Subj: SLAM n' Jam '95 Review 95-05-28 19:40:41 EDT
From: FreakMe7
I am quite pleased with this game. It's got a lot of hot stuff, like 5 on 5 3D action, nicely animated players, good looking players, and they are very large. Good control, great music, and a competent announcer with some great phrases like "thunder!," and "he should be benched for that pass!" I like the different playoff modes, 1 game, 3 game series, and 7 game series. Also they have many SEASON modes... 82, 51, 26, and 13 games... you can also choose different times for the quarters (4 seems to be the equivalent of 12), boundaries, etc...
Also, 2 player action is great... it's fun to run up and down the court, slam in someone's face, or hit them with a barage of 3's... great stuff. But as many things that are done well with the game, there are many things in which i'm very disappointed with.
1. Why are the teams screwed up? It's STUPIDITY... why they would make Minnesota actually Houston is beyond me. Any codes to put it right?
2. The slowdown - i hate games that slowdown, and Slam n' Jam does a lot... if you're moving up the court everything is fine, but once the computer moves down and you get a "far view" the game slows down repeated. For a game that was "hyped" so much, this in inexcusable.
3. VERY unreleastic - my guys drain 3's like crazy. 13/16, 11/16 etc...
4. No refs - why aren't there refs?
5. Can't look at other standings in season mode. Only your division. Also, it doesn't keep stats for your whole team for a season, just "top rebounders" etc...
6. The Crystal dynamics trademark "popping and cracking" sounds... whenever you pause the game it happens.
7. There aren't players on the sidelines.
I hate games that have such obvious and correctable problems, but considering Crystal did this game, it's pretty well done. Their games have been hyped to no end, but they are above average at best. I didn't like C&B, The Horde, and I hated Star Control II. Samurai Shodown had horrible sound problems, and Off World Interceptor just sucked. Gex was great but it slowed as well.
