NBA Hangtime

"A disapointment"

In 1995 Acclaim released NBA Jam: Tournament Edition. This game built upon the solid foundation NBA Jam had developed and then made it 10 times greater. More players, hidden players, rookies, more statistical categories, rookies, better graphics and all-star teams were just a few of the improvements made upon NBA Jam. As I put in NBA Hang Time into my N64 after Christmas morning, I was hoping for a similar revolution. It didn’t happen. What I played was one of the most boring pieces of junk released for the N64

Presentation 5/10
NBA Hang time does okay in this category. The menus are accessible and easy to navigate. The Create-a-Player mode is presented well and it is easy to develop your character they way you want. I also really liked the record charts. They didn’t have just points in a game and wins, Midway added assists, winning percentage and rebounds. The NBA Trivia at the end of each game was also nice.

Graphics 2/10
Here is where Midway started going downhill. Released 3 years after NBA Jam and on N64 instead of SNES, Midway barely improves on the graphics. The only difference is that the players appear to be more three-dimensional than in NBA Jam TE. Otherwise the graphics are the same as the SNES version. The uniforms are just colored singlets with stripes. The players are only distinguishable by race, there are no facial features to the players on the court. The ball is just orange, no black stripes, just orange. Even NBA Jam had black striped on the ball.

Sound/Music 1/10
Just awful. The sound effects sound like an NES game. The music, like most sports games, is just the same 3-4 annoying tunes over and over and over.

Gameplay 2/10
It does play like NBA Jam. High-flying dunks and huge blocks. Midway did improve on the steal aspect of the game. In past arcade style basketball games, it was impossible to steal. In NBA Hang Time, stealing is much easier and is more effective then pushing. Where NBA Hang Time fails miserably is the shooting aspect of the game. A player’s chances to make a long shot (aka 3-pointer) are determined by his shooting rank. The only problem is that the game makes no difference between a guard and a center. This means that David Robinson makes 3-pointers are often as John Stockton. I know the game isn’t supposed to be realistic, but come on, this is terrible. There are also no pass, clutch or rebound stats, so it is difficult to see how good a player really is. Also you can only sub after every half instead of every quarter. I would think since you have more players available, Midway would let you sub in more often, not less often. Also the “rebound AI” is annoying in this game. The “Rebound AI” is when if you are losing big time you will make more shots and the other team will make less shots, and vice versa. The purpose is to make the games closer and more exciting. The problem is the game makes the rebound AI too good. Several times I was up by 20 or more points halfway through the 4th quarter only to watch the computer it 6-7 three pointers in a row while I missed 6-7 dunks in a row. I understand the “rebound AI” and I think does make games more exciting, but it shouldn’t completely change the gameplay. My players should to be able to make a shot every once in a while.

Replay Value 1/10
There is no point to play this game with the regular players. NBA Showtime is a much better game. The create-a-player feature will make you want to beat all 29 teams once or twice. But that’s it. I gave this game a few days on and off, then I stopped playing and have never touched it since.

Final Say
Sat away from this game it is not fun at all. NFL Blitz is an great arcade alternative and NBA Showtime is a much arcade basketball a game

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 07/16/03, Updated 12/29/03