Quick Look: NBA Jam: On Fire Edition

As someone whose played over a day's worth worth of online for the disc based Jam, I'm pretty stoked for tomorrow!

How long would it hold air?

My question to your question is, How full of jam is it?

Also listen to this awesome dubstep

Another PS3 QL? Jeeze guys fanboy much? ;)

@AssInAss said:

Why is Jeff so cranky lately?

Pretty much always the case. :\

Jeff's "Come on!" at 19:07 when LeBron misses that 3 really reminds of Marcus Fenix.

And as a Lakers fan, seeing that LeBron's clutch rating is a 3 puts a smile on my face. Kudos to you EA!

@Meatsim said:

He's right LeBron James with a clutch factor of 3 is hilarious.

That got the biggest laugh out of me.

RATED M FOR MATUREEE

I love that they've got Real Madrid in this game. Never played an NBA Jam game before. Didn't realise it was downloadable. Might have to pick this up then.

Is this out today?

Is it the shoes?

@AssInAss: Man , who you te@AssInAss said:

Why is Jeff so cranky lately?

Man , who you telling. I think Jeff needs a vacation from games for a while.

quick look for this and not one for 2k12? smh.

Big D, hit me! Uh oh, uh oh, uh oh, uh oh!

I can't wait to slam a dunk with Magic Jordan!!

Glad that when I play this game in 10 years, the Bulls will luckily have a cool roster.

@AssInAss: Man , who you te@AssInAss said:

Why is Jeff so cranky lately?

Man , who you telling. I think Jeff needs a vacation from games for a while.

The most video game basketball I've ever played was an NBA Jam or Jam-like game on the N64. All I remember is replacing every Bulls player with custom freaks that were 9-10 feet tall, and then pitting them against a created team of frail midgets.

Did that announcer just fucking say "pwned"?

@ShaggE: Agreed. Street is the reason why I can't play Jam anymore, it's just too shallow. Homecourt was ok but they dumbed down the defense too much. Street 2 was the best.

I loved the disc version last year. I just wish this came out last year so more friends could've picked it up. I have no interest in picking this up again.

Never played Jam before but I think I'll get this tomorrow! Looks like loads of fun to just play with some friends!

Wait, that kind of looks like Patrick Klepek in the background...

Left side of the court, the man in the front row.

Maybe I'm just seeing things...

@TimFReilly said:

@AssInAss said:

Why is Jeff so cranky lately?

Pretty much always the case. :\

And this is why I love Jeff. Jeff is a cranky old gamer, I am a cranky old gamer... our interests meld pretty perfectly.

Damn, I couldn't get more than like 7 mins into this because of how cranky Jeff was.

No offense, but if you want original NBA Jam go play your damn arcade machine. This is fucking awesome and faithful update of it that is for sure worth the 15 dollars.

And the commentator is still great. The fact that they got the original guy alone is cool enough, let alone the fact that he's still awesome and energectic. And maybe I don't remember correctly, but I don't recall the commentator saying "HE'S ON FIRE!" every time you caught on fire in the original either like Jeff was saying. Just sometimes, and he does that here too.

Anyway, if you love NBA Jam buy this game. It's a blast. And when it comes to local play, it's still nearly impossible to beat.

quick look for this and not one for 2k12? smh.

@durden77 said:

Damn, I couldn't get more than like 7 mins into this because of how cranky Jeff was.

No offense, but if you want original NBA Jam go play your damn arcade machine. This is fucking awesome and faithful update of it that is for sure worth the 15 dollars.

And the commentator is still great. The fact that they got the original guy alone is cool enough, let alone the fact that he's still awesome and energectic. And maybe I don't remember correctly, but I don't recall the commentator saying "HE'S ON FIRE!" every time you caught on fire in the original either like Jeff was saying. Just sometimes, and he does that here too.

Anyway, if you love NBA Jam buy this game. It's a blast. And when it comes to local play, it's still nearly impossible to beat.

Yeah, I've never been more annoyed by a quick look than this one. And I watched Brad's Shadow of the Colossus quick look! On Fire Edition is probably the best thing that Jam could do in the modern day, it's so great, but all we get is "yeah.... so it's jam but WHATEVER"

Pwned was always a stupid-ass term.

@Romination said:

@durden77 said:

Damn, I couldn't get more than like 7 mins into this because of how cranky Jeff was.

No offense, but if you want original NBA Jam go play your damn arcade machine. This is fucking awesome and faithful update of it that is for sure worth the 15 dollars.

And the commentator is still great. The fact that they got the original guy alone is cool enough, let alone the fact that he's still awesome and energectic. And maybe I don't remember correctly, but I don't recall the commentator saying "HE'S ON FIRE!" every time you caught on fire in the original either like Jeff was saying. Just sometimes, and he does that here too.

Anyway, if you love NBA Jam buy this game. It's a blast. And when it comes to local play, it's still nearly impossible to beat.

