It’s been a full 17 years since the genre-forging original, but does NBA Jam still have the magic?
Format: PS3, Xbox 360 (version played), Wii Dev: EA Canada Pub: EA Out: 26/11/10 Players: 1-4, 2-4
Hands up if you remember the film Space Jam? Remember how wacky, crazy and completely out of the ordinary it was – NBA Jam is all that. Come to think of it, it does have a similar name.
If you’re new to this basketball arcade frenzy, don’t panic. EA Sports have produced a blue and red man tutorial called Jam Camp, where you can train in a variety of drills to get you up and running and ready for the courts. These range from movement to shooting, but for most of the time I just found myself pushing the opponent over as it made me giggle. If you don’t know the rules of basketball, don’t worry, there aren’t any – this is freestyle basketball.
There are a variety of game modes such as classic campaign, remix tours and boss battles. I was quite surprised when the first game screen came on as there were only two players on each team. I half expected the rest of the players to come out of a tunnel to the sound of music and cheers, but, no, after seconds of waiting and after I conceded the first slam-dunk whilst I was trying to figure out what I was doing, I came to the conclusion it was definitely two-on-two.
A dog could play this game it’s so incredibly simple – no thumbs are needed. All you need to do is move the analogue buttons in some sort of circular motion and occasionally press the left trigger to add some speed and that’s it. You’re officially an NBA Jam player. This might be its downfall too as it does get too easy and repetitive, but you can up the difficulty if you really want to test your skills, which does get frustrating when you can’t get the ball back.
The music is a combination of gangster rap and hip hop which suits the game just like bread and butter. But whilst playing the game, I found my aim wasn’t to win, it was to see how many different reactions I could get off the commentator, Tim Kitzrow, who in my eyes makes this a successful arcade game, adding humour and comic value to the matches. There is a ‘big head’ option which serves no purpose apart from making the players’ heads bigger for comedy value. Don’t take this game seriously, because it doesn’t take itself seriously and that makes it great fun to play.
This has everything an arcade game should have. It’s as if they’ve taken it straight from a joystick junkyard and rebuilt it for the Xbox… wait, that’s exactly what they’ve done! An incessant strobe of flashing lights, corny sounds and simple controls makes NBA Jam a great game. It’s probably best played in short bursts as it may get repetitive – think of it as a game of Tetris. There will be times when it may get frustrating, but at the same time it’s highly addictive.
Aaron Stevens
