Backyard Basketball
Score: 83% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: Atari Developer: Humongous Games Media: Cartridge/1 Players: 1 - 2 Genre: Sports/ Sports (Basketball)/ Family
Graphics & Sound: At first blush, it seems pretty silly to have an NBA-themed game with kids standing in for famous players. It's not like kids can't appreciate the real thing, since it's what they see on television when they watch games. This may hold water in an adult's mind, but the reality is that sports games can alienate kids. All the major sports franchises have become fiendishly difficult to master, with complex controls to match complex physics. The realism of the action on screen and the character models might leave a kid thinking that they'd like something more their size. At the same time, no kid in his right mind wants watered-down sports action... Somewhere between Pop Warner and Michael Jordan is Backyard Basketball. This game looks like a kiddie joint, but plays with all the teams and names from the big leagues. Looking like a kiddie joint means that Backyard Basketball doesn't squeeze much undiscovered potential from the DS. There are lots of kids featured and NBA players can also be played or unlocked in their "kid" versions. The courts are a bit lackluster and small due to attempts to keep this fast-loading and quick-playing. Small players on small courts are not going to stand out much during play, so you can imagine there need to be good visual clues as to where the action is happening. Following the ball isn't all that hard, but the players tend to blur together due to overcrowding on the court. The special effects when you pull off powered-up offensive moves can be cool but don't make the game. Backyard Basketball is still more of a big-game simulation than a basketball mini-game. Another feature missing that we often overlook in sports games is the sportscaster banter. Like other things that you don't miss until they're gone... well, you know.
Gameplay: Backyard Basketball is at its best with a two-player competitive mode that requires two copies of the game and doesn't support Nintendo Wi-Fi. Once two players connect, the host will choose a three-on-three game or one of the mini-games available for single-player action as well. It's a shame that a one-card version isn't available, especially for the mini-games. Playing another human player in three-on-three is great and overcomes many of the game's issues with poor A.I. Even better multiplayer would have been a full season mode but the pick-up action is just fine. Launching a game in single-player, you will choose between a lightning-fast setup in Play Now or a slightly longer setup in a Pick-Up Game. Play Now literally drops you into a game as if you'd randomly chosen everything. The Pick-Up Game at least gives you a chance to choose who and where. The major teams are available right out of the box in this mode along with a few made-up teams included just for this game. The game plays out in either mode with standard rules for scoring and you can set options that will affect whether players get tired and can be called for fouls. Fouls of course lead to free-throws, so turning off fouls means you'll be canceling out those easy two-pointers. The list of players or kids that you'll choose contains more than a little detail on each kid's abilities and in what position they are ideally placed. It's possible to create custom players and load them through this selection stage, but the default characters will be plenty for most folks. Up to this point all modes are identical, but if you like your basketball more intense, you can work through Season Play Mode. The biggest difference here is the sequence of games as you play through a full season and the level of customization available. Instead of just selecting players for set roles, you can move each of your three around on the court to determine how they'll set up in formation. The final options for play are a series of mini-games that include Around The World and Hot Shot. Around The World is a "follow me" shootout that lets you move along a circuit around the basket as long as you keep scoring. Hot Shots is more intense because the action is real-time as you try to sink shots against the clock from different positions on the court that earn you different scores. Best out of three takes the trophy. Other than these mini-games, there simply isn't enough variety to make this a compelling title for kids to hang around with for very long. Once special players and extras are unlocked through Season Play, you'll find that the only consistent challenge is playing a human opponent. The CPU isn't good enough to really keep you on your toes.
Difficulty: Games for kids don't get much budge room on difficulty. We always seem more willing to explain away uneven difficulty in adult games by saying that hard games are for core players and other stuff will be worked out by people willing to put up with a game's foibles. Adult players are often not as patient as kids are for working through challenges, but the irony is that with so much stuff on the market, kids are prone to put down any game that they find frustrating and move on to something else. Backyard Basketball does a good job walking the line on difficulty. There's enough challenge to keep things from becoming ridiculous, but diligent button-mashing will generally win the day. Running players down the court and dunking is a seemingly unstoppable challenge, so kiddie maximizers are likely to exploit this angle and play it 'till it's dead. Older kids are likely to put down Backyard Basketball quickly unless they have a friend to play. The message in the end is that the audience for this title is likely to fall within a pretty narrow demographic.
Game Mechanics: The smartest move in a game like Backyard Basketball is to greatly simplify the controls. Many other sports games have cottoned to this and created various levels of control that accommodate everyone from basic beginners to seasoned pros. In this case, we're presented with just the basics, which is okay because that will appeal to the game's audience. The shot power and accuracy is handled much like the version for the "big kid" NBA titles where a gauge fills up and you time your button-press to land at the top of the gauge. The same gauge can be managed through the touch screen if you prefer. One smart move was to put the same button on blocking as shooting, so you are reaching for (A) in a critical moment, whether that happens to be when you have a ball in hand or not. In a similar fashion, (B) handles passing or switching defensive players and (Y) controls special moves on defense and offense. All the control in the world won't change the fact that it is just too easy to snatch the ball and run down the court for a thundering dunk. Along the way in Season Play, you'll have the chance to leverage power-ups to do crazy things to the opposing team. The Cherry Picker teleports a player under the opposite basket for an instantly huge assist shot, the Frostbite causes players to fumble the ball and miss shots, and the Ice Cream Truck lures players away from their posts to give you an easy drive to the hole. More integration of these silly features would have improved the experience and it stands to reason that after a few plays through the "serious" modes, kids will dial up the power-up feature to eleven and have fun goofing on their friends on the court. Backyard Basketball is a simple game and a very safe present for that little sports' fan that isn't quite ready for one of the NBA games or Madden franchise. It isn't that the game lacks challenge, but most kids who like sports games will blow through the available modes in a week and feel stagnant without some multiplayer opportunity. The wireless multiplayer would have been a great way to extend the fun of Backyard Basketball, but even as a niche title it should find its audience among 8-10 year-olds. If there were more features that counted as "cute" rather than just "young," we'd have more admiration.
-Fridtjof, GameVortex Communications AKA Matt Paddock
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