NBA 10: The Inside
A sports game that can appeal to non-sports gamers.
Tags: nba 10: The Inside Categories: PSP Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Mike "Two Tone" McConnell on Oct 22nd, 2009
NBA 10: The Inside on PSP shows that even developers are getting the sense that sports games are becoming like cars. You don’t need a new one every year, but they’ve always got a new model. So how do you sell multiple iterations of what is essentially the same game? Well if you’re Sony, you add enough into the game that it feels as if there are two or three games included.
First up is the very serious, ESPN-aping Basketball simulator: play calling, season and franchise modes, and a ton of detail. I am not sure how Fantasy Leagues still survive when you have games with this much detail. These games can allow obsessive fans to recreate single games, seasons, or franchises. To be honest, though I don’t detract them for what they are, I don’t really play sports games. I am always looking for narrative and characters in games, which these games don’t have much of by their very nature. I can acknowledge their appeal to sports fans, and I actually like basketball as a video game far more than other sports (well except for soccer, but that’s my own guilty pleasure) as it keeps the action kinetic and active instead of the plodding nature of football or baseball games.
The second game is the so-called Block Party mode. This has a bunch of street basketball action. Schoolyard games like Horse are alongside an odd reimagining of pick-up basketball. The first is called Conquest and it lays out each team on a map linked to their surrounding cities. Players attack and defend, conquering or keeping a city by winning a 10 point game. There are riffs on this mode that expands the concept, like Elimiquest, which allows works of a similar concept, but players eliminate themselves by scoring 6 points. The goal is to be the first team with only one player left. Give & Go is another game option, which is very arcade like – the more the ball is passed, the higher the score multiplier increases. It’s a quick game mode that is a lot of fun.
There is also Dodgeball for some reason, which I guess works, as they don’t really have to add any assets for it. The controls are pretty easy, but I don’t know how much depth Dodgeball is going to have. The final mode allows you to mix up and play different modes within the same conquest framework. This has a lot of inventiveness, and adds depth that may last beyond the initial few months of basketball season. This mode also had a lot of appeal to me as a non-sports fan, and reminds me of classic games like NBA Jam that didn’t require you to be a statistic wonk to play.
That Dodgeball Mode moves into the final part of the game. Inside the Block Party Mode is an odd little thing called Carnival. This adds a bunch of mini-games: an arcade basketball shooting game, a wack a mole clone, Skee-Ball, Pin Ball, Alley-Oop, an Alleyway clone called Breakin’ Bricks, and a Bust-a-Move clone. These are a small part of the game, and I am not sure if this was meant to be a part of the PSPgo’s attempt to incorporate the short games of iPhone ilk into the mainstream game device. None of these are going to steal an afternoon, but the tickets they warrant allow you to unlock bonus material, so at least there is some reward to playing it.
NBA 10: The Inside is a great little basketball title. It offers a lot of straight sports simulation to entertain, while adding a lot of side material. I think the mini games felt forced through, and the bonus unlocks could be tied to a trophy system. The review copy of the title spent a few days in my PSP, which beats most sports titles I get, so this is pretty highly recommended.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
| +Variety of Game Modes provides a lot of depth. +Simulation mode has a lot of detail. | 8.5 |
| What Doesn't | |
| -Mini-games feel tacked on to reinforce Sony's new marketing strategy. | |
| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| I was taken in by the title's huge variety, spending a few days surveying it. Not being a sports fan, I still found plenty that was entertaining as a gamer. I don't think you should run out and pick it up unless you're a die-hard sports games, but they can be assured that there will be enough here to justify picking up another iteration. | |
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Tags: nba 10: The Inside
Posted by Mike "Two Tone" McConnell on Oct 22nd, 2009 and is filed under PSP Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
