I love basketball. I remember playing on the original king of all sports consoles, the Intellivision. With its funky puck controller and games ranging from NBA Basketball and NASL Soccer to Downhill Skiing and Championship Tennis, it was enough to keep me and my friends busy well into fall.

This fall was no different, with Microsoft kick-starting its XSN Sports network. Inside Drive 2004 was on the top of my Christmas list, and Santa delivered. Although I like stylistic sports games like NBA Street, I’m more drawn to sim-style games that offer realistic AI and, thus, a longer shelf life. Add a customized online experience where I can play friends, create tournaments, update my roster and track my stats, and you’ve got a game that’s well worth the $50. You may not think XSN is a huge selling point, but believe me when I say it makes all the difference with sports games.

Presuming you’re not on Xbox Live, though, Inside Drive 2004 still has a lot to offer the offline player. For starters, the outstanding AI makes this game a virtual drug, and it’s truly what makes it stand apart. You will never watch the computer make a bone-headed move like have Steve Nash reject Shaq or make Tim Duncan lose his cool and get slapped with a technical. These are real re-creations of the players, and their stats and capabilities are accurate reflections of that.

The slight variance from this is in the game’s use of sliders, which each baller has for customization by Inside Drive owners. For example, if you want Shaq to prefer fadeaways over dunks, just move the slider in that direction. Sure, it’s not exactly realistic, but the use of sliders can make a big difference when the competition gets heavy during a full season.

While each player is generally portrayed accurately, so too are the teams. The Mavericks will drain three-pointers if left wide open, the Blazers will try to keep the pace hot, and the Lakers will kill you with their triangle offense if you don't double-team Kobe. Players like Reggie Miller will take the screen for an open jumper, and Jermaine O'Neal will reel you in with his short-range hook shots. If you’d expect to see it in a real game, you can expect to see it in Inside Drive 2004, too.

But while the action on the court is authentic, the controls are refreshingly basic. Dribbling, of course, isn’t exactly complicated, but free throws don’t require a peek into the manual to understand, and passing and alley-oops are relatively intuitive to pull off. The only frustrating part about the controls is that it can be somewhat easy to run out of bounds, so make sure to give yourself plenty of room on the sidelines.

If you’re getting the feeling that there’s nothing but good things to say about Inside Drive 2004, you’re pretty much right. That’s because we haven’t talked yet about the graphics. If you want the best graphics, then Sega’s ESPN is it. Inside Drive is OK graphically, but it’s incredibly inconsistent. Some players, like LeBron James, look darn near real, but others, like Rasheed Wallace, are way off. The game also flaunts its wire frames, with hand-drawn players that are undermined by choppy animations. The crowd, too, is a graphical faux-pau, and the cutscenes are pretty much limited to the post-dunk type.

Where the graphics get a backcourt violation, the sound is straight up the middle. Nothing flashy, but it gets the job done. The crowd cheers and boos at the right points, and the commentary is funny and good. The only thing that really stands out, though, is Mark Cuban shouting "Pick up the pace" from the sidelines. The announcers are good at commenting on hot players or stupid moves, and they do a good recap at the end of each quarter, but there’s nothing here that isn’t found in other games.

Except for the XSN play. What a blessing. The game’s performance online suffers from a little lag, but I can hardly blame my poor showing on a bad connection. I was absolutely destroyed in my first few games, but much like in real life, it was the quality of the opponent that handed me the loss. And you’d better believe I wanted to go back for a rematch.

XSN Sports and Inside Drive 2004 brings a sense of competition that goes beyond playing on the weekends with your frat brothers or online with a 13-year-old who never stops preaching why he is so good. You can setup single-elimination tournaments and full seasons. Keep track of your stats and take a look at real-time scoreboards. And although playing Dynasty mode (25 seasons) and franchise mode was fun, Inside Drive became truly addicting when I hooked it up to Xbox Live. If you win, you want to play again, if you loose you want revenge.

Granted, Inside Drive’s default rosters are old, the sounds are a bit repetitive, the menus stale and the players awkwardly animated. It still shines when it comes to what really matters: gameplay and replayability. Its best features are not graphics or sounds but (generally) authentic gameplay and online action. If you appreciate a sim basketball game that accurately portrays five-on-five action, then NBA Inside Drive 2004 should top your list of 1,000 reasons to love to game of basketball.

See more screens on the Inside Driver 2004 media page