NBA JAM
Going old school in an old school game?
Tags: NBA Jam Categories: PS2 Reviews, Reviews, Xbox Reviews
Posted by Andrew on Oct 28th, 2003
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| NBA Jam (title page) | |||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Action | No | ||
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Ok, before we get going, the last time I checked it is 2003 and NBA Jam was hot, what 6 years ago? Since then we have seen such greats as NBA Street Vol.2, as well as the later jam-style titles such as Showtime. All of these managed to build upon what was at one time a great franchise which revolutionized the arcade sports environment. Later titles for other sports such as Hitz or Blitz owe their existence to the greatest of them all, NBA JAM. Who can forget the first time you got to dunk from half court or throw ally-oop passes that defied every conceivable law of reality and a few others just for kicks? Well, like I said, that’s 6 YEARS AGO!!!!! Now the re-release of the entire engine, despite its few upgrades, is basically just a sad trip through nostalgia and a disappointing reminder of the difference in games years ago to today’s offerings.
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The basic gameplay of NBA JAM hasn’t changed since its first days. Its still 3 on 3 hoops with very basic controls. There is a pass, shoot, steal and juke buttons, which can be modified with the use of a turbo button. Basically the game turns into a run and gun dunking contest where you see who can perform the most insane dunks and moves, ally-oops and body contorting jukes as possible.
New to the franchise is the hot meter, which when filled up by performing these insane moves, you can set off a hot spot – where you can perform an even more insane dunk and score more than the usual two points. The dunks in the game are a lot better done than the past and do offer some variety, while maintaining a feel for some of the more insane dunks from the first versions of the game.
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Graphically, the game shows little difference over past versions. The game is now semi-3D, which means it does change angles and has a little more detail on the characters, but they still seem like caricatures of the players, and graphically, it is far from pushing either the PS2 or the Xbox’s limits. The different effects, such as playing in semi-black and white when playing the pre-60’s team and other dunk effects do add some elements to the game, but is still NBA JAM at its heart.
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As far as gameplay options go, it really isn’t all that different than any JAM title from the past. There is basic arcade mode, NBA tournament (where you go through each of the NBA teams), and Legends Tournament (where you play legend filled teams from different era’s – pre 60’s, 60’s, 70’s, etc…). When you defeat these teams, with players like Bird, Chamberlain, Robertson and Cousy, you can then unlock the teams and players for the other modes. On the Xbox, there is downloadable content, which means that you can download different original teams to use against your friends.
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When NBA JAM first appeared 8 years ago or so, I was a huge fan, and tried everything I could to get good enough to get all my players on fire (score three straight baskets) so that I could push around my friends and block all their shots. That was fun, YEARS AGO!!! Now with games such as NBA Street Vol.2 and others of this genre, what was once revolutionary is now just tired and boring. I seriously question why Acclaim waited so long to get this series on to the newer platforms, but because of that delay, they failed to realize that they may need to change the gameplay in order to make it keep up with the times.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
|
+ Soundtrack + New insane dunks |
6.2 |
| What Doesn't | |
|
- Same old tired gameplay - Lack of creativity in play formats |
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| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| I really should give this game 2 scores, one for now, and one it would have gotten 3 years ago when this game should have come out... | |
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Tags: NBA Jam
Posted by Andrew on Oct 28th, 2003 and is filed under PS2 Reviews, Reviews, Xbox Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
