Monday, August 09, 2010

Video game number two hundred and twenty seven: Mario Hoops 3 vs. 3

Video game review number two hundred and twenty seven in my 365 Games in 365 Days project is "Mario Hoops 3 vs. 3".

Somewhere, in a conference room at Nintendo...I imagine there was a meeting where some game producer asked: "What if you could play basketball on the DS, using your stylus as a controller?"

Perhaps this producer was sleeping with several of the other folks at the table, because that's the only way I can imagine them nodding in agreement and agreeing to let development begin on this thing.

Seriously...in your life...have you ever thought to yourself: "This sports video game would be much better if I could control it with a pencil!". I think not.

I played through all 27+ lessons in the tutorial, attempting to learn how to draw my way through a basketball game. Draw a straight line with your stylus from bottom to top to shoot the ball. Do it twice (quickly) to dunk. How awesome does that sound?

Not very, right?

Draw a line towards the teammate you want to pass the ball to. Draw more lines towards your opponent when you're on defense so you can make them drop the ball. I hope from the description here...you're starting to realize just how much this game sucks.

By the time I finished the tutorial, it was time for a game. I was able to hold the computer to a stalemate, dunk, and even do a special move or two (yes, you can do special moves). I didn't have any fun doing any of it, but at least I was able to.

Overall Score? 3/10. This is quite possibly one of the worst Mario games I've ever played...and one of the worst sports games I've ever played. It's not as bad as Blood Bowl, so I'll give it a few points for that...but believe me when I say: This is awful.

No comments: