"NBA" game for PSP - a big review for a small game

[bchogan]

Figured I'd post my initial review of this game, in case anyone wants to know the perspective of an NBA Live player on this new game from Sony/989 studios.
Firts off, I had read a review on ign that gave the game only a 6 out of 10, so I knew it had it's problems before I got it. But since I'm an NBA junkie, and this was the first NBA game available for the PSP (at US launch) so I decided to get it anyway.
The game is full 5-on-5 with all NBA teams and their rosters, as well as some NBDL teams, East & West All-Stars, team USA, team Euro and team World. Rosters are limited to 13 players, and the game only includes 32 free agents. I think all of the free agents are players that are currently on NBA rosters (except Karl Malone) that were cut due to the 13 player roster limit. You can sign, release and trade players only in season mode, as far as I can tell. You cannot edit players in any way, which means their stats and appearence are locked. There is no create-a-player, so you can't add anybody that's not already in the game. You can't even sign or trade a player from the NBDL either, so it's confusing that they even included those teams in the game, as their ratings are so low compared to the NBA teams, and the appearence of all the players is the same white guy. I think all the players on the NBDL teams are fictional, too.
Also, you can trade anybody you want for anybody you want, with no trade restrictions. So, if you want to trade Darko for Yao, you can, with no objection from the Rockets.
Game Modes: The game doesn't have a dynasty mode, but does have season, exhibition, practice and playoff modes. It also includes 3 mini games which I'll get into later. Practice mode is a team shoot-around, with all the players in warmups, which is kind of a nice touch. You have to grab an available ball after you shoot, like in a real shoot-around, which is also a nice touch of realism. You can switch to freethrow mode as well.
Exhibition mode is just a single game. Season mode offers several choices, which include a full 82 game season, and 52 or 29 game seasons. You can choose the playoff length as well, which includes best of 7, 5, 3 or 1. Injurys can be tuned on or off. Season mode keeps stats for teams, players, leaders as well as the standings. I haven't played through a season, so I can't say too much about the stat keeping. There's also a season report, which lists transactions, injurys, All-Star voting and awards. Again, I haven't played long enough to review these options.
Playoff mode setup lets you choose best of 7, 5, 3, or 1, injurys on or off, bracket (random, 2004 or manual), and the number of teams per conference (1 to 8). Similar stats to the season mode are kept as well.
Starting a game: There are three difficulty settings, rookie, veteran or all-star, two camera modes, sideline (the default) or follow. You can also turn off the sound fx and the crowd noise. There is no commentary at all. No play by play or color. The only voice that occurs is when there's a turnover. The court sounds are o.k., and the crowd responds to plays, but it's basically just two sounds: an "ohhh" sound for turnovers and opposing team scores and a "yeahh" sound for home plays (there's also a basic "hum" of the crowd at all times, as can be expected). There's various music bits for the arena, which seem appropriat, but no real songs that I could determine.
The two camera modes are usable, though the sideline is a little tougher, as the players further away get rather small, due to the PSP's small screen size. So the follow mode is a little better for playing.
From the pause screen, you can select from 3 different defenses- man, 3-2, 2-3, all of which are selectable during gameplay by use of the control pad, and adjust defensive matchups. You can also call timeouts (only after the ball has been inbounded by your team) and make substitutions.
Gameplay: Here's where the game has it's biggest problems. Instead of the usually hold and release method of shooting that has been used by virtually every other basketball game for years (decades, even), 989 tries a new two-tap shooting scheme. First, it's tough to get used to because everybody's used to the hold and release method. It's also difficult to time, and uses a lighted halo around the ball to determine when you should make the second button tap (red to yellow to green and back, with green being the optimal time to shoot). Even good shooters have a tiny timeframe in which to make that secod button tap, and it doesn't seem to matter whether it's a three or a shot under the basket. Worse, layups and dunks are automatic, which presents problems as the layup or dunk will start after the first button press and doesn't require a second press. So if you think you're going to take a layup or dunk, you are often wrong and then required to make a second button press, which is often impossible as it goes by too fast because you weren't expecting it. For example, you can be all alone on a breakaway, press the shoot button a few steps from the hoop to try to lay it in or dunk, but the layup doesn't happen and you blow the shot and turn over the ball to a following defender. Also, I've had many shots where the halo light never changed from red, so it was impossible to make a shot. Maybe all this will improve once I practice some more, but it doesn't seem likely.
