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Phew. Basketball, eh? All those big sweaty men jumping up in the air. I can't get enough of it, I can tell you. So I was especially pleased at the opportunity of reviewing one of the better presented basketball titles released over the past few months.

The game can be played either solo or with a mate (providing they also have a Gameboy and a copy of the game) and there's also an option to define the length of each quarter depending on whether play is going to take the form of a lengthy session or a twenty minute blast.

Next up comes the tricky decision of which team the player is going to go up against. The various strengths and weaknesses of each team from across the states is indicated with a peculiar sort of pentagram thing (like the ratings system in Megatech).

And before you know it, it's into the match, with the bully-off or whatever it's called happening and the computerised players inevitably taking possession and legging it up the rink to try and score a goal.

In fact, the computer players always seem to be taking possession of the ball, even though there's a "steal" option, I couldn't make the bloody thing work.

Another worrying feature is the distinct lack of intelligence in the computer players. After only a couple of attempts, I - blessed with the most rudimentary basketball - managed to produce a sure-fire system of scoring a basket every time. When faced with more skillful opposition, this is trickier to reproduce, but the computerised players shouldn't be able to be so completely ignorant.

Nice presentation, shame about the content. Some crappy artificial intelligence coupled with some rubbish player controls (you have to click the B button to gain control of the player nearest the ball) make it a hard game to love.

Hardened experts are unlikely to find much long-term fun here, but for the tube-travelling brigade keen to make those long Victoria line stops slightly more bearable, it's okay.

1. Top graphics
2. Smart sound

1. Useless opponent intelligence
2. Slightly annoying control method