Midway revolutionized outrageous sports games in 1993 with NBA Jam. 15 Years later, Midway tries to improve on the previous title with NBA Ballers, but falls short. This game is the fourth in the NBA Ballers series. Although an improvement from the first three, it is more frustrating than anything else.

The story mode has many features including a 2v2 4-minute drill where you have to come back from a 26 point deficit and win by 5 without letting your opponent make any 3’s or  get any steals. Another “feature” is playing an entire chapters worth of games (There are six chapters with ten or fifteen games in each one) against LeBron James. Unlike in real life, LeBron never chokes in this game and seems to be impossible to beat.

I also feel that this game should come with a free 12-pack of sprite because of how much advertising there is for it (the entire chapter with LeBron is supposed to be a commercial shoot for Sprite). Along with making me crave a thirst-quenching beverage, this game also makes me crave a better mix of songs on the jukebox. A long list of about twelve different songs all by the same artist “Just Blaze”, none of which have any words, are all you are going to hear for the 76 attempts it takes to beat LeBron.

The NBA Ballers series doesn’t do any justice to NBA Jam but is moderately fun when playing against other real people. The only problem is that when I tried to sign on to Xbox live to play against other people, no games were available. The game has been out for about three weeks and the leaderboards show the most games played by any one person at nineteen.

This game can’t be salvaged unless we all go out and buy it right now and start playing it 24/7 for the next few months. Who cares about GTA IV when you have NBA Ballers?