When EA announced that they were bringing back NBA Jam and only on the Wii, like everyone else I was a little skeptical. I was afraid they would try to take the license and create something new that deviated from the classic gameplay. Thankfully as the development team said themselves “if we couldn’t create a game that had the same feeling as the classic NBA Jam, then we wouldn’t have made it at all”. That sums up my experience with NBA Jam on the Wii. The controls are different, but the gameplay brings to mind all the quarters I spent in the mythical places known only as arcades. The team at EA Sports Canada has captured the feel of the classic title like no other game has since the original game released by Midway.
NBA Jam is a two-on-two basketball game with licensed teams and players and no real NBA rules. You can shove players to the ground to steal the ball. There’s no goaltending, basketballs catch on fire, and there are incredible dunks that can’t be found anywhere else. Visually the Wii version looks very similar to the original title. Obviously it’s much sharper but EA wanted to keep the aesthetics as close to the original title as possible. Player’s faces are one of the first things I noticed when playing the game. The 3D character bodies mesh with the 2D photorealistic heads to create some hilarious moments. The heads change based on the players mood or action taking place on the court. They’ll even look right at you when they dunk. It can be compared to Jib Jab, for those who still can’t picture it. Even the play-by-play announcer sounds exactly like the same one from the old arcade game; it could very well be the same person. Getting the style down of the original title is a big step forward to creating a successful Jam game and from what I’ve seen EA Sports has successfully pulled that part off.
In the few games I played, we were forced to use the new Wii controls. In the final version you will be able to play using just the Wii remote turned sideways along with the classic controller. Using just the nunchuck and Wii remote didn’t feel bad at all. The trigger was used for turbo while controlling the player using the stick felt much more like the arcade controls. To shoot, dunk, block and to shove people to the ground you use the simple flick motion on the remote. A flick up will get your player in the air and then a flick down will make them shoot or dunk the ball; the same goes for blocking.
NBA Jam on the Wii felt just like playing the original game. We were sent into a normal 2v2 game and almost immediately all the strategy came back to me. There were some over the top dunks and plays with the team of Nash and Stoudemire running all over the court. The game ran very smoothly at its early state which is a good sign. They didn’t show off any other modes but there will be plenty of modes to go along with the standard mode that came with the original game. Online play, as of now, is not going to be in upcoming title but it’s something that could be implemented in the coming months. They aren’t ruling it out but seeing as the game is going to appeal to an older crowd online play has to be included in the final version.
At this early state, NBA Jam looks and feels right. It plays a lot like the original title and with the updated graphics it felt like I was playing a new game instead of an arcade port. Although I enjoyed playing the game with the new controls, even though someone smacked me in the arm trying to dunk, I think the game will be much better using the classic controller. Moving the player around using the stick controls is the best way to do it but the whole flicking thing can still be a little inaccurate at times. If you are a fan of the original title and were worried that EA Sports would somehow ruin the game, you can breathe a sigh of relief. Â NBA Jam has a chance to be one of the better sports titles this year.
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