NBA Jam

"He's on FIRE"

Basketball is probably the toughest of the 4 sports to be accurately represented on video games. It is just too hard to make the game realistic. Shooting is all based on luck. The one thing that makes basketball fun is dunks. In realistic games, dunking isn't all that interesting, as it consists of a few generic ones. NBA Jam flushes the realism down the toilet and replaces it with outrageous gameplay.
The focus on NBA Jam is scoring and dunking. With only two players per side, the game is a lot more wide open. The real fun starts when you put in the dunk code, though.
This code allows you to take off from anywhere past midcourt. Sometimes, you can dunk from midcourt, too. It counts for only two points, instead of three though. The dunks are outrageous too. One has you jump high in the air and perform ten somersaults, before dunking. It gets even more fun when you are on fire. This lets you perform the wildest dunks.
There is even a little bit of commentary in the game. Occassionaly you'll hear the commentator let out a Tarzan yell or ''Oh! My God!''
There is no season mode in the game, but all the teams, except for the Canadien ones, are represented by two players. They are rated on their dunking ability and three-point making prowess. The game even tracks a few user stats, such as wins, games played, etc. All in all, this game should provide at least a few hours of fun.

Graphics: 7.
Standard Genesis graphics. Generic looking players and bad crowd models.

Sound: 8.
The music is cool, and the commentary is impressive for its time.

Gameplay: 6.
Easy to play, the computer isn't too hard, even when the difficulty setting is at the max.

Replay Value: 7.
Fun for a while, but could get boring after you see all the dunks.

Overall: 7.
This game costs less than $3 bucks now. If you are looking for cheap fun, get this game.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 02/20/00, Updated 02/20/00