Straight up, I’m not a fan of sports games. I mean, I play them and own a number of them, but that’s more the result of my being a fellow who has videogames sent to him free of charge on an almost daily basis than anything else.
Luckily, NBA Jam On Fire Edition is not for sports gamers. It’s a sports game yes, but it’s a sports game aimed at everyone else. It’s a sports game aimed at the arcade crowd and anyone who can get behind the idea of a guy leaping 50 feet in the air, bursting into flames and smashing a glass blackboard, much to the humiliation of a nearby LeBron James.
In short, NBA Jam On Fire Edition is a sports game for everyone else.
Before I get into the specifics of the game, let me tell you a story. The year is 1993. Bill Clinton has just been elected president, South Africa had just dissolved its nuclear program, and my friend Andrew received a copy of the Sega Genesis iteration of NBA Jam.
Andrew and I spent months playing that game. Our team of choice was the Portland Trailblazers, both because we are Portland natives and because choosing the Scottie Pippen/Horace Grant Chicago Bulls team had been roundly dubbed “cheap-ass bullshit.” Seriously, even without Jordan that team was insane.
So that’s how we whiled away the majority of our afternoons. We’d get out of school, head over to his house and marvel as Clyde Drexler and Buck Williams dominated the rest of the NBA. For the most part, that was my last in-depth exposure to the NBA Jam series. The line has spawned a number of sequels since then, but I’ll always remember it fondly as “that game where The Glide totally dismantled Sean Kemp on a daily basis.”
That’s why, when EA sent over a review code for the new Xbox Live/PlayStation Network downloadable NBA Jam On Fire Edition, I had trepidation. I only vaguely follow the NBA these days, and Andrew, functional human being that he is, is too busy raising a newborn baby to spend his evenings tossing me alley-oops. So it goes.
The good news though, is that NBA Jam OFE does an excellent job of resurrecting the sense of joy I had back in the sixth grade. Gameplay-wise, this game hews incredibly close to NBA Jam traditions. You have a shoot button, a turbo button and a pass button, and through various combinations of the above can experience a bombastic, entertaining game of hoops, without having to worry about complex strategy. “Pick and roll?” Never heard of it, but I can totally dunk from the free throw line.
As it’s on modern hardware however, the game has also received a de rigueur set of upgrades. Online multiplayer, leaderboards and improved graphics are all present, and work flawlessly — for the most part.
See, if I have one gripe about NBA Jam OFE, it’s with the in-game graphics. The characters appear to be some kind of bizarre marionette analogue. They have relatively normal bodies, but these are capped off with digitized player faces that, along with each character’s awkwardly stiff movements, makes the experience akin to playing with cut-out paper dolls.
In fairness, this is a minor gripe, and is only momentarily jarring the first time you play the game. Again, EA has done an excellent job replicating classic NBA Jam gameplay, and you’ll forget about the odd aesthetic choices after a few quick minutes of throwing down monster dunks.
The most impressive feature of NBA Jam OFE however, is not in what it is initially, but in what it can become. By playing the game’s various modes (standard exhibition games and full NBA seasons are both included), you earn points which can be spent in unlocking characters and in-game extras. Included in the surprisingly large selection of characters are a ton of the now old-school NBA greats from the original NBA Jam.
Yes, this game includes Clyde Drexler. And he is AWESOME.
Add to that a host of other classic stars (Julius Erving, anyone?), the Beastie Boys, and a ton of gimmick characters taken from other EA series, and you have a host of added content that makes the game worth replaying over and over again.
Sadly, some familiar faces are notably absent. Specifically, I’m speaking of Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan. Honestly their absence isn’t a huge blow to the game, but it would’ve been nice to see the duo among their 90s-era teammates.
Also, you’ll notice that I’m not mentioning the characters EA lifted from tired internet memes. Honestly, I’m trying to forget that cynical stab at relevance in favor of my beloved Drexler.
Otherwise, there’s not much to say of the game that isn’t better expressed by urging you to play it for yourself. If you’re a fan of older NBA Jam games, On Fire Edition will be right up your alley. If you somehow managed to miss the series completely over the last two decades, this is as good a place as any to start.
Especially since the game will only set you back $15.
I won’t claim that the game will suddenly make you love virtual hoops, but it could very well hook you with its arcade game stylization, and over-the-top homage to America’s most popular sport. Besides, it’s not like you’ll be seeing actual NBA games any time soon.
