“Karate Basketball” Review

Introduction

Today’s a short review; it’s a short type of game.

Finally, a game that knows what a game should be. Karate Basketball, like some other games, is dumb. It isn’t so dumb as some other games that I will harp on it, but just look at the title. The set – up is that you are a member of the genericised basketball duo “King Cobras” (or the Cobra Kings in your alternate view of things), who just happened to schedule a match during a kid’s karate tournament. The show must go on — it is for charity, after all.

It’s a four – player multiplayer game, and though the AI is weak to the point of four shutouts in one sitting, it is competent enough to be challenging. Strategy involves kicking your opponents until they fall down, where you run up to their net and hope you slam the rock. It’s a very simple experience, with a shallow depth of play, but with a lot of strategy involved in how you play it. For instance, understanding when to assault a cherry picker or when to assault his friend.

Your single attack is kicking, your defensive move is rolling, you can jump, throw objects tossed from the bleachers (the rare drink cooler is especially cheap), and the rest is your basic basketball like shooting and passing, both of which done automatically and so is incredibly easy to get into. While it’s easy for your character to get lost in the chaos, the art style is appealing and avoids being ugly like most games that use pixels — palettes matter, after all.

The announcers are actually pretty funny, which is an ideal that most games never seem to reach. They talk nonsense about basketball, such as tapping the lacy cylinder, throwing from restraining order distance, and giving nothin’ but net (and a varying degree of rim). The lines are exhausted after an hour, meaning they become background noise, until your charity titters are also exhausted and then becomes just a thing the game does. The perfect sports game would involve announcer chatter that never runs out; it has yet to be.

While the set – up is ridiculous, it isn’t quirky, and isn’t alienating at all. It’s just plain, good – natured fun. It doesn’t try to be clever, bamboozle the player, or adopt an unnecessary story. It has the ambition of being an entertaining four – player game, and it is very entertaining. Though it is a short experience, it’s one of those games that doesn’t get old until after a while, and is something me and my brother would have enjoyed playing.

It is a simple joy to dunk on a computer who ruined your perfect play, and even more joyous to knock them out after four perfect hits. But then, a simple joy is all this is. Is it revolutionary? No. But it is entertaining, and in some sects, this is all that matters.