Welcome to another edition of The Friday Five! Every Friday I cover a topic related to basketball gaming, either as a list of five items, or a Top 5 countdown. The topics for these lists and countdowns include everything from fun facts and recollections to commentary and critique. This week’s Five is a list of five presentation design choices in basketball video games that are rather frustrating.

I’m not the harshest critic when it comes to presentation and visuals. That’s not to say that I don’t have any standards, or that I don’t recognise inaccuracies and other issues when I see them. If I’m enjoying the on-court experience and am hooked on a mode however, that’ll factor more heavily into my overall opinion than a face that looks off, or a lack of bells and whistles in the presentation. As long as the game has that NBA vibe and TV-style presentation that mimics a real broadcast to some extent, that’s all I need. I certainly appreciate more detail, but it isn’t necessary for me to enjoy a game.

What I am bothered by are design choices with presentation that ruin the vibe, or interfere with the gameplay. There have definitely been basketball video games that have erred in this way over the years! In the best case scenario, it’s an annoyance that you can ultimately overlook, though it’s still quite apparent. In other cases however, those presentation design choices have a major impact on the gameplay, rendering a game virtually impossible to enjoy despite its positive attributes. If the presentation is lacking authentic TV branding or interviews with real player voices, I don’t mind that. These five frustrating presentation design choices, on the other hand, are problematic!

1. Those Falling Balloons in NBA 2K18

As I so often do with The Friday Five, I might as well tip off this list with the example that inspired the topic. Arena details have come a long way in basketball video games, from authentic models and decals, to mascots and fans that no longer look like they’re cardboard cut-outs. Basically, more powerful hardware has meant more details and things going on off the court, some of which you may not notice unless you keep an eye out for them. There’s no missing one particular detail in NBA 2K18 though, namely the balloons that fall into the crowd during the game. If you’re playing on a baseline angle, it’s not so bad; just something you see out of the corner of your eye.

If you’re playing on broadcast camera however, the balloons won’t just fall down the screen in the background, but in the foreground as well. This makes them incredibly distracting, since they can and will obscure the action. It was a bewildering design choice on all accounts. If the balloons only fell into the crowd opposite the camera, or only during a timeout or stoppage in play, they wouldn’t be nearly as intrusive. It’s just one of several puzzling and frustrating design choices in NBA 2K18, presentation or otherwise. It’s perhaps one of the few things that NBA 2K18 gamers could almost universally agree upon, and it speaks volumes that it didn’t return in NBA 2K19.

2. Cutscenes After Every Basket in Arch Rivals

While NBA Jam came to define the arcade genre of basketball video games, it owes much to Midway’s earlier release, Arch Rivals. It wasn’t as action-packed, and didn’t have any NBA players – in fact, it featured fictional college teams – but Arch Rivals brawled so that NBA Jam could soar through the air with a flaming basketball. It’s still fun to play today, and is probably even accessible for basketball gamers who didn’t grow up in that era; at least compared to some of the sim games of the same vintage. The graphics of the original arcade version hold up quite well, and there are even a handful of short cutscenes. Unfortunately, gamers saw them way too often.

And by way too often, I mean after every single basket! It won’t take long before the novelty of seeing a referee blowing his whistle, a coach shouting instructions, or a cheerleader celebrating a basket, wears off. Mind you, the lack of variety isn’t as much of an issue as how the cutscenes – which can’t be skipped – slow down the action. Double Dribble only has a few dunking cutscenes, and you’ll have seen them all within your first few minutes of gameplay, but they don’t interrupt the flow of the game like the post-basket scenes in Arch Rivals. It’s a classic, and those cutscenes were a big deal at the time, but their overuse was undoubtedly a poor design choice.

3. Baseline/Follow Camera & Cross-Fades in NBA 07

Camera angles are a needlessly contentious topic among basketball gamers. There’s an odd backlash against playing on broadcast camera these days, which is weird as it’s obviously the most authentic angle from a presentation standpoint. In return, there’s some scorn heaped on the baseline-oriented angles that are often associated with the career modes and player-locked gameplay, but not nearly as much, and it’s usually retaliatory. Personally, I prefer to use the baseline/follow camera angles when I’m playing MyCAREER, and use broadcast camera when I’m controlling the entire team. To that point, I want to have a choice, and control over the presentation in that regard.

Despite continual improvement in the authenticity of presentation over the years, many games have set a baseline camera as the default angle, including Sony’s NBA 07. Fortunately there is a broadcast camera option, but it’s not accessible in the main menu; it can only be changed during gameplay. I can work with that, but it’s still a frustrating design choice. Like Arch Rivals, there are also issues with cutscenes and cross-fades after baskets. Fortunately it isn’t after every basket in NBA 07 as is the case with Arch Rivals, but it does slow the action down. There are some impressive details and features in NBA 07, but it’s a sim game that whiffed on authenticity.

4. Limited Instant Replay Angles in NBA Live 06 (Xbox 360)

My potentially controversial take on the Xbox 360 version of NBA Live 06 is that it isn’t actually a bad game, at least as far as the action on the virtual hardwood. It also still looks pretty good, and was genuinely a huge graphical upgrade at the time. What hurt the game the most is the lack of features, content, and options that we’d come to expect on the previous generation. It’s why I still consider NBA Live 06 PC to be the superior game, and the best overall game in the series. The 360 version is missing Dynasty, Legends, and classic jerseys, to name but a few features. As for gameplay, aside from the lack of Freestyle Superstars, instant replays are the biggest issue.

You might notice that whenever I post screenshots of highlights in NBA Live 06 for Xbox 360, they’re always from the same few angles. No, this isn’t me falling into old habits with virtual hardwood photography! Rather, instant replay functionality in that game is extremely limited. Indeed, there’s no instant replay in the pause menu, which means you can’t rewind the action at your leisure, from your desired camera angle. You can manually trigger a replay after a basket in addition to automatic replays, and keep hitting that trigger to play it back over and over again, but it’ll be from the same couple of camera angles. The game can be fun, but it’s hard to admire your best plays.

5. Instant Replays & Cutscenes Locked to 30 FPS (Several Games)

I’ll admit that it took me far too long to come around on the issues with 30 FPS; just ask Dee! In my defense, it’s passable in a pinch, but there’s no denying the difference with 60 FPS, and I won’t attempt to (anymore). That difference is very noticeable in games that normally run at 60 FPS during gameplay, but drop to 30 FPS during an instant replay, post-basket camera cut, or basically any other cutscene. Sometimes the slow motion in replays makes it work, and it’s better than chunking along at 15 FPS to say the least. Nevertheless, it’s still one of the most frustrating recurring presentation design choices, and several games have featured these drops in their frame rates.

What’s particularly frustrating is that we’ve seen it is possible to maintain a smooth 60 FPS, avoiding a jarring drop in frame rate upon a switch from gameplay to instant replays and cutscenes. NBA 2K17 is proof of that! Frustratingly, the very next year, NBA 2K18 throttled its instant replays and cutscenes to 30 FPS. While it’s obviously disappointing when an entire game is in 30 FPS – NBA Live 06 and NBA Live 07 for Xbox 360 come to mind here – at least there’s consistency. As much as I love NBA 2K14 for PS4, it’s a shame that automatic replays lose some of their lustre due to being in 30 FPS. I know that I’m late to the party, but I see it, and it’s tough to ignore.

Have you ever been annoyed by these issues? What are some of the most frustrating presentation design choices in your opinion? Have your say in the comments, and as always, feel free to take the discussion to the NLSC Forum! That’s all for this week, so thanks for checking in, have a great weekend, and please join me again next Friday for another Five.

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