NBA Unrivaled Review (XBLA)

TECMO and Acronym games make a move into the paint and bring us NBA Unrivaled a game that had me remembering the old NBA Jam series from some time back. This game is a decided departure from the more and more complex sports games that the likes of EA and 2K are making. This is pure adrenaline pumping arcade basketball at some of its very best.

Take control of your favorite team and either take them online and compete against others or push your way up the challenge ladder to win the title. Either way you’ll be sure to spend hour upon hour on this title.

It’s not perfect. Don’t get me wrong. But it is exactly what many gamers needed in that is an easily accessible entry into basketball. I’ve not been a fan of basketball games since the demise of NBA Jam because they just start getting to complex and too involved when I just want to play and have some fun. This is one of several recent titles that takes a step back from all the technical intricacies of a sport and boils it down to good old-fashioned arcade fun (Madden NFL Arcade and 3-on-3 NHL hockey being two others).

The graphics aren’t remotely realistic and body sizes and parts are disproportionate. We’re not taking super big-head basketball here but we are talking some liberties have been taken. That’s because this is not a basketball sim, it’s arcade style and who cares if the players look a little strange, because it doesn’t need to be hyper-realistic. It just needs to be fun.

And fun it is. Even though pretty much no matter what play you call the players kind of glob together in a knot of elbows and arms which at times looks more like a street brawl than basketball. In fact the offense of some teams seems to be to line up in a row about about the free throw line and just pass the ball back and forth without rhyme or reason.

The defensive plays seem to actually function a little better with players actually doing what would be expected in a press, man-to-man or 1-3-1 formation. It’s slightly more effective than the offensive play calling. Fouls are a completely different matter. There seems to only be three in the whole game - reaching in, backcourt violation and charging. Reaching in, oddly enough, can even be called against you while your player is in the air and the other is not. Charging can be called even if you hit the button just before you run into the other player. Backcourt was called against me several times when I stole the ball at the half-court line, so don’t do that.

The game gives you three modes, quick play, Xbox LIVE and Challenge mode. Challenge mode is basically a season of one game against every other team in the league, the others are self explanatory. The thing I really noticed that was missing was some sort of practice or tutorial. No matter what mode you pick you are just thrown into the action without so much as hit button X for the tip off. I don’t even know if any of the buttons actually decide who wins the tip off or not. It seems to just go in streaks of them, you, them.

Overall the game is far from perfect. But it’s not so far that it’s not fun. It could definitely use some polishing up and just seems like they rushed it out before it was truly all it could be. A few additions and updates could make this one of the best arcade B-Ballers around.