Game Revolution Review Page

Playstation Review		by Johnny Liu
Category	Sports
Players	1-4
Difficulty	Medium
Review Date	1/00
Publisher	Midway

It's definitely not in the shoes.

John Tesh - the one time host of Entertainment Tonight and the source of endless material for comedians everywhere. Did you know he wrote the NBA basketball theme? Seriously! Now every time you hear that tune, you'll shudder with fear. But that shouldn't stop you from getting into some digital two on two, should it?

Two on two basketball, no goal tending, five fouls and the opponents get a free throw. So states the rules of NBA Showtime. If you've ever played NBA Jam, then you already know the basics - the familiar cheap computer opponents, the lackluster single player mode, and the endless the back and forth gameplay. Unlike the other versions of this arcade port, the Playstation game suffers from bad graphcis and a inconsistent framerate, severely limiting what is already a contrived experience.

Indeed, single player will get boring. It's fun for a quick full 4-quarter game, but I've never thought of NBA Jam/Showtime as a game to play for hours on end by yourself. While you can save your game records under a name and pin id, there is no season mode.

When you shoot for the hoop, oddly enough, your computer-controlled teammate will jump as well; after you drain the three-pointer, that same teammate might grab the rim from his airborne descent. Maybe it was waiting for the alley-oop, but it's as if there's something not quite right with the drone member of your team. The same problem has shown up in the arcade version, but other than the complete weirdness of it, it doesn't deter the gameplay.

New to the Midway b-ball series is a Create-a-Player option. As incentive to keep playing, you can build up a player's statistics. The more you win, the better the player you can create. Unfortunately, you're limited to the set faces and mascot heads you're given. There's no way to put a reasonable facsimile of yourself among the ballers of the NBA. And mascots can only wear their original uniforms. Bummer.

At the end of every quarter, the camera arcs around the stop-motioned players in a pseudo bullet-time effect (the Playstation exacerbates this even more by pausing to load). The freeze frame shows one of the graphical problems of the game's engine - collision detection. I've seen a goal tending call when the player jumped from behind the backboard to put an arm straight through a basketball. One time, the camera froze on Chris Webber riding Kobe Bryant piggyback. Now that's something you'll never see in a real game... well, maybe with Dennis Rodman... ahem... The point is, the effect could have been altered so as not to blatantly show these flaws.

Where do I begin on the graphics? Blurry, poor detail, the text is a mess, crowds don't even animate - it feels like it lacks a full-fledged effort. The speed is mostly there, but the occasional dropped frame is noticeable and weakens the gameplay. The players take the minimalist route in their polygonal makeup and, frankly, it shows.

There's the familiar range of announcer comments and witty remarks, and while I would like to say the calls stay upbeat and fresh, it does get stagnant. Without even trying for it, I've had the announcer makes the same comment 5 times in a row. This isn't to say that it can't happen in the other versions of the game (which it probably can), but there ought to have been a check to make sure a comment isn't repeated so many times. The music in the game is mostly background filler - trying for a hip-hop style beat to complement the action. And yes, even John Tesh's signature tune is here. Ugh.

The addition of free-throws keep the game from becoming a shoving match, adding some balance to the multiplayer. The updated rosters and familiarity of the classic Jam mechanics help as well, but the aforementioned flaws of collision detection coupled with the heinous graphical blur really detract from the whole experience. If you're desperate for some Showtime, look elsewhere.