365//365: Day 285 – NBA Jam (Wii)

"A lesson on how exactly you should reboot a franchise."

(Once again, I apologise for the out of sync videos….not sure why Youtube has them at 1.5x video and 1x audio. Any solutions would be appreciated, since I’m still learning this!)

Rebooting a franchise, whether it’s through film or gaming, seems to be the hot trend these days. While there are a generous amount of successes (Star Trek for films, Lara Croft & The Guardian of Light on the gaming front), there are those that forgo too muich of the source material, making the experience a shell of its former self (Superman Returns and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow for movies and video games respectively). It’s a slippery slope when it comes to rebooting a franchise; keep it too familiar and there’s no real revitalization going on, but drastically change it and you lose touch with what made that franchise so cherished.

Anyone that grew up with the arcade 90′s will instantly remember the many tokens plunged into an NBA Jam cabinet. Arcade style, over-the-top action with four players was an addicting habit, even with a myriad of successful arcade titles out at the time. Nothing spelled in your face like a massive dunk from the foul line that both lit up the net and decimated the backboard, raining down a shattering fury on the opposition. All the game needed was Shaquille O’Neal, Michael Jordan and Sir Charles Barkley and you’d have a truly legendary title (a shame those three were omitted due to licensing themselves to the armpits of player licensed video games). With NBA Jam: Tournament Edition, more players, more hidden goodies and more of the same gratifying arcade basketball gaming was provided to gamers. But after that, the franchise started to grow stagnant, feeling more of a rehashed product than a bold, quarter stealing title. NBA Showtime felt like more of the same, NBA Jam Extreme couldn’t even be saved by the voice of Marv Albert, and subsequent releases that relied more upon simulation than arcade action, put the franchise to rest.

After nearly a decade warming the bench, EA Sports has captured the NBA Jam licensed and resurrected it from obscurity with NBA Jam (of course) on the Nintendo Wii (NBA Jam Wii). After having my hand at this revival at this years E3 event, I came away thoroughly impressed with how familiar it felt, yet how welcoming it still seemed. With the final product in my hands, I can enthusiastically report that EA Sports has not only successfullyunearthed a franchise that has been dead for close to a decade, but turned it into one of the most well thought out video game reboots out there by doing one crucial thing right — retaining the feel.

For those that might not have even been born during the 90′s here’s the skinny –  two-on-two basketball with exaggerated physics, every NBA team featured and (in the later games) the ability to change one or both of your players during designated end of quarter periods. The only rules you’ll have to contend with are goal-tending and 24 second shot clock violations. Make three successful baskets with the player you are currently running up and down the court with and you become “on fire”, raising your accuracy significantly, while having unlimited turbo running and shoving, all the wile your shots will have a fiery trail to them. Four quarters, three minutes each. The most elementary of arcade sports games, but one of the most addicting.

While it can be considered one of the greatest party games in the last twenty years of gaming, solo play had just as much of an enjoyment factor to it. NBA Jam and NBA Jam TE had a skimpy line up of modes, though the extras in the form of cheats and hidden players more than made up for that. With NBA Jam Wii, the door opens slightly more to the lone wolf player, and even more-so for the multiplayer gamers. For the lone wolf, Play Now offers the direct match up, as if you were putting in your quarters to start a game of the original NBA Jam in the arcades. Enter your initials, select the team of your choice and the team you wish to play against, select who you want to control of the 3+ players offered on each team, start the game and have at it. Clicking the option below Play Game, Game Modes, opens up a wealth of modes to keep the solitude player engrossed for some time to come.

