Video Game Reviews

NBA 2K3

System: Xbox

Company: Sega

Price: $49.99

Rated: Everyone

Grade: C

While NBA 2K3 is presented in the familiar ESPN format, it lacks the sports channel's charisma. The games are shown just like an ESPN NBA broadcast, and the game menu is shown in the SportsCenter layout. The score bar at the bottom of the screen gives playing instructions.

Despite the look, the play is not very entertaining. NBA 2K3 gives players the opportunity to play on different street courts, two on two or up to five on five. Players can also do a fantasy round to set up their dream team. If they have NCAA 2K3 class saved to a memory card, they can draft players onto their teams.

But the game just isn't that exciting. Basketball nuts may enjoy it, and maybe people who obsess over everything that has to do with ESPN.

-- JEFF GUSSOW, Times correspondent

Lego Bionicle

System: GameBoy Advance

Company: Lego Software

Price: $18

Rated: Everyone

Grade: A

In the first GameBoy Advance game from the Lego Bionicle franchise, players become warriors trying to recover six mythic stones that will restore their island paradise to its previous glory.

It is a complicated job, but the game is creative in that it throws an array of challenges at the player. Instead of kick, punch, kick on level after level, players in Bionicle must solve puzzles or complete other challenges that involves skills other than simple violence.

Additionally, the game taps into some creativity. Just as in Lego Racing or some other Lego games, players can design their characters, choosing from an array of helmets, masks, arms and legs.

And the colors actually make a difference. The graphics in Bionicle are first-rate, making full use of the color palette available to GameBoy Advance.

While the comparatively minor violence makes the game suitable for younger players, the 20 levels and extraordinary number of items for collection along the way may make it a little complicated for kids younger than 7. The manual is easy to follow, however, though it is published in English and French, instead of Spanish.

Bionicle also has a nifty hidden feature, available to those who are willing to spend additional money on a game cable and a second copy, or who know a friend with one. There is a series of minigames locked inside which allow players to compete against each other in races or tests of other skills.

-- CHUCK MURPHY, Times staff writer

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