Back in the early 90s, basketball games didn’t look as good as they do today, nor were they as realistic. No matter how realistic and immersing developers tried to make them, it just didn’t look that good. Another way of making a basketball game was to go the opposite way: arcade. Fun and over the top gameplay, which is what you got with NBA Jam. Now EA has remade the game for the Wii, updated the visuals and added a few new modes. Player wise, there’s three players per team, all the super-stars are there, form all 30 NBA teams.

But the core aspect of NBA Jam, the fun, fast paced gameplay with two players per team, running, shooting, and especially, jammin’ away. The gameplay is as pick up and play friendly as it was almost 20 years ago when NBA Jam first came out. Controls are straightforward, and so are the rules: besides goal tending and a shot clock, there are no other rules nor referees. You can knock your opponents over and steal the ball, then jam it down the other end of the court. However, the gameplay in NBA Jam was never designed for hour long gameplay sessions, it’s easy, pick up and play nature, usually with another player. And for that, NBA Jam is great, but for depth, there’s not much more. Despite EA adding several new gameplay types, those aren’t deep nor immersive. Furthermore, there’s no online play — yep, here it is again, another Wii game with no online multiplayer.

Overall, the gameplay is fun and easy to pick up, but as expected, there’s not much depth to it. This could have been countered by online multiplayer, but once again, we’re left without online multiplayer for a Wii game which could seriously use it.

The Good:
Easy pick up and play gameplay
Fun to play with friends

The Bad:
Not much depth
No online multiplayer

Overall score: 6/10