TV Sports Basketball

~ TV SPORTS BASKETBALL ~

Cinemaware / NEC

HuCard

1991

While it's hardly fantastic, TV Sports Basketball is easily the strongest member of an unexceptional series. Stupid things like the absence of interactive tip-offs and the action-disrupting incorporation of a mid-court menu drag it down, but it's a functional basketball sim. It's ridiculously easy, especially if you have a fast guard (like "DiFalco" on the Wizards) who can outrace every member of the other team down the court. But at least it's not as sloppy as Hockey or as fundamentally flawed as Football.

This feels more like choosing a Halloween costume than selecting a basketball team.

The contest begins. Notice that tip-offs are considered superfluous.

Speedy guards like DiFalco can beat most everyone else to the basket.

The player you're controlling goes on autopilot during these mid-court transitional sequences so that you can call a play. I don't bother to call plays. I don't have any problems winning, either.

To make a free throw, you have to succeed at the ol' "stop the arrow in the right spot" exercise.

And so ends a 255-154 thriller. You can see how many points and fouls each player had, but that's about as far as the game goes with stats.

You can sleepwalk through a whole season of blowout wins if you really want to.

Go team.