Microsoft Basketball is simple to install and takes up less space on your hard drive than this review will take up on mine when I am finished writing this. Yet the storehouse of knowledge it provides is astounding. It is presented with a very simple interface that lets you switch between the six different sections--Players, Records, Almanac, Chronicle, Teams, and Hoopla--as well as directly access over 1000 video clips.
Each of the six sections has several subsections, and it is very easy to find yourself spending hours jumping from one section to another, tracing the history of a player, a team, or even the league itself.
The Players section gives you access to literally thousands of biographies of NBA players past and present. Each comes complete with photos and stats, and often video or audio clips. The biographies are thorough, summarizing the player's college and career history. You also can follow hypertext links to other topics of related interest. The 1995-96 edition even includes complete college summaries of this year's key rookies. The Teams section is equally thorough, providing in-depth team histories, audio clips from many of the teams' announcers, and a great photo selection. Check out team rosters, player statistics, and statistical leaders and even a '95-'96 team preview.
For those interested in record-setting performances, Microsoft Basketball provides you with an endless variety of records. From such obvious categories as points and rebounds to obscure details such as disqualifications. This is a fun section to poke around in.
But the fun doesn't stop there. Basketball also includes several sections for the historian in the family. The Almanac and Chronicle sections provide an in-depth look at the NBA as a whole: the Almanac section from a seasonal standpoint and the Chronicle section more from the angle of the greatest players, moments, and stories from basketball.
The Almanac contains season summaries going back to 1946 and has video clips as far back as the '61-'62 season. In addition, it includes bits on the draft, All-Star Games, League Leaders, and Award Winners. The Chronicle is the best place to find stories about some of the greatest players, moments, and stories from basketball. It is also your source for general basketball information, beyond the NBA. From basketball mania in Indiana to the Harlem Globetrotters to women in basketbal--this is the place to expand your basketball horizons.
The final section, while sounding like potentially the most fun, is actually the most disappointing. The Hoopla section capitalizes on the NBA's "fan-tastic" attitude but somehow comes up short in comparison with the wealth of knowledge presented in the other sections. Showtime offers a dozen or so video montages of NBA highlights, dunks, blocks, assists, and general great plays. The Quiz lets you test your knowledge of basketball history and allows you to do so in a variety of categories. Both sections are consistent with the rest of the disc, but I somehow expected more from this--perhaps a bit more interactive, or maybe just a bit more exciting. This disappointment, however, was the only one I experienced. Overall, this disc lives up to its name--it is most definitely a Complete NBA Basketball Guide.
Wes Breazeale is a freelance writer living in Portland, OR. His only real basketball experience consists of banking treys off the backboard of life. To see screen shots of this title and other reviews, or to learn more about Wes, visit his web page at http://www.lclark.edu/~breazeal/cd-roms.html.
©1996, ProMotion, inc.