PS1 Review: NBA Showtime: NBA on NBC (1999)

What an ungainly title. NBA Showtime: NBA on NBC is another in the long line of NBA Jam derivatives, which includes Midway "sequels" like Hangtime (1997) and Hoopz (2001, and quite fun to spell, incidentally). Despite the name change, all three of these games play pretty much the same, although each introduces its own wrinkles to the core design. The NBA Jam formula just works, and for a variety of reasons, but of the tweaks or updates (outside of the annual roster update) offered by the various versions, Showtime happens to be the best of the lot. Everything is about the same as before, only smoother, more polished: you get 2 on 2 ball, most of the rules get relaxed if not removed, physics get exaggerated, and so on. Showtime introduces a foul system, however, which initially seems like an odd fit for the kind of no-holds-barred style of this or previous Jams. Basically, a foul is assessed each time you shove an opponent. Play remains uninterrupted until you earn your fifth foul, at which point your opponent is then allowed to shoot a free throw (worth three points) and retain control of the ball. This introduces a fairly subtle bit of strategy into the otherwise manic gameplay of the series. Foul your opponent for the fifth time late in the game, for instance, and you may find yourself on the wrong side of a six point swing. It's a small change, but at the same time it does quite a lot to change the dynamic of offense and defense, particularly down the stretch. As with all Jam iterations, Showtime can likewise get a bit repetitive if you play it for any significant duration, but in short bursts, and particularly with friends, it's terrific.

Of course, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the more cosmetic changes of Showtime. There is something wonderfully nostalgic about the old NBA on NBC theme, especially (actually, more likely solely) for those of us who grew up with the peacock's Sunday afternoon matinees. In comparison with its arcade version, or even its Dreamcast and N64 cousins, Showtime for the PS1 clearly loses a bit in the looks department. This is particularly noticeable in the player models which, while understandably polygonal for the time, fail to accurately render most of the players' faces. They all look a bit mangled. However, player animations are almost uniformly excellent. I should also mention the generally terrible roster. This was not a particularly lively time for fans of the association. You're looking at a league post-Jordan, consumed by labor disputes, and pre-LeBron. "Slim pickings" is probably the kindest way to describe the squads available. Thankfully, you can create your own player, and although you can develop that player into a superstar by defeating every team in the league, this is no career mode. It's essentially no different from the game's other main mode, in which you run through every team in the league with only the players made available to you on a particular squad. No career mode, no season mode, nothing else. As a single-player experience, then, Showtime is lacking in longevity. As an isolated, multiplayer experience, Showtime is the best of the bunch.

XBOX 360 Review: NBA 2K13 (2012)

If there were a CRN Award for most product placements, NBA 2K13 would be a top contender.

In order to keep costs low for you, the reader, Code Redd Net engages in one of the more economical means of providing game reviews: Redbox. Let me detail what I found from the newest edition of 2K Sports NBA franchise. Firstly, not a whole lot of things are different. This may just be a fact of life regarding the annual release of sports games: they are often little more than a roster update. Regardless, I was pleased to see some new things. When last year's game boasted a large collection of classic teams, I was wondering how far they would go. In order to gain the ability to play with a certain team the player would have to win an historic game involving said team. This was quite a charming feature, especially when unlocking a '60s team and playing on a simulation of a TV broadcast from that era. But for some reason, I remember hoping that they would have the Sacramento Kings team from the early 2000s, only to be disappointed. No longer is this the case for 2K13. And this is something I would like to see more of: the inclusion of good teams from yester-years, even if they didn't win a championship or were part of a dynasty. It is a part of our history and we want to play it! (Now send me my 2004 Timberwolves who were robbed of their championship!)

