BOOM-SHAK-A-LACKA (NBA Jam on the iPhone)
24 Apr 2011On Friday, a bunch of sites mentioned that EA was having an Easter weekend iTunes Store. An assortment of EA games were at reasonable prices (then again, a bunch of EA's games are shite, and they should pay me to play them).
But, 99 cents for NBA Jam?
It didn't really matter how bad it might have been, because that's a price I couldn't possibly pass up.
And, oh, how it is awesome.
To be fair, let's start with the bad.
- As with almost any iOS action game, the controls are an on-screen joystick and buttons. It doesn't matter how well they're implemented, it's still a shitty control scheme and probably the weakest part of iOS as a gaming platform.
- If you're not wearing headphones, your hand is going to cover the speakers and you won't hear the sound.
That's pretty much it.
What's awesome? Everything. The rosters are pretty up-to-date and full of awesome unlockable and hidden players (Bird and McHale, Spud Webb and 'Nique, Stockton and Malone). The gameplay is simple enough that the touchscreen controls, as cumbersome as they might be, work well enough. The graphics are fun and solid. The sound is good, and has brought back the announcer (or at least a sound-alike) from old-school NBA Jam.
Basically, it's the same old NBA Jam with prettier graphics, modern players, and it's on a device that fits in your pocket.
Oh yeah, and it's 99 cents.
If you enjoyed NBA Jam at all when it was in the arcades or on the home systems in the 90s, you'll like it now. There's a difficulty that works for everyone, you can pause a game at any point and pick it back up again. There's a campaign mode that let's you work through all the teams, unlocking players and special attributes as you go.
NBA Jam for the iPhone will be your favorite time killer for at least a couple of weeks.
Go buy it. Now.