"Guitly Addictive Pleasures"

I'm against any game that takes advantage of a franchise shamefully. At least, I used to be. Nowadays it seems like there's nothing left but franchise games. To tell the truth, its not so bad to see certain things translated from the big screen, and sometimes the small screen, to the game screen. There's nothing better than hearing the familiar music and seeing familiar sites, some which are embedded in a few of your fondest memories. NBA Showtime hits a few of those memories for me. Memories of playing NBA Jam as a child in the arcades, and the memories of watching Michael Jordan win championship upon championship on NBC. So needless to say, this game struck more than a few chords for me.

Gameplay 7/10

This game is more fun than a barrel of monkeys, and that's saying a lot. The controls are beyond simple, and it helps that the layout can be changed to whatever you want it to be. The game is very easy to pick up and play, but it has enough depth in the actual play itself. Unfortunately, there's not enough depth in the game itself. There is no franchise mode, or even a season mode. The game is reduced really to having just two modes of play: Create A Player and Regular Play. You have somewhat of a season in Create A Player, in which you have so many points to create a player of your choosing. Of course, you're limited in what the player looks like, as well as limited in how much skill he'll possess. You can solve the latter by winning games, which gives you more attribute points, which increase your abilities, and your chances of winning. You'll need those increases in skill because the computer player tends to make things extremely difficult for you. As the fourth quarter comes, you'll suddenly start missing shots, not to mention the incredible explosion in skill of the computer players. They will drop every shot they attempt, even the one's you slap away. Somehow, a miracle happens everytime you shoot, and the defense will smother you beyond believe. You'll even miss dunks. Not to worry, the game is beatable, but you'll either find the extra work difficult or fun. Another thing that irked me was the replay. The criteria seems to be if someone hits a dunk with someone in front of him, its worth seeing again. Not a mind boggling turning twisting dunk of distinction. Not that those should be the criteria, but in most cases, you'd rather not see it. Well, just preempt it, and get back to the gameplay, right? Wrong. The replays are uninterruptible, meaning you'll have to watch someone do the same dunk, over and over and over and over and over and over and over and. . .you get the picture.

Graphics/Sounds 6/10

The graphics are sharp and without a doubt realistic, bearing in mind this game was realized in 1998. The characters are detailed, however, the crowd is in the grand tradition of sports games, meaning its basically cardboard cutouts capable of movement. The thing that really caught my eye was the frame rate. Its rare the frame rate gets choppy. I find that in itself a wonderful thing. Slowdown is rare, which is pretty good considering the game requires you to have a good sense of timing to play. The sounds are straight from the NBA on NBC presentation. Every time I hear it, I think of the days when Sir Charles did his talking on the court, and the NBA was a high quality product backed by hundreds of endorsers. When the great played and carried themselves with dignity on and off the court. When the. . .okay, that's a bit nostalgia that I doubt any of you share, but without a doubt I think of that everytime the game starts up. However, I'm quickly shaken back to reality by the announcer. Bob Costas he's not. I'm not sure who it is, but he seems to register all of the action two seconds late. I'm not sure whether this was in interest of making it sound realistic, or if this was just poor programming, but either way, its ingratiatingly annoying. I swear I'll throw up if I hear ''Lets see that again!''

Replayibility 7/10

Replayibility is not a word I've just discovered. But this game has it definitely. If you have any friends, or even if you're ambidextrous, you'll play this game again. Have a few friends over, play with each other or against each other. If its still in your arcade, go there and notice how much it costs to play. Then laugh as you realize you can go home and play this game without having to drop quarters into it. There's nothing worse than the ''quarter for a quarter'' rule of showtime. It costs a dollar to play and its worse if you get taken to OT. Lord forbid that happen. You'll be broke in no time. Not so with the Dreamcast version. No doubt you'd picked this game up and are saving your quarters for more important things, like parking meters and vibrabeds.

Overall 7/10

This game isn't without flaws, but it has a strong gameplay base that without a doubt will hook you. There's nothing worse than being addicted to something. This game evokes many emotions in me, bringing back memories that really make me play it over and over again. The NBA Jam roots definitely has a connection for me and the more I play this game, the more I enjoy it, and that means the more I play it. There's nothing more better than that, but I gotta be honest.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 09/22/03