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'NBA Playgrounds' review: A fun throwback
NBA Playgrounds

'NBA Playgrounds' review: A fun throwback

As soon as you saw this post's headline pop up on your computer, you knew that in the first paragraph I'd have to compare NBA Playgrounds to NBA Jam (or even NBA Street). And you weren't wrong. Saber Interactive's NBA Playgrounds trades on this kind of nostalgia. Its trailer makes it painfully clear that this is An Arcade Experience, from the over-the-top slam dunks to the impossible crossovers to the fact that the player models have a certain big-head-mode '90s charm to them. So yes, I'll be comparing the game to NBA Jam, because it is very much a spiritual successor. But is NBA Playgrounds the next NBA Jam? Well, in a word, no.

Now, that might have sounded harsh, but I didn't mean it as an insult. Undoubtedly, if you've ever played NBA Jam, you'll have a certain idea of what to expect going into NBA Playgrounds. You'll be shoving people to the ground to create turnovers, creating positioning for dunks, and getting frustrated when your AI partner doesn't go up for an alley-oop even though you're mashing the button so hard you're worried you'll break your controller. The skeleton is the same, but it quickly becomes clear that this game is a different beast altogether.

Where in NBA Jam players can shove and dunk with abandon, NBA Playgrounds has a stamina meter, and it is always just a tiny bit smaller than you think it is. Performing huge dunks or crossovers, shoving people to the ground, and sprinting downcourt all use stamina. This means that you can't seamlessly transition from a crossover to a dunk – you'll be out of energy. And it also means if you press the other team and attempt to shove them, you won't be able to keep up with them as they streak past you to an open hoop. It makes the more annoying tactics favored by NBA Jam players more or less impossible, and serves to balance the game a bit more. Plus – crucially – it makes players approach each offensive and defensive sequence with a different mindset than they would for an NBA Jam game.

The other big difference is the hilariously-named "lottery pick meter." In short, you fill it up with big plays, similar to the "Gamebreaker" meter in the NBA Street titles. When it's full, you're rewarded with a random power-up. These include unlimited stamina, the ability to ensure that your next shot goes in no matter what, double points for dunks for a certain period of time, and a whole bunch of others. These power-ups are unlocked as you play, and they can really turn the game tense as teams attempt to either use their new abilities, or prevent the other team from using them.

There are other differences as well – there is very little feedback on shot timing, and the timing varies depending on the shot or dunk animation, which takes a lot of getting used to. Be prepared to miss a lot of layups. That said, if you absolutely nail the timing, you'll get an extra point on your shot. The game also awards extra points for other feats, like sinking the first shot of the game, or hitting an alley-oop with an electrified basketball (yes, really).

The unfortunate thing, however, is that the game doesn't really do a good job of explaining any of this until you see your opponents do it to you. Player-specific moves that are unlocked as players level up, alley-oop strategies, and dunking off the rebound are all things that you'd think would be covered in the tutorial, right? Well, they're not. On one hand, it's kind of fun to figure this all out on your own, but on the other hand, the player really shouldn't have to. NBA Playgrounds hides a lot of its fun, and it holds the game back from being better.

Oh, and while we're nitpicking, we need to talk about the AI. Not the opponents' AI, that's fine, but your teammate's AI. It's infuriating. They take ages to switch to an open man on defense, don't play matchups well at all, and most frustratingly, refuse to take an open lane to the hoop for an alley-oop. It seems like every time I get the electric-ball power up and call for an alley-oop attempt, my teammate decides to run suicides around the 3-point arc. It's awful, and really needs to be fixed.

It is also disappointing that there isn't really any fleshed-out career or story mode at all, though it's not unexpected given that this is a budget title. Instead, you get an exhibition mode, a "tournament" mode which serves as the game's campaign, and a few online options. Personally, I would have at least liked to see more options for the exhibition mode – that was one of my favorite things about the NBA Jam reboot a few years back. This game would benefit from modifiers like unlimited stamina, disabling the lottery pick, and others that let players customize their own games for couch multiplayer.

Having said that, there's not much else to hate, other than the interminable-seeming load times, and the fact that the Nintendo Switch edition currently does not have online play (Saber Interactive says it will be available in the next few days, to their credit). The game boasts a roster hundreds strong, with hundreds more players promised down the line as DLC, and though you unlock them by ripping open player card packs, there doesn't seem to be any plans to add pesky microtransactions into the mix.

Best of all, the whole thing just feels like a throwback, from the logo design, to the exaggerated and cartoony models, to the cringeworthy and over-the-top announcers, to the menu music. Oh my god, the menu music. It is the cheesiest, silliest, best song I've heard in a sports video game in ages. Though there doesn't seem to be a rip of the track online yet, I took it upon myself to transcribe my favorite line for you:

Release the big man, baller, triple threat; with the vertical hops and nothing but net.

It is wonderful. From an auto-tuned voice chanting words like "downtown" and "posterize" to the second verse that is essentially a Chopped and Screwed version of the first verse – everything about it is perfect, and calls back to that old cheesy NBA Hangtime rap.

In short, NBA Playgrounds doesn't miss the mark, but it doesn't fully hit it either. It's not as silky-smooth as NBA Jam, and it's not as involved and satisfying as NBA Street. What it is, however, is a pretty darn good arcade basketball game that costs 20 dollars. If you've been craving a new game in that vein, that's money well spent.

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