Pros: Super fun arcade action. Entertaining animation.
Cons: No online multiplayer.
One of the charms of video games is the way they make you feel you are actually doing something. Arcade basketball game NBA Jam perfectly illustrates this: every time I made a shot, leaping ten feet in the air and slamming the ball through the hoop or softly tossing the ball so that it gently glided through the net with a swish, I felt like I had done something truly incredible, even though all I had actually done was push a button and flick my wrist.
What It Is: Arcade Basketball
NBA Jam is a perfect basketball game for people like me who have no real interest in basketball. There is no team management, there are very few rules and all you really need to know is you want to put the ball through the net.
Part of a sports series I’ve never heard of, this latest NBA Jam looks pretty similar in design to what I found on YouTube of previous entries in the series, although the graphics and animation are decidedly improved. Two-man teams face off. You can pass, steal the ball and knock your opponents to the floor.
The most entertaining part of the game is when you shoot, because these ball players are superhuman who dunk the ball in beautifully animated, highly unlikely ways. Players will leap straight up and twirl like ballerinas or jump backwards, feet pulled up, and jam the ball in over their head as they fall. These moves sometimes shatter the backboard glass.
The Basics: Solid Controls and a Remix Mode
Controls are simple but effective. You can pass or steal the ball with button presses and shoot or block by flicking the remote. If you suddenly see your teammate leap in the air, pass him the ball for a high-flying dunk. While this sounds very simple, in practice it takes a lot of skill and fast reflexes.
For those who want something even more arcade-like, NBA Jam offers a “remix” mode. There are a few different games in this mode. The standard two-on-two has power-ups that appear on the court that make you faster or tougher or turn you into a mini player. There are also various games in which you must shoot from specific spots or play one-on-one to 21. In remix career mode you have to play all these games, and I soon bailed on my remix career because I didn’t find these specialty games much fun. I prefer the standard career mode in which you just play basketball.
The biggest flaw in the game is the lack of online multiplayer. You can invite your friends over to play, and that can be fun, but you can’t just go online in search of opponents. This is unfortunate, although to be fair Nintendo has not offered Wii developers the sort of online tools they get on the PS3 and Xbox 360.
The Presentation: Entertainingly Silly
Visually NBA Jam aims to be a better-looking version of the original. This is not a slick, realistic-looking basketball game. Players’ heads have a few still poses they switch between, so if they’re running one direction their profile faces one way and if they turn their profile simply flips to face the other way. This was all that technology allowed 15 years ago, but while modern games can certainly do more, NBA Jam proves they don’t have to: the primitive graphics technique works beautifully in the context of the game.
NBA Jam lets you play as famous ball players like Kobe Bryant but also lets you play as other characters, including Hillary Clinton and Dick Cheney, which can be unlocked in the game via button combinations (unlock Democrats at the “Press A to Start” screen by pressing the left direction key 13 times then pressing “+” or unlock Republicans by using the right direction key in a similar manner).
The Verdict: Just Plain Fun
It’s a shame the NBA Jam doesn’t have a way to import pictures of yourself into the game, which I wouldn’t think would have been that difficult. I would really like to play NBA Jam as Charles Herold; after all, I’m the one making all those amazing shots.
