NBA Basketball 2007

NBA Basketball 2007 is the latest pro basketball game to release on the mobile platform from THQ Wireless. The game offers five-on-five court action using a host of different professional basketball teams, each with their own unique stats and rankings. The game also offers up a pretty solid playoffs mode on top of exhibition matches that you can get in and immediately start playing. However, NBA Basketball 2007 is not without its problems, as the on-court action can feel a bit sluggish, and there is no Season mode, leaving the playoffs as the most depth you’ll get out of the game. Still, if you’re looking for a solid basketball game on your phone, the NBA Basketball 2007 may just be the ticket. 

In NBA Basketball 2007, you can play as 30 teams from the NBA, each of them individually ranked (in terms of offense, defense and overall) against the other teams in the game. There is a play game option that allows you to play a quick exhibition game, a quick start option for the impatient out there, which chooses two teams for you randomly, and the playoffs mode, which has you choose a team and puts them through a tournament grid to vie for superiority. If the playoffs mode is droning on too much for you or you are otherwise hard-pressed for time, then you have the option to simulate your games. While this is a nice touch, an actual Season mode would’ve fleshed the game out better, in my opinion.

The gameplay in NBA Basketball is hit and miss. The controls are pretty easy to get, but handle very sluggishly. Players will continue to move after you’ve stopped making them do so, making them feel floaty or like their on ice.

Graphically, the game has some problems as well. The character models are all very similarly rendered, and it becomes very difficult to tell who has the ball when they cluster on the screen. Also, the game doesn’t move very smoothly, and feels quite jerky. The sound is best left off.

NBA Basketball 2007 has quite a few problems, from sluggish controls and frustrating graphics to no Season mode. However, the game is otherwise an acceptable basketball game if you absolutely must play it on a mobile phone.

Gameplay: 6.5
The action unfolds quite jerkily, and it is often easy to lose track of who has the ball. The controls also are a little unresponsive, and feel sluggish and even a bit floaty when you’re moving your player across the court. The Playoffs mode is a nice touch, but not as fleshed out as a Season mode would’ve been.

Graphics: 6.5
The sprite models have a tendency to get lost in each other, making it easy to lose track of who has the ball.

Sound: 5.0
There are occasional whistle blows here and there, and every time they do a tip off at the start of the game, it lets loose the most awful, distorted sound for some reason. This sound is best left off.

Difficulty: Medium

Concept: 7.0
The game stumbles a bit gameplay-wise, and the playoffs mode isn’t quite as fleshed out as I’d like it to be.

Overall: 6.5
NBA Basketball has its share of problems, from player models that get lost in the shuffle, sluggish controls and no full Season mode. However, if you’re looking for an otherwise acceptable basketball game on your mobile phone, then check out NBA Basketball 2007.