Mario Hoops 3 on 3

[LightShock]

Published by: Nintendo
Developed by: Square Enix
Genre: Sports
Number of Players: 1-4
Release Date: US- Sep. 11, 2006
Japan- Jul. 27, 2006

Every once in a while, everyone just likes to go out and just shoot hoops with themselves, their family or their friends.  But now we can play basketball in our houses! Well, figuratively speaking. Mario Hoops dribbles its way on the DS, to play a 3 on 3 games, or just plain practice on your game skill, you've got it here.

Now, there have been many Mario related sports titles coming out for the Nintendo 64 and the GCN, but few have entered their way to the DS. Generally basketball itself! Now a DS title, this game shows some pretty decent graphics, along with a well deserved replay value. Multiplayer allows you to have coin collecting races and 3 on 3 matches with your friends.

Ok the gameplay for this game is pretty straight forward and gets a little old after a while. Shoot, dunk, pass. Shoot, dunk pass. Well you might say to yourself, "That's the point of basketball isn't it?" Yes, but sometimes, you might want to be able to rearrange things. Maybe a 4 on 4 match, 2 on 2, or maybe even 1 on 1! But it does rise up to its complication of using the controls. They could have maybe had a controls option. Many people might not have a stylus, or can't use it for injury reasons.  A handheld option might have been nice.

Now the replay value of this game I thought was very high. I think this because; normally adventure titles have a low replay value for the fact of no multiplayer or repeating storylines. Mario Hoops has a decent replay value for the fact of its multiplayer, with great passing abilities from screen to screen. People can have fun with their friends through this way. In single player mode, the replay value is also pretty good. The computers will always play different from the last time you played them, and you can test your skill again and again through the tournament feature. Although, I have found out I haven't picked this game up in a long time, due to the fact that it just got old. The replay value is high, but only for the fact that you need a friend to play it with, and single card mode has a really dull mode that you are forced to play in. You can't even play a regulation basketball game!! Your only choice is to collect the most coins.

The sound in this game was pretty fantastic I thought. I like the ball dribbling noise and the sounds that the hoop makes when you make a dunk. Also the sound of the ball when it made a swoosh into the net, that sounded pretty realistic. The music is alright, bringing back music from like peaches castle and throwing it onto her court would have been pretty cool, that goes same for the other levels. But I guess in others points of view new music could have been the best that happened to the game sound wise. Anyways, I thought they pulled the sound off with most of the "basketball" sounding noises really well and I liked that.

Never does a Mario sport game not have special moves and tactics in it! Yes, In Mario Hoops, each character has its own special move. To activate a special move simply take a character (Mario for Example), and tap the specific letter in the touch screen that matches his or her characters. For Mario you would tap all the points of the letter "M" repeatedly, and he will perform a special move. If he is guarded he will throw up an ally-oop to another player, and if he isn't, he will perform an amazing dunk. To find the letter go to the tutorial and click on a character and the letter will show up.

What I really liked was the different choice of levels you got to choose. Playing on Mario's simple basketball court would get a little boring after a while. The addition of levels in the sky, Rainbow Star ship, Luigi's Mansion, Wario Court, And even a Baby Bowser's court with a slot machine! Also, the addition of coins to the game was a very good feature to. For it showed how much you could collect by the end of the game to determine your score! These coins come from question marks in the ground.

Below are a couple of scenes showing some of the different levels in the game.

The first basketball game for Mario is out in stores now! Purchase it today for it is reasonably well worth the money you have. Mario Hoops might spark something in the minds of Nintendo creators to keep the game moving. Maybe start creating more basketball titles for the Nintendo Wii. I hope you all have enjoyed my review. As always, please post a comment, for it shows that I have done a great job, or a bad job. Thank you all for reading! More on the way! :)

Rating:
Graphics: 10
The game shows amazing character quality and detail, as well as the basketball and hoop.

Sound: 8
Pretty enjoyable "jump right in" kind of music. Bringing back Mario themed music wouldn't have hurt. Basketball sounds and net sounds sound realistic.

Gameplay: 6
Pretty straightforward; it can get redundant after a while and there's not much more to the game other than your basketball matches.

Longevity: 6
Great multiplayer with friends. Single player isn't the best I've seen, I mean, you can't even have a basketball match! Plus the lack of online play.

Overall rating: 7.5/10

[Macawmoses]

*CLAPS* bravo! bravo! you have convinced me to buy the game by offering a decent amount of opinion and fact,and not spoiling certain surprises. I am in awe, however an extra pic or two would have been nice for balance it isnt anything major!

~MoM~


Keep up the good work

[LightShock]

Thanks mack ;) Ill start workin on others :)

[Macawmoses]

Thanks mack ;) Ill start workin on others :)

i hope so....btw as a note your review is automatically entered into next week's ROTW...best of luck

[LightShock]

Thanks mack ;) Ill start workin on others :)

i hope so....btw as a note your review is automatically entered into next week's ROTW...best of luck

ok I have another review i made in the past, Is it ok to have 2 submissions?

[Nine 1 One]

it sucks i either lost had stolen or misplaced mine it was awesom  :( good revie

[Macawmoses]

Thanks mack ;) Ill start workin on others :)

i hope so....btw as a note your review is automatically entered into next week's ROTW...best of luck

ok I have another review i made in the past, Is it ok to have 2 submissions?

this would be best through pms :D

[La Pared]

A friend of mine once told me that this game sucked. but since u like it so much then I will give it try

[Macawmoses]

Well, what a surprise this REVIEW won RoTW :O
Your sig is at the ORC plus you will be recieving another ;)

[LightShock]

Well, what a surprise this REVIEW won RoTW :O
Your sig is at the ORC plus you will be recieving another ;)

woohoo I am so honored!!  :O Thanks to the people that voted :) Wheres the OCR may I ask? or is it right between my nose and I cant see it :P

[Macawmoses]

Well, what a surprise this REVIEW won RoTW :O
Your sig is at the ORC plus you will be recieving another ;)

woohoo I am so honored!!  :O Thanks to the people that voted :) Wheres the OCR may I ask? or is it right between my nose and I cant see it :P

OFFICIAL REVIEW CONTEST :O
Also you won RoTW not NCR, I picked the REVIEW  ;D

[LightShock]

Well, what a surprise this REVIEW won RoTW :O
Your sig is at the ORC plus you will be recieving another ;)

woohoo I am so honored!!  :O Thanks to the people that voted :) Wheres the OCR may I ask? or is it right between my nose and I cant see it :P

OFFICIAL REVIEW CONTEST :O
Also you won RoTW not NCR, I picked the REVIEW  ;D

Oh wow, thanks mack!  :) The NCR and OCR confused me  :D

[Luigi 64]

great review!

[RedYoshi]

I'm kind of surprised that Square Enix would make a game like this.