Classic Campaign allows the player to play every NBA team, as well as hidden teams, in an effort to show your dominance in the league. While it’s no season mode, NBA Jam Wii’s Classic Campaign allows you to play each team once, with the difficulty boosting slightly with each passing win. This alone can keep the player captivated for a whole weekend. Remix Tour offers a different approach that Classic Campaign offered, allowing you to Remix Points to progress on different front. Complete gold, silver and bronze trophy games to earn more points and unlock new divisions to play against. You’ll encounter various game settings that you’ll be forced to play along with, which ends up changing up the pace and occasionally the feel to NBA Jam Wii. Domination 2-on-2 is essentially a half court battle with deformed NBA stars. The half court set up has several spots around the basket that are specially marked. Make the shot on the spot and you’ll claim those said spots. Accumulate more spots and you’ll gain more points over time from each spot captured. Keep scoring at those spots or they become neutral once again. Score 100 points and you’ll be declared the winner. Remix 2-on-2 throws various power ups onto the court at different times, boosting certain attributes to your favor, or acting as a detrimental to your progress. the “Q” Quickness power up allows for faster movement speeds, quicker hands on steals and uncanny dribbling speeds, while the “M” Mini! power up will shrink your opponent to 1/3 their size, effectively eliminating any threat of a blocked shot. 21 is basically first to 21 in a 1-on-1-on-1 status. Put backs of your opponents shots will decrease their own score. Score a basket and retain possession, attempting to score 21 before the other two CPU players do so. This takes place on a half court setting as well. Remix Tour has plenty of longevity, variety and incentive to return time and time again.

Just about every mode can be played with more than one player as well, including every gameplay mode within the Remix Modes section. Smash is a competition between two teams to see who can decimate their backboard before the opposing teams. Scoring with slam dunks is essential here, and jamming it while on fire will only boost the potency and destructive power of your slam dunks. Thrash the backboard before the other team and you’ll pick up the victory. You’ll also have the same modes found in the Remixed Tour in a 2, 3 or four player flavor. When it comes to finding something to do in NBA Jam, whether you’re alone or in a group of friends, you’ll always find something to suit your needs and desires.

Being a Nintendo Wii title, there’s a guaranteed motion gimmick thrown into the mix. NBA Jam Wii has two set ups: a Classic Controller set up (for those that want to restrict their movements during to game to jumping up after a wicked slam dunk) and the traditional Wiimite + Nunchuk layout, which works impressively well. The Nunchuk analog controls player movements, which is as smooth as they were in previous Jam titles, holding the Z button while running performs your Turbo running speed, which will drain the more you use it, while regenerating slowly upon disengagement, and the C button is used in conjunction with shooting the ball to perform a pump fake. On the Wiimote, A is to pass the rock while B is to attempt a steal. Holding the Z button while pressing B will shove your opponent to the ground, occasicanally dislodging the ball from his grips.

Shooting is a Wiimote motion affair, with and upward flick throwing you into the air and a forward  flick releasing the ball for a shot attempt. It’s a scheme that takes literally thirty seconds to get comfortable with, and it becomes second nature soon after. My time at E3 gave me the indication that the motion sensitivity might be a little too loose, allowing for an errant flap of ones arms  heave the ball unintentionally. That’s definitely not the case here, although if you are a player that really gets into a game, the errant arm flaps will get you in trouble more often than not. As a general aspect, the motion controls for shooting are superb, and can also be performed with a simple wrist flick up and down when necessary, without an drawn out, melodramatic exertion. Honestly, there’s more of a sense of attachment towards the gameplay when using the Wiimote and Nunchuk set up, and doesn’t act like a detriment, like the motion controls to Punch-Out!! Wii.

 NBA Jam Wii features an even more spaztastic announcer, firing off some of the most head scratching, yet highly comical one-liners during carious moments of the game. You still have the iconic “he’s heating up!” and “Boom-Shakalaka!” belted out at the appropriate times, though now the announcer will throw in more comical one-liners when the player makes an errant shot, dunks it on top of the opposing player, or upon indication of whether the player is hot or cold. There’s no scoring updates anymore, such as the announcer saying “The Knicks are down by 59″ or anything like that, which is a bit of a shame, since it added a little bit more diversity to what the announcer yells out, but with the myriad of one-liners and such, it’s still a step up over the classic titles.

