Another year, another new set of features.
by Franklyn Calle
Its not your typical basketball video game. While EA Sports and 2K Sports continue to try to out do each other in who portrays a more realistic basketball game, Sony’s NBA 10: The Inside for PSP
has taken a whole different approach. They have decided to bring an all-around fun experience to the game that goes beyond the basketball court. From the moment you turn the game on and just by looking at the menu options, you realize that their mission is far from just putting out a game that features full-court match-ups. They have made it a priority to provide the highest amount of fun and entertainment outside the court.
Although it offers the traditional exhibition games, full-season, playoffs, and All-Star weekend, that’s only a small portion of what this game is all about.
So what else exactly does it offer?
The game is loaded with mini-games. Literally! Aside from its classics, such as Shootin’n Bricks, Block A Shot, Big Shooter, HORSE, dodgeball and pinball among others, this year’s game introduces a whole new set of ones. New quest modes such as DodgeQuest, Give&GoQuest and MiniQuest offer players an opportunity to take over the country through a variety of challenges. Open Lanes and Cherry Pickin’ have also joined the mini-games roster this year. Open Lanes basically consists of a traditional 10 frame bowling mini-game, obviously with an NBA feeling to it, while Cherry Pickin‘ is sort of a puzzle based mini-game in which players must shoot colored orbs into a game board. I think its fair to say that after some time of playing these mini-games, it can become addictive and next thing you know, you’re finding yourself playing them for hours. The mini-games, which are over 20 of them, are definitely the highlight of the game — in my opinion. It’s like having an arcade right at your fingertips.
As for the basketball side of things, it offers the same type of player management that you would find in the other basketball video game. Upgraded slick graphics help to provide a more refined animation and smoother lifelike player movements.
“Now that we are traveling and on the road, I take it with me a lot,” says the cover-boy, Brandon Roy.
Every young basketball player dreams of wanting to be in the cover of a video game, and Roy was no different.
“As a kid I always wanted to be in the cover of a video game,” says the two-time NBA All-Star.
“My agent called me and told me I would be in the cover, I didn’t think it was realistic,” says the 6-6 shooting guard, who in the past had been spoken to about being in the cover of video game but never came to reality. “I called all my friends and told them I was going to be in the cover, and they were like ‘You know how big this is?’ So I was really happy.”
As for what does the former Washington Huskie think about the game?
“It’s more convenient to carry it around without having to carry CD’s or anything else,” says Roy. “It’s a great game and the basketball speaks for itself. There is more to it than just basketball. There are a bunch of mini-games for kids and people of all ages.”
His favorite mini-game?
“Hands-down my favorites are dodgeball and bowling,” he says without any hesitation.
Only three years into the League, Roy has already established himself among the elite. He has already participated in the NBA All-Star game the last two years and last season finished All-NBA Second Team. And you better believe he will be looking for more accolades this season.
“The biggest thing I want to do is is get back to the all-star game and get back into the All-NBA Team,” says the humbled Roy.
With the return of LaMarcus
Aldridge and a healthy Greg Oden, sky is the limit for this young group. “We want to win our division and hopefully win the Western Conference,” says Roy of his Portland Blazers who have gotten to a 4-3 start. “Oden is definitely going to be that guy,” he predicts.
At the end of the day, what differentiates this game from your other basketball video games, is that the others, well, “they do too much,” if you ask Roy.
This is definitely a game any basketball junkie might want to check out. You can say what you want about what it might be lacking, but you can’t take away that it offers more type of games than probably any other game out there.
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