I was rubbish at basketball during my school years. Despite possessing a surprising amount of physical ability, and a certain degree of hand/eye coordination, I couldn't get used to the idea of running and dribbling the ball, often resulting in a painful wayward bounce. The next Michael Jordan I was not. But solace could be found when I returned home for tea and booted up my faithful Mega Drive. NBA Jam was a benchmark title that combined arcade action with the bad boy b-ballin' sport. And I was good at it.

Which brings us to the latest Jam title. The action centres around three-on-three action on smaller courts, with the emphasis on outrageous scoring moves and showboating plays. The player interface is relatively simple - pass, shoot, spin or set up an alley-oop. All fouls have gone out the window, so feel free to knock opponents around and block in the most unprofessional manner. Fun is the name of the game here. And part of that fun comes from the over-the-top effects. If a player is doing well, he'll start smoking. Keep him on top of his game, and before long he'll be on fire, enabling even more spectacular moves, along with being more adept at scoring/blocking for a short while. If the team as a whole plays well, their power bar will fill up, and by placing a hotspot at the opposing end of the court, three-pointers turn into crazy supercharged five-point dunks, adding a surprisingly strategic element to the game.

It's the added touches, however, that make Jam stand head and (considerable) shoulders above the competition. For every crowd-pleasing stunt performed, points are awarded, which vary according to the difficulty of the tricks. Points can be exchanged in the Jam Store for goodies and upgrade features, including customisable players and teams, cheats, concept artwork and loads of renowned stadiums (plus the Acclaim building's very own rooftop court).

Heroes of the sport are available through the Legends Tournament, where the action is played out through black and white and accompanied by the restrained commentary of the '70s. Everything is well polished, and the translation into 3D looks slick. But then, like an airball from downtown, things start to bounce uncertainly around the rim. While it's fun performing loads of demented dunks, there's not much other skill involved, so things can quickly get repetitive. There are only two main game modes, there's no Xbox Live play, and the CPU opponents are a bit of a pushover. The inclusion of four-way multiplayer goes some way to redressing the balance though, and makes NBA Jam a fun b-ball game that both fans of the original and newbies will lap up.

Power
Frantic gameplay and smooth character movement, but not so much that the Xbox is "On Fire!"

Lifespan
Cartoony graphics with a banging soundtrack make this arcade title a nice break from sports sims.

Immersion
You'll be pulling off triple alley-oops in no time, but there's not much else after that...

Lifespan
It take ages to unlock all the features. There are downloadable secret characters on Xbox Live too.

Overall This is a fun arcade title that does justice to its forebears, and is an absolute riot in multiplayer.

1. Outrageous moves
2. No fouls
3. Fun multiplayer

1. Repetitive gameplay
2. Computer AI could be harder
3. No System Link or Xbox Live play