The same can’t be said about the crowd though. They’ll get into it when you score or get a steal, but nothing in-between. There’s no real illusion of a packed hose cheering or jeering you on, which is a shame, cause a hot crowd throughout could easily translate to an even hotter response from the players playing the game at home. Other random sounds of sneakers squeaking on the hardwood court and basketballs bouncing off the backboard are workable, and fulfill their purpose when needed.

Previous NBA Jam titles were limited in their visual approach, however they did faithfully represent the look and feel of the basketball court, the crowd and players. EA Sports gave NBA Jam Wii a much needed, though not overly emphasised visual touch up. The crowd is a bit dimmed out, but actually resembles paying spectators in the stands. Sidelines and behind the backboard have a more detailed digitized representation of cheerleaders, coaches and even mascots, whom performed a fluid enough motion after a score to make them feel like they belong in the background. Players themselves are serviceable, with more animation than the previous games combined, more dunk styles and more detail than ever before. I recommend putting on Big Head mode when unlocked, as the normal sized heads are not as distinguishable, and almost seem as if they were not designated for the body frame. While Big Head mode does inflate the head to a larger size, exposing more detail than before, they do not look like hideous representations of said players., and end up feeling more natural than their default noggins.

The deal sealer to NBA Jam Wii is not restricted to the myriad of gameplay options; hidden goodies unlocked through said modes will keep you coming back until you’ve obtained them all. They can be anything from Big Head mode, to unlocking classic players, such as the duo of Dominique Wilkins and Spud Webb. There’s so much to look forward to, with plenty of surprises along the way. In the 90′s it was a thrill to pass up court to President Bill Clinton and he tosses an alley oop to the Suns Gorilla, slamming it into the face of football great Warren Moon. With NBA Jam Wii, you can steal the ball with Sarah Palin, toss it to Barack Obama and throw it down hard into the face of George W. Bush. In a way, it’s a more gratifying move to slam it right into George W. Bush and laugh than it was for Bill Clinton to land on top of Warren Moon after a massive dunk.

There’s only a small handful of issues that cause a double dribble with your time in NBA Jam Wii. As mentioned, other than the lively and hilarious announcer, the audio isn’t up to snuff. The music during the game is a bit of an annoyance, and best served as a completely muted aspect. Some NBA teams have such few players to choose from, while others, such as the Los Angeles Lakers, have a near half dozen stars to select, when in most cases, you’re always going to have Kobe Bryant running mad throughout all four quarters.

Finally, in a vastly unnecessary move, no matter what difficulty you have a game set to, if you are up by at least 15 points at any given time, the opposition will suddenly become Gods, making nearly every shot, hounding you consistently, knocking you down before you can pass, stealing the ball on their first attempts, and so on. This aggressive AI turn shouldn’t be so rampant in Easy and Medium difficulty settings, where even the New York Knicks….the freaking New York Knicks are coming back from 15 down and go on a 17-2 scoring blitz in less than two minutes. If a team is blowing out another team , at least make the CPU competitive in its comeback, not a ravenous set of madmen, impervious to flaws and as accurate as Bullseye from the Marvel Universe.

Even with the CPU’s God Mode ways, NBA Jam Wii proves that you can reboot a franchise successfully, without gutting what brought it to the dance in the first place. Addicting multiplayer aspects, a plethora of game modes and options, hidden goodies and a single player game that’s all around solid helps cleanse the pallet of the medicrity that’s been consumed for the last few months by some underwhelming game releases. At $50 it might seem like a steep price to pay for what you’d assume would be a carbon copy of what you own on the Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis, but the extras added in, functional motion controls and up to date rosters have proved that NBA Jam is back, better than ever, and EA Sports is shooting 1.000 with the franchise. Truly one of the strongest gaming reboots out there.

Rating: 8.7