Arch Rivals: The Arcade Game
NBA Jam 0.1Genre: sports - basketball
Publisher: Flying Edge
Year: 1992
System: Genesis
Gameplay Score: 2
Gameplay Notes:
Honestly, not terrible, but a big step behind NBA Jam. You can jump/shoot and shove/pass, just like in Jam. There's no heating up or anything else remotely interesting, so the gameplay becomes stale very quickly. Hitting a shot is a complete flip of a coin. No matter where you shoot from or whether or not an opponent is near you you've got a 50% chance of making the shot. Even dunks aren't a higher percentage shot. Defense, therefore, just comes down to getting a shove to steal the ball. There's no way to block or defend a shot.
Level Design Score: 0
Level Design Notes:
Zero options. No settings. No modes to choose. Just a straight-up 2v2 with four long quarters to slog through. Every game requires about 20 minutes to complete. Ain't nobody got time for that!
Theme Score: 1
Theme Notes:
You've got four teams to choose from and a roster of six players who check all the jock stereotypes you can think of. Every team has the same players to choose so I don't even understand why there are different teams. Just name them the blue and red teams. This may have set the template but after NBA Jam, there's not compelling reason to go back to this game.
Art Style Score: 2
Art Style Notes:
Very simple compared to later basketball games. Minimal animation. Not unattractive, but not impressive in any way. There's one layer of parallax which looks good. But the background is a black screen with three small groups of fans. The crowd is as sparse as a WNBA game but doesn't look like one since there are only men and no lesbians in this audience. The sprites themselves are pretty ugly. They're all lanky and have on their shorty shorts. There are only two sprites - toe-headed Larry Bird lookalike and a black and bald Kareem Abdul Jabbar.
Audio Score: 3
Audio Notes:
Get ready to hear three voice samples several hundred times: "I'm open" "Pass it" "Over here" Despite the repetition, the samples actually sound decent, as far as Genesis voices go. They're scratchy, but not as bad as many games on the system. The music is also very pleasant, if minimal. Certainly not the pumping beats from NBA Jam. It's mostly just a fun little beat during gameplay and then arcadey fanfare that plays after scoring and whatnot.
Overall Score: 31
Review ID: 747
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