MyCareer
Another interesting returning feature is the "MyCareer" mode, where you create a player and can only control him. You are given a "teammate rating" which improves if you do things like make good passes, set picks, and play good defense, and decreases when you do bad things like turn the ball over or if the man you're guarding scores (this can sometimes be a frustrating feature, as it seems to much more easily go down than up. Part of it is an error on the programmer's part: if my assist pass was tipped by a defending player, the assist does not register and I get no credit; as well, it seemed strange that my teammate rating would go down when I intentionally fouled late in the game to stop the clock. Apparently the team or the coach thinks we are down by too much. You are going to penalize me for trying to win a game, even if it's a futile effort? Also problematic is the coach putting me in at power forward when my player is billed as the point guard. Your teammate rating goes down a lot if your man scores. I think the system could be improved as it unduly discourages risk taking). You start by playing a rookie game and then are drafted based on your performance in that game and how you answer post-game questions (with four multiple choice options) asked by GMs. Overall, I think this is a really cool game mode and provides a unique simulation for an individual playing a team sport. But it does require patience; I would advise to restart your game until you are drafted by a team you want. If you have a soft-spot for small market teams like I do, make sure you really want to play for them before you tell the GM of the Bucks that you can see yourself as a proud career franchise player. Being on a team you with which you fit in is also important for improving your player, as you get a win bonus that allows you to increase your attributes. It can be difficult to do this if you play on a struggling team and are having a hard time getting minutes. A new feature for this game mode is that you have fans, which didn't make much sense to me since I was a bench role player for the Bucks with 20,000 fans at the start of the season. Later, when we are 1-5 and I average 4 points, 2 assists, and less than 6 minutes a game (in 20 minute games) I had nearly 100,000 fans (as well as a shoe deal with Team Jordan). Maybe it gets harder to gain fans later in the game, but I'm not sure what the point is other than unlocking achievements. There is also a feature where you answer a post-game question from the media which affects three things: team chemistry, local fan base, and your number of fans. I didn't really understand this dynamic, as answering questions as humbly as possible usually led me to have less fans and not affect team chemistry, while being cocky nearly had the same effect. It was little things like this (interviews of role players who barely play, the coach putting in the rookie with 2 minutes left in crucial situations, etc.) that made the experience less believable but perhaps more interesting.There are also some cool mini-features, like skill training with legends (John Stockton will teach you how to dribble!) or playing a game of lightning.

MyTeam
One had to have to XBox Live to access this feature, so I can't tell you about it. Thank you, Microsoft.

Shoe Creator
This is actually pretty fun to mess around with. You can create shoes for different major basketball shoe brands with a variety of materials and colors. These will be available for your MyCareer player to wear once he has a sponsorship with the brand you designated. A lot of time can be spent tinkering with this.

Other Comments
You better really like Jay Z. The constant playing of his music gets annoying and it seems a bit narcissistic that his music videos are often mashed in with fake game highlights before tip-off. Last year's soundtrack was much better and varied. Also, I'm surprised regarding some of the rankings regarding certain teams and players. For example, the current Lakers (now with a record of 17-21) are ranked higher than the 97-98 Bulls (who had a 62-20 record). Over-hyped, anyone? As well, one of the nice things about video games is that players don't have to be injured, allowing me to have the fantastic Hinrich-D. Rose back court as reality should be. However, does an outstanding (when healthy) player like Brandon Roy deserve to be relegated to an overall rating of 80? It makes me question whether the programmers ever saw him play. If given more time with the game, I expect that more of these questionable rankings would be uncovered. There were also a couple of goofy things within the game, one of them being the functionality of the Kinect. Now, I'm not sure what it was supposed to do, because I could see "Command Not Recognized" repeatedly show up on the screen. But, when I blocked a shot and said, "Oh sick!" I got a technical foul for language! That resulted in my unplugging of the Kinect. And while 2K13 should be applauded for its large amount of commentary, it's not without its problems, such as certain comments being aired in inappropriate situations (one of them happened repeatedly after I got called for goal tending when rebounding the ball off of the rim: the commentator said he appreciated my effort in trying to get the block). And finally, one of the great things about modern sports games is how customizable they are. For example, I nearly tore my hair out playing 2K11 with a friend because of how easily he was able to steal the ball (how in the world is Pau Gasol stealing the ball in the back court from my point guard?). With the game sliders, one can lower the frequency of such things happening. This doesn't, however, completely excuse crappy default settings, as you have to find a happy custom setting (you sound like a real whiner if you make your opponent change these things) and remember to load it each time you play. But at least it's there.

Conclusion
There isn't a lot of choice for basketball gamers these days (how come the question of why there are correspondingly fewer choices in sports gaming than in previous decades is rarely asked?). But fortunately NBA 2K13 does not suck, though it is impossible to say how much better it would be if it had a little competition. Though perhaps a vacuous statement, it is the best current basketball game on the market.

Finest Fights: Game of Death (1978)

Still bringing you the best fight scenes available on YouTube, only now, we bring 'em intermittently.

