom seasons, and the Three-Point Shootout, which can be played using full or split screen. Four difficulty levels are available, including a new Superstar difficulty level, along with improved AI with smarter players and more accurate stats.
With the introduction of 3D players, courts, and jerseys came an opportunity to patch and update these aspects of the game, including with the EA Graphics Editor software.
Reception
The PlayStation release received mostly positive reviews. Critics praised the detailed player graphics, GameSpot assessed it as an across-the-board improvement over NBA Live 97. During the inaugural Interactive Achievement Awards, the game received a nomination for "Console Sports Game of the Year" by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.