Platform: Sega Genesis
Size: 16 Meg
Players: 1-4 Difficulty: Variable
Well, basketball season has come and gone. Every summer, rabid basketball fans drive themselves crazy trying to find things to watch on TV to fill the void left by the ending of the NBA season. Sega Sports and EA Sports both hope their new basketball sims will be just the thing those rabid fans are craving. Could they have created the perfect basketball game?
Right off the bat, I'm going to answer that question- it's a resounding NO. I don't want to project the image that these games are awful, because they are probably the best SIMULATIONS on the market. But basketball games have a long way to go. Neither of these titles are technically as advanced as the other sports titles by both of these companies.
Let's dive right in with a quick look at how these games evolved. EA Sports has their game rooted in a very old tradition, the "Lakers Vs. Celtics" (and all other incarnations) series, which was the first really good basketball sim for a 16-bit system. Major gripes of these games were that the game moved very slow, and players got "stuck" on each other often while trying to move around the basket. It was praised for use of statistics, and for each player's "signature move". Sega's game is less rooted in tradition, although it borrows much from its earlier effort, David Robinson's Supreme Court. This game used a different 3/4 overhead view of the court, which meant the players would be a bit smaller on the screen (and thus less identifiable).
Graphically, these two games are worlds apart. Showdown (EA) sports a very polished look, with background graphics of basketballs, nets, and the like, while Action (Sega) is a bit dull by comparison. Its text is blocky and oddly colored, while Showdown's looks almost like broadcast TV quality. The actual game graphics are world apart as well. Showdown uses the traditional EA side view of the court, with a scorer's table, benches and animated crowd. The players are a bit larger than in previous EA basketball sims, but they don't look much more like their real NBA counterparts. The players all take on a tall, lanky appearance which makes most of them look alike. Shaquille O'Neal for instance, is tall and thin - you'd think he lost 150 lbs in the offseason. You have to rely on the star underneath the player to tell you the number of the player you control, which means you have to know which players are what number. This is a bit confusing. Sega uses the 3/4 overhead look it used in Supreme Court, and the players are smaller than Showdown's. This, however, turns out to be an advantage, because you can actually see what is going on when a bunch of guys are in the lane, unlike Showdown, which at times caused me to go crosseyed trying to figure out where my player was. Action '94's court is wider and allows more ball movement, but you only see one half of the court at a time. This doesn't sound so bad until you realize they rotate the screen every time the ball crosses half court, which is a very slow procedure and virtually eliminates fast breaks. Both of these games have their strengths and weaknesses in the graphics department, but I give the edge to EA for their (over)attention to detail.
Onward to sound. In a basketball game, the biggest sound concerns are with the sound effects, as usually there is no background music played during the game. Both of these games have the obligatory mundane intro music, so let's jump to the game effects. Showdown sounds decent. The samples are all fairly decent, and the game buzzer and backboard clang are very well done. There isn't much more than that available, which is disappointing. The ref says "three" at times when you hit one, and your teammates will tell you to "put it up" when the shot clock is low. Nothing to get excited about. NBA Action is pretty straightforward as well, with the added bonus of the "sneaker squeak", which is a nice touch. Other than that, there isn't much different. Oh, except Marv Albert. Marv Albert you say? Yes! Marv! Marv says trademark phrases like "COUNT IT! AND THE FOUL!" and "Their shooting woes continue!". And it really sounds like Marv, better than the Genesis NBA Jam. Marv does get a bit too excited; I think Sega shot him up with stimulants before he did the voiceovers. Nonetheless, it adds a great element to the game. Sega wins the sound category, Marv definitely takes the MVP award.
Control is where sports games live and die, and one of these games is going to die a horrible death here. Well, it's really a surprise, but EA Sports should be ashamed of themselves. The control in Showdown is horrible. They did speed the players up a bit, but they are still sluggish, and the other game controls are terrible. The only improvement over earlier versions is how easy it is to block shots now. TOO easy in fact, even Patrick Ewing does not get 12 blocks a game on a regular basis. Passing has also been improved somewhat in that you can select who you want to pass it to now, but by the time you get the cursor on the guy you want, often he is out of position. Rebounding is impossible; apparently you just jump and hope the ball falls into your hands. Because of the bigger players, the lane gets clogged quite often and is nearly impossible to move around in. My biggest gripe is in shooting. There is one button for shooting, which is also used to do the "signature moves", but I couldn't get either to work well. I experimented and found my players would dunk more easily if I tapped the shoot button lightly, but this also caused them to travel. The shoot button is an instant thing- you can't hold the button down for a higher jump shot very well, and that takes away from much of the game's fun. Fun is the bottom line here, and Showdown is not fun. It's frustrating. This is not to say that Action is not frustrating; it is as well. As I mentioned before, the screen-flipping makes fast breaks impossible, and the pass button does not allow you to designate a pass receiver. It is very easy to block on Action as well. However, Action solves a lot of the problems found in Showdown. It is very easy to pull down a rebound. The height of a player's jump can be varied by holding the button down longer, to avoid a block. Dunks are easily done. Since the players are smaller, it is much easier to weave in between players and make spectacular plays. A SOLID win for Sega in this category.
A big miscellaneous category which can make a winner out of an otherwise mediocre game is the "Bells and Whistles". Showdown definitely has this one going for it; it's so full of features and options it's bursting at the seams. It's got a season mode complete with league statistical leaders in a bunch of categories, a "hustle board" which lets a player judge his steals and blocks (all around "hustle") against his opponent, it has a playcalling mode, which allows running of basic plays like the pick and roll and give and go. EA also included their now-refined instant replay feature, with VCR-like control, and you can even switch defensive player matchups, to put, say, the big man on the hot shooter. Speaking of hot shooters, they also included the NBA JAM idea of a player "on fire". After a player has hit a certain number of shots in a row, he is "on fire" and will have a higher chance of making shots until he misses a few in a row. EA definitely put some thought into these goodies. It is full of little features which earn it extra points. ACTION is not very heavy on these. Sega's game statistics are very poorly done and the interface is klunky and not easy to use. The player substitution screen would get a nod for its graphical player icons used to show fatigue, were it not for the fact that there are only 5 subs, and not the full NBA roster. More than a few "hometown heroes" were not included. Action also includes a "Role Play" mode, which allows you to play the role of one player on the team, with the CPU controlling the other men on the floor. Both games have "dream" teams, with Sega having historical greats like Julius Erving, Connie Hawkins, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, John Havlicek, and more (but no Wilt, Bill Russell, or Kareem!) EA features the nice option of a "build-your-own" team, with ANY players you want, from any team. EA gets the win here, but I wonder if they couldn't have made the other parts of the game better by cutting a bit of these features back.
Both of these games have a long way to come. Neither handles fouls very well, although Showdown is EXTREMELY sensitive to charging fouls. (how can a man be charging someone who is behind him?) Both of these games have a lot of potential, but somewhere along the way, Sega and EA's beta testers left them high and dry, because there are a lot of things that just could have easily have been fixed (in my opinion). Overall, I think EA's NBA Showdown is graphically nicer, and as far as use of statistics, Sega can't lay a finger on it. NBA Showdown is full of well-thought out features which make the game almost acceptable. But bells and whistles can't make up for poor control and frustrating play. When it comes down to it, Sega's NBA Action is just more fun to play. I play it with my friends every night, and haven't played Showdown since I got my hands on it. There are a lot of shortcomings, but it's just more fun. And that, my friends, is the the bottom line.
This review is Copyright (c) 1994 by Dan Magaha for Game Bytes magazine. All rights reserved.