Here's a great battle from a horrible, rush-job of a movie, Bruce Lee's "last" film, Game of Death. This is one of the few highlights from the movie, and one of few scenes actually featuring Bruce, as he and NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar brawl.

DVD Review: Best of the NBA Slam Dunk Contest (2012)

The NBA Slam Dunk Contest is an annual anomaly. It's outdated, and every year the league manages to handicap its participants with obtuse rules and regulations. Nobody has any reason to take it seriously. Still, I'm always surprised by just how exciting this piece of fluff can be. It has a tendency to reinvigorate and reinvent itself whenever it seems to grow stale. This breezy 45-minute highlight reel skims the hype and gets to the real, theatrical appeal of the contest. Strangely enough, Best of the NBA Slam Dunk Contest is not a chronological account, but a thematic one recapping the best slams in history. This works quite well, actually, because uneventful contests can be skipped over entirely. Obviously we can all quibble about certain exclusions, but I think this DVD does a good job balancing old clips and new. As you might expect (and respect), considerable time is devoted to legendary high-flyers like Michael Jordan, Dominque Wilkens, and Vince Carter, and even more recent champions like Dwight Howard, Nate Robinson, and Blake Griffin. Thankfully, though, unsung heroes like Dee Brown and perennial underachievers like Shawn Kemp get plenty of time to shine. Plus, it's always nice to hear Ahmad Rashad narrate things. Unfortunately, the scant few bonus features tend to get repetitive as several dunks are featured more than once. Nevertheless, this is a competent little highlight show for one of the most enjoyable, and admittedly overrated, pieces of sports-theatre out there.

Friday From the Archives: NBA Street (2002)

Every Friday (or thereabouts) we celebrate the heritage of Code Redd Net by posting a retro-review from our considerable back catalogue of embarrassingly naive, but nonetheless entertaining and heartfelt, movie and game reviews. Please pardon the prose; most of these articles were written in our immediately post-pubescent years. Hopefully you find them as enjoyable as we do.

I feel pretty comfortable leaving these reviews of NBA Street alone. ChickenMan first:

"I'll just start out with why hasn't there been a game like this? There's been NBA Jam with the 2-man experience. NBA Street is cool because there is no game like it. Especially with features like the game breaker, which with enough moves can occur, and which gives you points and robs your opponents. With winning games in "The Circuit" you unlock develop points and equipment for your created player, players for your team, and courts for "Hold the Court." With MJ, too. The first game he was in is "MJ vs. Larry Bird" for the NES [I got it on the Genesis, and it's way better. - T]. On Biggs' (a Street Legend) team there's a cool looking guy with a beanie. Go out and ball with NBA Street."

That beanie guy was cool. Anyway, here's my take on the game:

"Of all the games that stick to a theme, this game does it best. The announcer has all the right street-isms, and the players play on black tops, in NYC, and more. The Circut adds to the single player experiance, but the unlockables put this title over the top. Single-player is engaging enough, but the two-player mode is easily the most rewarding feature. You and your friends will taunt each other without caring (not to mention out of instinct) and many of the matches will come down to the wire. For all intents, this is one of the best multiplayer games I have ever played. Worth every cent."

And for a special surprise, here's a video of the beanie guy ChickenMan described. You should see him in the red sweater. He makes a couple nice passes to Biggs.

PS2 Review: NBA Live 06 (2005)

I bought NBA Live 06 some time ago for $1 at a local used game store, and I did so just so I could enjoy its slam dunk contest. Though this mode has problems (wacky judging, that annoying shot clock, difficult learning curve) it's the only one that comes anywhere close to approximating the excitement and creativity of the dunk contest: other notable, but insuperior, examples include the inimitable Bird vs. Jordan and the more recent NBA 2k11 and 12. The dunk contest alone is worth a dollar, but I was also treated to a serviceable three-point shootout (made somewhat ridiculous and fun because players and computers alike consistently score in the high 20s) as well as the rest of All-Star Weekend. But the real surprise was the inclusion of the classic NBA Live 95. This classic sports game is modified from the Genesis version to erase unlicensed player names; though they can be recognized by their attributes and positions, it isn't quite the same. Still, this is a wonderful bonus feature, the kind that I wished would be more common. And the rest of Live 06 is a pretty decent basketball simulation too, way better than the any next-gen version of NBA Live/Elite, which took a nosedive right after 06.

You can pick this one up on Amazon for $.01