NBA Jam HD Review
With the recent trend of HD remakes, it was only a matter of time before this arcade classic came flying in for the dunk.
NBA Jam was originally developed by Midway in 1993, and introduced a new genre of sports games which were based around action-packed gameplay with minimal realism. Released in the arcades (also Sega CD, Game Boy, and Game Gear) the game garnered a massive following during the period. I myself can recall numerous hours at my local arcade laying up and throwing down crazy dunks.
It is only fitting that someone (EA Games) picked up the ball on the next-gen consoles to bring this title back to life. The original thinking was to have the game as an extra on the now-cancelled NBA Elite. In short, due to Elite being cancelled, the decision was to release NBA Jam as a standalone title. More about this later.
Can the next-gen version rekindle the past glories that were achieved 17 years ago?
So BOOMSHAKALAKA, here we go.
The game relies heavily on the same principle that featured so many years ago. Basic 2-on-2 basketball with physics (and human ability) defying dunks and overall sillyness.
Those that missed out on the arcade days with the 1993 title: As mentioned, this is not a conventional sports title. Your team has two players of which you control one, rules are kept to a minimum (only one being goaltending, which can also be deactivated) and gameplay is fast paced. Each matchup takes place over four quarters of 3 minutes each.
Game modes featured are:
*Campaign (the usual “Pick a team and play through the ranks”)
*Boss battles
*Elimination (where the player with the lowest score being the loser and gets eliminated)
*21 (1-on-1 match in where the first one to get 21 points is the winner)
*Domination where goals have to be achieved from hotspots on the court, and
*Smash where the heat is on to smash the opposing team’s backboard with your uber-dunks.
Most of these (save Campaign) can be played online also. My online experience has been a bit laggy upon trying out however.(Could be my connection)
The Campaign mode features 5 games against a normal team, ending off with a Legends game where you play a team consisting of two legends ie. Patric Ewing etc, before moving on to the next tier. As expected, the difficulty ramps up gradually as you progress, and you can definitely sense the challenge getting harder as you progress. But as mentioned, this happens very gradually, allowing the player to ease into the harder matches.
Fitting to the game, the controls are very basic with different actions for offence and defence. On this level the game is very easy to pick up and play for any player due to the basic controller layout. You can control player actions via the face buttons, or the sticks. Your choice.
The developers have done a sterling job of updating the visuals, yet, retaining some retro feel to the overall presentation.
They also managed to secure the original voice announcer/commentator to do the usual “Boomshakalaka’s” and the like, and also added quite a couple of new phrases. On the audio topic, the one area where the title lacks a bit is the music. Owning the PS3 version, and not being able to play tunes off the harddrive is a massive setback here as the game features mostly rap beats which is not really in my taste. But muting the music in the Options is also a possibility, so problem solved.
The thinking to release the game on disk, and not as DLC on PSN or XBOX LIVE is a strange one as I can definitely see this title working as DLC. But, with South Africa’s bandwith limitations, this is probably a blessing.
The game is mostly aimed towards those that want an extremely polished stroll down memory lane. And sadly, a bit of an expensive one. The game currently retails at around R430, which is a bit much seeing that it is a revamped retro title. Compared to other bundled HD Remakes (God of War 1+2, POP Trilogy) that feature a lot more for less, NBA JAM HD may be aiming a bit high in terms of price. But those are the only setbacks.
If one thing could have been added it would've been nice to see the feature to create a team of your own (even if it was out of existing roster), or a signature over-the-top-on-fire dunk just for kicks. But the title is definitely not lacking due to the absence of these. Just would've been a nifty touch.
Despite the game’s minor “soundrack being crap” (to me) and relatively steep price issues, it is still a heck of a lot of fun to fire up with three other friends and jam the night away over some cheesecurls and beer.
BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!! (Available for PS3, X360 and Wii)
PS: Can we please see Wrestlemania Arcade get the HD treatment next?!....
Originally Posted by Strife
