ESPN NBA 2K5 (PS2)
Developed by: Visual Concepts
Published by: Sega

The Bad

1. Isomotion is more like slowmotion… takes way too long to respond.
2. Graphics weak at times, such as the aliasing of the key and 3 point markings all jagged.
3. 24/7 Streetball mode is okay… too Tony Hawk-ish, but not very exciting. For some reason my 6′5″ player cant even dunk. They spent too much time on this part and not the real game. You can keep scoring on the same simple move.
4. The action with little spin shots and hop steps looks like a real game on replay, but half the time these little extras arent controlled by you. It’s annoying when you go to cut, and your guy is doing a cross-over you didn’t tell him to.
5. Lack of defensive crouch, and protect ball dribble on offense.
6. Impossible to steal even with steal slider cranked up. It’s ridiculous, you sit there hammering the button, and the ball is right in front of your nose, unprotected, but you never get the steal.
7. New post up moves are okay, but you can’t back someone down and spin, dribbling to the basket for some reason. You always just turn to face the defender instead.
8. Why hasn’t anyone since NBA Courtside on the N64 introduced the ability to switch dribbling hands quickly, without fancy crap, and without using up turbo?
9. Sometimes when the crowd gets too loud, the sound gets all distorted and scratchy.
10. Really cheesy looking animated player heads with the stats bar during the game, making strange angry faces. It looks like Super Nintendo.
11. Annoying hiphop soundtrack to everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Good

1. You can’t argue with the $30 price.
2. A lot more plays to call on offense.
3. The ability to lead a player with a pass.
4. Pretty decent animations.
5. The hop step is a sweet move and alley-oops off the backboard.
6. Apparently the franchise mode is insanely in depth now… haven’t tried it yet though.
7. You get rewarded a lot more for executing plays, like if you use a screen, you usually hit the open shot.
8. You get to control how you want to change your shot in midair.
9. A.I. seems pretty decent.
10. Dunks are more realistic looking and harder to get, which makes them rewarding. And you actually dunk when you’re standing still under the basket, unlike the usual weird shot you get because you aren’t running to the hoop.

Rating: 7/10 blings
Overall impression: Bit of a letdown compared to 2K3

– Kube

The Kinison – Mortgage Is Bank
(Fearless)

It’s too bad first impressions aren’t everything. As the first five seconds of The Kinison’s new release hit my ears I smiled. The soft promising melody had me hooked. Of course, then there’s the unfortunate part of the rest of the album. Something about the whining Megadeth-like vocals kicking in, had me ducking for cover. And the repetitive, simple guitar riffs didn’t help. The Kinison just left me feeling empty and confused. They lack the overlayed roaming guitars, and the well-timed soft to heavy transitions that their swedishgaragemetalscreamocore counterparts utilize to give their songs substance.

Style is another problem. It seems to me, they are either trying to throw in a bit of every current trendy sound, or are still searching for an identity of their own. I hope it’s the latter. Being only a five song release, I will reserve judgement. A few catchy spots here and there, such as the oi influenced ending of “hey hey hey” and the classic hardcore break down in “a new way to dance” did keep me from losing complete interest. By far the best song by The Kinison on this release is the last one, leaving me to believe that their future could be promising, should they ever find themselves. — Kube

Rival Schools – United By Fate
(Island)

After aurally ingesting the Rival Schools album, United By Fate, I thought to myself, “Hey you know what? That album wasn’t half bad.”

That is to say, the ratio of good songs to bad songs left the scale tipped in favour of the positives. Fronted by ex-Quicksand member Walter Schrefiels and featuring a host of other former hardcore scenesters (a fact generously overpromoted by Island Records – considering this album’s sound), it is ironically the slow, melody laden songs which stand out on this much anticipated release.

Having heard several of the Rival Schools songs on demos under the moniker, World’s Fastest Car (Walter’s former, never released side project), I was not taken completely by surprise with the laidback exploratory nature of the album.

Desperate for a way to describe Rival School’s sound, I deconstructed the name itself, a search which unearthed an eerie communique. Rival spelled backwards is “lavir”, which is phonetically similar to “liver”. School rhymes with cool, and also rhymes with pool. Liverpool… brit pop? Hmmm… I think I took a wrong turn somewhere. In the very least, Rival Schools bleed brooding optimism, parting clouds to reveal a lush blue sky as you watch from far below, your river raft leading you to a heartfelt, uncharted territory.

Everything Has Its Point Today and Undercovers On both make an impact, despite their soft spoken sound, while a third noteworthy song, Travel By Telephone, brings flashbacks of Quicksand and helps bridge the gap between the album’s emo and metal aspects.

Where Rival Schools falls short is their few heavier, crunch driven songs, which seem unenthusiastic and out of place. Holding Sand, for example, repeats a simple metallic riff for the majority of its four minutes and does little to compliment the progressive sound the rest of the album speaks with.

Despite their few weaknesses, I look forward to whatever the future may hold for Rival Schools, as theirs is truly “a sound that can’t be still”. — Kube