First off, let me get this out of the way: NBA 08 is a good deal for the money considering it isn't just the basketball game you are buying; it contains so much more in the way of mini-games and playable modes that it could choke a horse before you could get around to playing horse.

Unlike its console brethren, NBA 08 forgoes any sort of story line development of a career to focus on just playing the game. Being presented on the PSP, SCEA significantly focused the shorter one-game matches and mini-games to the quick pick-up mentality of the handheld; a majority of the sub-games could be completed within 10 minutes or less. Or if you are more inclined you could create a profile to stretch through playing a season or more interesting the conquest mode, which combines Risk and basketball.

Conquest places you as a city that must win games against surrounding cities to win the zone and move on to an essentially national match-up. As you win games you can gain losing team players to build a super team, and completing a zone allows you to unlock older legacy players to fill your roster. It is the tactics that make this more than just playing a straight basketball game simulator that help elevate this mode of NBA 08.

Other on-court mini-games range from the standard horse, to three-point competitions, including another tactical based Elimination match where you try to get each of your players to score six points. Once they do they are out and you are forced to try to finish the game with the remaining teammates for better or worse. It's just the nuances that they threw into this game that make it more playable. Even if straight basketball isn't your thing, there is an entire section dedicated to "Carnival Games", which are hit-or-miss. Pinball, skeeball, and whack-a-mole are nice additions that will strike the gamer as either fun or annoying.

The biggest let down of NBA 08 is the control mechanics of the on-court action. Admittedly, I can't think of a basketball game on any system that has perfected the feel of truly playing, but here especially it takes on an artificial flavor with slow responses that seem to be tied to the fluidity of the presentation. To master the game you have to focus on simple blocking on defense and just getting past the other team on offense. The other team's defense seems to be unnatural as they are almost literally stuck to you like glue, the key being able to side dribble and fake out to get in the crease for an automatic lay-up or clear shot. Even simple shots with the color halo surrounding the ball were a little tricky to perfect with plenty of frustration involved.

Graphics significantly enhanced the presentation of the game. This level of fluidity was helped by excellent blow-by-blow analysis and television-esque player profiles. On court the players were too small to capture detail, and frankly it was hard enough keeping up with the ball on the PSP's screen, but overall SCEA does an admirable job reproducing the entire basketball visual experience.

Once the mechanics of the game can be mastered, there are limitless possibilities of playing this game, whether it is on the court in the superior conquest mode or through the quasi-related mini-games which prove to be apt divergences.

Nov 16, 2007 | 0 comments
Paul Bishop