When Mario’s not busy saving the princess from the clutches of Bowser, he and his friends know how to have a good time. Whether they’re racing go-karts, making the rounds on a giant board game or just beating each other up, they sure have no shortage of things to do. Mario Golf on the Nintendo 64 was their first foray on the links. In my opinion, Nintendo hit a hole-in-one with this one.
Last night’s game against the Boston Celtics was a nail-biter. With their playoff hopes in the balance, the Toronto Raptors were down four with only a few minutes to go. As a long-time fan, the memories of them choking in the clutch over the course of the last six years made it hard for me to think that we could pull this off, but this year’s Raptors squad isn’t the one that wallowed at the bottom of the NBA. As they’ve done all year, they gave it their all to squeak out a tough win to secure their first playoff berth since 2008.
There was a lot riding on this game, but not really. With over 10 games to go in the season and the Raptors’ magic number down to just 1, clinching a spot in the playoffs was basically inevitable at this point. But for a franchise whose history is largely defined by mediocrity (or worse), the fact that the team got to this point in the first place is remarkable.
NBA 2K14 and I got off on the wrong foot. Upon first booting up the game, I was immediately thrown into a quick match between the Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs while the game installs in the background. This took a good 30 minutes to complete. It’s odd being forced to play as the Miami Heat in a game where there’s only background music, but I guess I’ll take that over waiting a half hour for it to install. Once I completed that, I thought I’d finally get to play some hoops in its MyCareer mode. Instead, I largely sat through what seemed like hours of exposition that played out through a barrage of painful cutscenes.
If Fan Expo 2013 was the latest battleground between nerds vs. jocks, the nerds crushed their competition in a lopsided victory. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, as this is the first time that sports has been featured. However, the sports aspects of the show themselves turned out to be a bit of a letdown.
I miss WWF No Mercy on the Nintendo 64.
Hate to be the old man in the room, but its greatness has yet to be surpassed by any wrestling game since. Unfortunately, THQ and the WWE decided to give Yukes exclusive rights to develop their wrestling games; none of which even come close.
WWE All Stars is not the game to do that, nor does it try to be. Instead of trying to be a wrestling ‘simulator’, All Stars is an arcade style slobberknocker that may be the most bombastic wrestling title ever.
When you’ve been the reigning video game hoops champ for the last few years, the next logical step is to add Jay-Z and Justin Bieber. Wait, what? NBA 2K13 is quick to tell you that its a Young Hova production, but did they make the on-court experience any better? Find out on Splitkick!
This wasn’t supposed to be NBA Elite all over again. With the extra year off, EA was supposed to return to basketball glory with NBA Live 13. Heck, NBA was even planning on making the offer sweeter by making it a cheaper downloadable game. So much for all of that, as EA just announced that NBA Live 13 has been officially canceled.
As the NBA’s billionaire owners and millionaire players continue to argue over money with no end in sight, the league’s fans are left without any professional basketball to turn to. Though it may seem like a poor consolation prize, NBA 2K12 is still coming out this year for all of the platforms you would expect. This year, 2K has taken their award-winning basketball experience on the go with an iPhone version. Will this portable solution be enough to sooth your desire for an actual NBA season?
EA’s iPhone offerings have been awesome of late. Though I’ve been reluctant to buy NBA Jam and Dead Space 2 on the current generation of consoles for $60, I’ve had no problem buying NBA Jam and Dead Space on the iPhone for a fraction of the cost. Both of those games were great examples of taking home gaming experience and translating it into a mobile platform.
I was hoping that Fight Night Champion would follow suit. I love the series, but a game-breaking glitch I ran into with Fight Night Round 4 makes me reluctant to pick up Champion on console. However, I have no problem giving the iPhone game a shot at $5. Is this iPhone port a knock out?
NBA Jam was one of my favourite video games growing up. I was sad to see it fade into obscurity as new versions of the game watered down the formula, but I was pumped to get my hands on the NBA Jam reboot, which came out on Wii, PS3 and XBOX 360 last year. While I liked what I played of it, the new game didn’t strike me as something I’d be willing to pay full price for at this point in time.
Luckily for me, NBA Jam is now coming out on iPhone.
In Third Person 