# NBA Unrivaled IGN Review



## Ares (Nov 23, 2009)

*NBA Unrivaled Review**

One of the worst basketball games that you'll hopefully never play.
*by Nate Ahearn

*April 5, 2010* - Every so often there is a game that makes you question what the person in charge of licensing was thinking when they agreed to loan rights to such an abomination. NBA Unrivaled is sadly one of those games. The NBA doesn't need money, they don't need to get their name out there more than it already is, so then why would they ever ink a deal to loan their name and the names of their players and teams to a game like this? I understand that it's trying to go for an old school arcade feel, but they've instead delivered one of the least fun sports game experiences I've ever had the displeasure of playing. 

NBA Unrivaled presents a very simple setup. There's quick play, Create-a-Match or you can take part in a challenge game. The challenge games are nothing more than a set list of NBA teams that you'll need to beat. There's nothing special about the games themselves as you're still playing four quarters of poorly designed basketball, so it begs the question why they felt the need to call it "Challenge Mode." That list of modes might be fine for a five-dollar purchase, but once you drop your ten bucks on the table for NBA Unrivaled, you'll no doubt be wondering what the you paid for. 



*Click above to watch a clip of the Cavs vs. Thunder.*​
Problems persist when you try and take the game online. Lag isn't hugely prevalent but you will find that players are constantly dropping animations, they'll slide around the court aimlessly and sometimes they'll even perform my personal favorite move: the invisible dunk (when the player model turns invisible and the ball continues to throw itself through the hoop). Thankfully these problems weren't ever-present, so I was still able to have a bit of fun when playing against Erik Brudvig (who beat me by one point). 

The real issue with NBA Unrivaled is sadly at its core, which is to say that the basketball is just plain bad. The animations are nauseatingly jarring as players jerk their way up and down the court. When all five players for each team are on one side of the court, which happens extremely often, it can be very tough to follow the action because the ball constantly gets lost in the fury of mishandled animations. 

As you dribble down the court and try to not unintentionally run into a still-moving player which is, for some reason, called a charge you'll notice that nothing in this game looks very good. When the camera zooms in on the ref to make one of those dubious charging calls or on a player going for a super-dunk of sorts you'll notice that there are details on the player models, they just don't come through with the standard gameplay camera. The lighting system doesn't exactly help either. Players wind up coming off cartoony and look like they could've been pulled off on the PS2. 


Watch and weep.​
The one twist that NBA Unrivaled somewhat successfully adds to the basketball formula is momentum mania. Score a bunch of baskets in a row and momentum mania will unlock, boosting your players' attributes up just a bit. Sadly that doesn't stop the rubber banding AI that seems to increase the ease of stealing the ball for the player that's losing. It's extremely annoying if you've built a sizable lead only to find that your players all of a sudden get butterfingers. Other annoyances are easy to come by, just look at the coach who never moves or watch as your player stands in bounds to feed you the ball after a basket. I also ran into several occurrences of being behind the three-point line and being given only two points for a made shot and being credited a basket as I got hacked under the hoop, only my player's shot animation never happened. Closing Comments
There’s a reason why there’s only twelve people currently on the leaderboards for NBA Unrivaled and that is that this is one of the worst PSN games released in recent memory. There’s no way that any one should pay ten dollars for it and the fact that twelve people already have makes me question the sanity of the world around me. I can’t imagine any basketball fan who would want to take the plunge into NBA Unrivaled, I don’t care what type of gaming experience you’re looking for. Avoid this one at all costs. You’ve been warned.

IGN Ratings for NBA Unrivaled (PS3)

*Presentation* 2.0
The menu system is standard, but the action on the court is about as boring as you can get when you have fireworks going off with every dunk. 

*Graphics* 3.0
Models display detail when the camera zooms in for cutscenes but everything else seems like it belongs on a PlayStation 2. 

*Sound* 2.0
The announcer simply says “Two” or “Three” when you score a basket. The music is laughable. 

*Gameplay* 3.0
This game gets boring in a hurry, despite the crazy effects and over-the-top moves. 

*Lasting Appeal* 1.0
A lack of modes and a serious lack of users on PSN will make you question your initial purchase. And you should be. 

*OVERALL* 2.5 Terrible

*Score based on a scale from 0-10

Source: IGN


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