Previous Next

An endless stream of sporting games flows from the software houses, and basketball is one of the most popular.

In this latest you get a choice of one or two player games and can pick your squad from a squad of ten players. There are four different courts to choose from. Each has its advantages and disadvantages: one, for instance, has an oil slick while another has a high curb, making dribbling tricky (the caretaker should be sacked immediately!). After you select a court, a coin is tossed to see who has first pick of the ten players: each team must choose three. They have strengths and weaknesses you must balance.

Down either side of the screen are pictures of the players in each team and the rest is covered by the horizontally scrolling basketball court. The player nearest to the ball is the one you control, but you can change the selected player at any time with the fire button. One team wears black, the other blue, but - listen to this - the blue team player nearest to the ball is black and the black team player nearest is blue! There may not be many colours on screen at, any one time, but if Epyx needed more colours they should have changed resolution rather than make the game more confusing! Not surprisingly, there is little colour used in the game and characters themselves aren't brilliantly drawn. There are no sound effects or tunes.

Unless you're desperate for a basketball game, then steer clear of this one. Epyx have produced much better products than this in the past, but Street Basketball doesn't bode well for Street Sports Baseball.

My first thought was "Why is my team deformed?" The graphics are nothing short of grotesque. My last thought was that the game must be a parody because there's no real action or gameplay.

Beat the computer in a 10 point game.

Alright.

Graphics 29%
N. Hardly any colour at all...
N. And what there is is badly used.

Sonics 0%
N. Silent as the grave.

Grab Factor 46%
N. The selected player wears the same colour strip as your opponent. Ho hum.

Staying Power 46%
P. Computer opponent is tough.
N. Once you've beaten it. you're only left with other human players.

Overall 44%
N. A sub-standard basketball game