NBA Jam Review - New Game Network

NBA Jam was a popular classic arcade title many years ago, and this year it’s back, thanks to EA Sports. The game was initially released for the Wii, but once the fan demand increased, the publisher promised to include the game for free with the upcoming NBA Elite 11. Unfortunately, with the title cancelled, NBA Jam was left on its own and was released as a standalone product for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Featuring a unique style and visuals, the game delivers on the classic gameplay that fans were hoping for. It also comes packaged with multiplayer and a variety of game modes. Even with these features though, the game feels shallow and may offer too little value for an average player.

The core gameplay mode in NBA Jam is a 2vs2 basketball match with 3 minute quarters. The player teams up with an AI partner to take on various real players from around the NBA. Before every game, you’re given a selection of teams to play as, and then select which player you wish to be, alongside your AI teammate. All the real players and teams from the NBA are here, though the player selection is fairly limited to the best players on each team. The players have stats assigned to various categories, though it rarely has any significant impact on the gameplay. The game’s simple premise is to score more baskets than your opponents, and the focus is to do it with as much finesse as possible.

NBA Jam, much like the original version, is focused on player domination and scoring points. On the court, players are able to shove and elbow their opponents in order to gain possession of the ball. You can shoot, fake, spin and slam dunk at will – all of which are well animated and also exaggerated. Slam dunks and jumps send players high into the air for a powerful dunk into hoop after a few flips in the air. The controls are fairly simple, and either buttons or the analog stick can be used. Once a player goes on a scoring streak, the ball and the net will actually catch fire, and the shots become more difficult for the opposition to block. The gameplay in Jam is very reminiscent of the classic, and if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

To make the game more interesting, there is a full single player or coop career mode included. You select any team you wish, and begin your journey to battle all teams from each NBA division in order to win various conference trophies. Each division also has a boss battle that features two classic NBA players that, if defeated, become usable in the game. Each game follows the same scenario, 2v2 game with 3 minute halfs. Unfortunately after a while, it all becomes a bit stale as you’re grinding through opponent teams and racking up victories. There is little to differentiate one game from the next, as your opponents and the court changes, the gameplay remains almost formulaic. Matches begin to feel a tad long, and there is not enough of a difficulty curve as you progress through the career to make it more interesting.

NBA Jam does try to spice things up in the other modes. With Remix tour, power ups get introduced into the game. These spawn on the court as icons, and provide various boosts to whichever player picks them up. The power ups are all useful, providing bonuses such as increased speed, immunity to shoves, increased accuracy, and others. The remix mode does at least offer a unique chaos element to the basketball, so it is somewhat more fun to play through. Other game modes include smash, elimination, remix 2v2 and domination. Each simply introduces new challenges or small changes to the formula, but make no mistake – you’re still playing an arcade basketball game at the end of the day.

The game also comes included with an assortment of multiplayer features. Local coop and versus play is probably what most fans will end up using, and it plays smooth as you would expect. Online also has a variety of modes included, and the game doesn’t suffer from any latency issues. There is one problem with multiplayer, though, that you’re likely to run into – there is almost nobody playing online. After numerous evenings of trying to find opponents for a game across any game mode, we were only able to play a handful of times, after long waiting periods. The game will often come back simply stating that no players could be found and to try again later. This isn’t something that the developers can control, but fans should be aware that the player population seems to be rather scarce. On the up side, the game doesn’t require the now-standard EA Online pass.

In order to preserve the classic feel of the game, NBA Jam features highly stylized graphics that look like an HD version of the original, but with the same range of animations and color palette. It may take some players a bit to get used to, but the visuals are solid enough not to become a bother for those who are new to the game. There is also a variety of optional tweaks available, such as turning on big heads, playing with rare basketballs or even switching the game’s visuals to 8-bit mode, which makes it look almost exactly like the classic game. There is also a color commentary announcer, who has some funny lines and keeps things short and sweet in the sound department.

Given that the game was originally supposed to arrive for free with NBA Elite 11 certainly puts things in perspective. Now that it’s at retail for a full $50 price, it may seem like poor value to the average gamer, and that’s a fair verdict. Make no mistake though, this is the same NBA Jam that you loved many years ago, redefined for the current generation of consoles while keeping the classic gameplay intact. The long single player career modes are well presented, but the classic mode gets repetitive after a while so Remix tour is a recommended change of pace. Multiplayer functions well, both locally and over the internet, but a shortage of online players may prove to be an issue. The game’s visual style is unique, with a variety of goofy options to make things even more amusing. If it’s the classic NBA Jam you want, with a few extras thrown in, you’ll get it here – just be warned that the current price point might be too steep for some.