Yeah, I've never been more annoyed by a quick look than this one. And I watched Brad's Shadow of the Colossus quick look! On Fire Edition is probably the best thing that Jam could do in the modern day, it's so great, but all we get is "yeah.... so it's jam but WHATEVER"

I love how people get "annoyed" when the GB guys criticize a game that they like. If anyone in the game journalism world is an authority on some NBA Jam, it's Jeff Gerstmann.

And he didn't even hate the game - he had some valid criticisms. Kitzrow does occasionally talk way too fucking much. Missing three pointers while you're on fire, is crazy.

They still had good things to say about the game.

- Scott

The announcer not yelling "HE'S ON FIRE" when you're on fire bugs me more than it should.

Listen carefully to some of the menu music - when they are on that crazy teams menu. Giantbomb theme anyone?

I'm not the biggest fan of sports video games and I am a lesser fan of arcade-style sports games. I can say that when the old NBA Jam was popular I did enjoy watching other people play and unlock the secret characters, I just never really cared about the actual game itself and I never really played it.

Watching this Quick Look, despite the announcer changes and of course the graphical upgrades I think the game stays true to the series. I guess if I were a huge fan of this game I may have issues with the announcer voice-over changes but does it really take away from the actual gameplay? Not at all.

@Scotto: No, I agree. Kitzrow really rambles sometimes- especially at the end of quarters. And a reference to being punk'd is TERRIBLE.

But you know what? Missing 3s while on fire- just get better, he sank the rest, so hey.

But SOME enthusiasm would go a long way. No one seemed to be able to care at ALL despite the fact that a $15 downloadable game with all kinds of friends-list integration is where Jam should have always been, and they've changed the game a whole lot within a year. But all we get is them sounding bored and tired.

@MattClassic:

@Romination said:

@durden77 said:

Damn, I couldn't get more than like 7 mins into this because of how cranky Jeff was.

No offense, but if you want original NBA Jam go play your damn arcade machine. This is fucking awesome and faithful update of it that is for sure worth the 15 dollars.

And the commentator is still great. The fact that they got the original guy alone is cool enough, let alone the fact that he's still awesome and energectic. And maybe I don't remember correctly, but I don't recall the commentator saying "HE'S ON FIRE!" every time you caught on fire in the original either like Jeff was saying. Just sometimes, and he does that here too.

Anyway, if you love NBA Jam buy this game. It's a blast. And when it comes to local play, it's still nearly impossible to beat.

Yeah, I've never been more annoyed by a quick look than this one. And I watched Brad's Shadow of the Colossus quick look! On Fire Edition is probably the best thing that Jam could do in the modern day, it's so great, but all we get is "yeah.... so it's jam but WHATEVER"

I love how people get "annoyed" when the GB guys criticize a game that they like. If anyone in the game journalism world is an authority on some NBA Jam, it's Jeff Gerstmann.

And he didn't even hate the game - he had some valid criticisms. Kitzrow does occasionally talk way too fucking much. Missing three pointers while you're on fire, is crazy.

They still had good things to say about the game.

- Scott

But that's the thing, this game is not arcade perfect NBA jam with new graphics. This is a NEW NBA Jam. He was just criticizing it like it was supposed to be the exact same game. That's why I turned it off, because I didn't want to hear those criticisms that I don't think are even valid.

Yes, you will miss three pointers while you're on fire sometimes (not much. And he didn't even show off the insanely awesome fire dunks). And yes, Kitzrow talks a lot (and in my opinion, it's welcome if you don't shun it. He's got some great stuff), because it's 2011 and you can fit more than a couple of lines of compressed audio into a game. Why not take advantage of it? Why make the exact same game again and charge 15 bucks for it when you can make a new vision of NBA Jam that is still faithful?

The dev team have even talked about the balance changes they've made from the disc version to this version. This is their, 2011's, version of NBA Jam. Not NBA Jam remastered. I will never get "annoyed" (lol what's with the quotes), over valid criticism, but It's like he's upset that they weren't lazy.

Like I'm saying, if you want the original go play your damn arcade machine. This isn't the original, but it was created with the original in mind whole heartedly. Judge it as such.

@MattClassic He does. Just not every time. And it sounds so great when he does. The guy still has so much energy for this game, it's awesome.

@durden77

"The dev team have even talked about the balance changes they've made from the disc version to this version. This is their, 2011's, version of NBA Jam. Not NBA Jam remastered. I will never get "annoyed" (lol what's with the quotes), over valid criticism, but It's like he's upset that they weren't lazy."

This is Jeff - If he hasn't pre-ordained his love of a game, he won't give it a chance. That they're playing the PS3 version probably doesn't help with his favoring the 360.

@Jeff

Look, if you have criticisms of a game that are valid, fine, but it seems like you don't even like video games anymore. Really, if you don't wanna do Quick Looks, don't do them, because you just sound more and more sad and jaded every time you do something that isn't in your established wheelhouse.

"He's on fire" is totally core stuff, Ryan.

Despite that glaring omission, I'm still kinda interested in playing this. The gameplay looks largely unchanged, and I love me some NBA Jam. I'll check out the demo.

The commentary does talk colorful too much, just like Jeff said.

Lighten up guys, it's a video game.