The playcalling on offense offers more options than the defense, but these are somewhat confusing to select (I won't even try to describe it as the manual devotes an entire page to it). And the plays aren't the usual ones we're all used to. There's no pick and roll. There are post ups, at least, and 3-point sets, but there are also plays called "midrange wing (primary postman)" and other confusing titles. I think they wanted to use different terms to enable non-basketball people to use it, but it's just more confusing.
The analog nub is used to controll you movements, but there's no turbo. To run faster you just press the nub to the furthest point. Unfortunately, you never run very fast, and the game seems slow because of it. You can do spin moves through the buttons, and jukes too, but the control isn't as crisp as I'd like. To pump fake, you have to hold the R shoulder button and press the circle button. Again, when you're used to tappong the shoot button to pump fake, this new method causes problems and leads to many turnovers. There's icon passon, which is good, and an alley-oop, which is R plus X, which works o.k. too.
Fatigue: I decided to adress this separately, as there's no indication of how fatigued your player is. The option is ther to turn it on or off, but I couldn't tell when my players were tired, so making substitutions is tougher. I've only played games with short quarters, though, so I can't say whether there's any difference in longer outings. But no indicator for fatigue is a big ommission, especially for a game that's supposed to be an NBA sim.
Graphics: The game looks pretty good, although there aren't team specific arenas, no bench players or coaches on the sideline, no refs, and a cardboard crowd which moves so little that it was several games before I noticed nay movement at all.Player intros show off the player models and faces. While too ripped physically, all the faces look good. And during gameplay, you don't notice the bodies being too muscular since they're further away. There's no instant replay, but on some dunks, the game goes into a closeup and does an Upper Deck card type thing, and there's also some closeups of players after a made basket.
There is no three second call in the lane, as I was able to camp out with no problems. Also, the AI didn't take advantage in rookie or vet modes. The All-Star mode is the only way to go. In the lower modes, shots go in too frequently for both sides, at least they probably would if I could shoot. But the CPU opponants shots raining down in the easy modes is confusing. Easier dificulty should give the advantage to the player, not the CPU.
Mimi-Games: There's three mini-games, the skills challange, "paint," and 3 point contest. The skills and three point are the same as the all-star weekend, while paint is a new game that pits you against an opponant where you both shoot at the same basket, with each made basket causing a section of the floor to change to your color. The object is to have more of the court turned to your color at the end of the match than your opponant. The game seems pretty fun after initial playing, providing you can get used to the shooting controls, of course.
The 3 point contest is pretty good, too, but the controls make it difficult to get through the contest in the time alotted. I still haven't had the opportunity to shoot the last few balls on the last rack as time has expired before I got to them.
Online & Wi-Fi: This game features both internet play and wi-fi play (where players connect wirelessly in close proximity to each other without a network). I haven't had the opportunity to test this yet, as I don't have a wireless router right now and I haven't tried wi-fi either, but I expect this is a better way to play the game, as you won't have to deal with AI issues.
The skills competion is just like the real one, and comes off well. It's still hard to say how well it plays untll I get the controls down more.
To wrap up, "NBA" is not even close to NBA Live or the NBA 2K series. It doesn't have the dynasty options, or the ability to edit or create players. The controls are inexplicably changed from the norm (prehaps 989 is using the PSP to test new control schemes before they add them to their upcoming NBA console releases for ps2 or ps3). Still, this is a full-court 5-on-5 NBA game for a portable that is playable, and it's the first for the PSP so there's little to compare it to. The mini-games add to the game and may add to the replay value in the long term. However, if the controls continue to be difficult to master and if the AI doesn't prove challanging, I may trade this game in when NBA Street Showdown is released.

[Ruff Ryder]

Nice review. By looking at some of the screens and movies, it looks good enough for a temporary play, but it definately lacks in some areas.

In your opinion, is a PSP worth $250?

[J@3]

You can't even sign or trade a player from the NBDL either, so it's confusing that they even included those teams in the game, as their ratings are so low compared to the NBA teams, and the appearence of all the players is the same white guy. I think all the players on the NBDL teams are fictional, too.

Wow they really went all out with this one. A+ for effort!