NBA Jam: On Fire Edition

Platform:  Playstation 3
Developer:  EA Canada
Publisher:  EA Games

Arcade sports titles and basketball video games owe a great deal of their heritage to the NBA Jam franchise, a once great series that I can remember playing extensively on the Super Nintendo and Sega MegaDrive.  The game’s accessible arcade gameplay and snappy Nineties one-liners (‘BOOM-SHAKA-LAKA’) gave it a charm that meant long after the franchise became dormant, people were still fondly pining for a new installment.

Sometimes, you have to be careful what you wish for.  EA Sports revived the NBA Jam franchise three years ago with a full retail release.  Then last year they followed it up with a digital download version called On Fire Edition for $20.  During a Christmas sale, I picked it up for $10.  Using a free PSN voucher I got with Uncharted 3.  I still feel slightly ripped off.  I can’t imagine what it’d be like to pay a full $100 for this game when it was first re-released.

The presentation of the game is nice enough and the boom-shaka-lakking is still there.  It’s just that in 2012, the gameplay feels shallower than a 99 cent iPhone game.  You just take turns dribbling the ball to the other end of the court before pressing two buttons to do an over-the-top slam dunk.  The gameplay is tissue-thin in depth.  Winning a game against a friend feels almost completely up to chance.  Back then, it was enough.  Nowadays, its aged pretty badly.  Pass.