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Hoops

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Reviewed by Brian Mulholland Hoops is an basketball game simulating two on two half-court basketball that takes place all the time as opposed to the 5 on 5 sport that gets televised. The game features a cast of 10 characters each with different strengths and weaknesses.

Graphics 7 out of 10

Like all sports games the background graphics are almost not worth mentioning because fields courts and what-not are all so easy to draw and require little enhancement. The players are adequately drawn and animated, but not spectacularly so. Mostly the graphics are functional, but when a turnover occurs it is often difficult to tell, as well as anytime more than two players collect in an area, it can be difficult to tell what is happening.

Music and Sound 8 out of 10

The sound effects are decent in most respects, although there are a few of those effects that all NES games have that sound like nothing in particular. Those tick me off...would it be so difficult to make the effect at least vaguely sound right? The music bears a lot of similarity to a lot of other NES games. It's cute, catchy and upbeat...but all to repetitive. This one seems to be particularly shorts and reptitive...more so than most games. The games does offer a variety of choices in 2 player mode including team and vs.

Game Challenge 7 out of 10

At first this game was completely kicking my butt because I had no concept of how to do anything. As a result it took a few games before I began to work out how to play the game. After that, like so many other sports games for the NES, the game became a joke. When choosing skilled interior shooters from the list of characters (Mr. Doc and Face are my favorite duo), you should have no trouble overwhlming the opposition with scoring. I won't quite say I dominate as thoroughly as in other sports games (I haven't played it as much and as such am not much of a defender in the game), but within a few games I was scoring almost every opportunity, and holding the other team down reasonably well.

Game Play-Fun 4 out of 10

The game just lacks charisma. When playing I really never felt I could get into the game the way I do so many other games. There's just not a whole lot to do. 2 player mode offers more fun as all 2 player modes do, but not by much.

Frustration

I get SO angry with this game's stealing situation. The computer players (regardless of whether the characters chosen are supposed to be good stealers, or your characters good ball handlers) will steal almost automatically if given more than a passing opportunity. However this does not go both ways as even if you choose great defensive characters they won't steal well (they do steal, but nowhere near as often as the computer steals from you). This fact means that even though it is possible to dominate the computer, they're going to score on you from time to time. What you can do though is force the computer to take only outside jumpshots by basically goal-tending. If someone tries to dunk if an opponent is anywhere close to the boards the defender will stuff the shot. By combining this goal-tending with occasionally coming out to challenge someone trying to take short jumpers, you can force the computer to take a lot of low-percentage shots (which in this game basically means anything outside the paint), and the defenders are given a major advantage in this game as far as getting rebounds. On offense passes will also be stolen liberally...unless passed while the character is jumping. As a result I developed a strategy where by I take a few short steps, jump, and pass to my teammate who takes a step, jumps and passes back. This strategy is pretty good at keeping the ball in your hands, but can require patience as sometimes the computer-controlled teammate will run AWAY from the net as if I really wanted him to work AWAY from the hoop. But the result of both of these is limiting the computer to 5-10 buckets when the 25 points are reached.

Replayability 1 out of 10

Since buying the game and playing it as obsessively as I play all new games when i first get them, I haven't even been tempted to plug it in since. The game really didn't hook me then, and it's now in the pile of tapes furthest in the back of my game closet.

Game Value 3 out of 10

I payed a buck or two of this game, and as ludicrous as it sounds, I can't help but think I could have gotten better games for that money. It's hard to say a game isn't worth a buck or two, but this one comes darn close to it. But I spent an afternoon or two getting the hang of it, so for 4-6 hours of entertainment, how can you argue with that price?

Overall 2 out of 10

If you see the game REAL CHEAP in some used bin, and it's stacked with a bunch of other real bad games...don't buy it. Turn around and save your money. This game just lacks punch. Don't bother. I give it a two just because it seems to cruel to give it a one.

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