This is the first of two Brady books being reviewed. Once again Brady are back with yet another book aimed at the console games market. This book like the Mortal Kombat II book reviewed a few issues ago also contains a section which is aimed at the arcade players.

NBA JAM book is based around Brady's presumably tried-and-trusted formula, measuring 21cm across and 28cm deep and containing 142 full colour pages each of which are liberally scattered with images taken from the game and actual live basketball action. The layout and design of this book is very attractive, the background of every page has the textured effect of a basketball. Brady have used a crisp and easy-to-read font and each of the elements of text are nicely separated. Team logos have been scattered throughout the book to add to a certain realistic feel.

Four machines are covered by this book: Super Nintendo, Sega Megadrive, Game Gear and as mentioned earlier, the Arcade version.

Opening the book up you will find situated on the inside front cover a section dealing with various codes and power ups. These cover the console machines, not the arcade game. All of the new features that have been incorporated are included in the front of the book. New rosters and teams, special characters, new features and power ups, the various elements are mentioned and then discussed in more detail later on in the text. Then it's off to discover the games basic principles.

Everything is covered here and if you've got the game then you will know what buttons and button combinations to use. The book even tells you how to set up the different types of game and how to use the options menu.

The next element of the book explores game strategy, beginning with the offence. This area offers some quite in-depth advice on acquiring those all important three pointers: dunking, protecting your dunks from blocks, faking, that all important move with a basketball, passing and a whole lot more. Defensive strategy covers elements such as stealing the ball, blocking shots and shoving your opponents. Once again all of these elements are covered quite thoroughly.

The next area of the book covers the different divisions that are in the game, beginning with the Atlantic division and moving on to the Central division, Midwest Division and Pacific Divisions. Each of the teams that are included in each of the divisions are then rated and a profile is composed on that team based around star players statistics. Statistics are split over nine elements, these are: Speed, 3-pointers, Dunks, Passing, Power, Steals, Blocks, Clutch and an overall rating. All of these player statistics are rated by using basketball symbols to mark their points.

Once all of the divisions have been discussed, all that is left is the secret codes to the game. Once again all of the various consoles are discussed individually, finally ending on the codes that can be used in conjunction with the arcade versions of the game. There are some rather interesting codes available here, for example, the ability to play with big heads, huge heads or even in baby mode!

Overall I was not too impressed with this book. Whilst being well laid out and presented, there really is nothing in this book except for the cheats. This book would have made an ideal pocket guide and nothing more. Sorry better luck next time.