Friday, August 1, 2014

Nerdicus SNES Review #32: Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball


Title : Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball

Publisher : Hudson Soft

Developer : Hudson Soft

Genre : Basketball (WITH FIGHTING!!! OMG!)

Players : 1 / 2 Player

Release Date : 1991

Estimated Value (as of today's date) : $5-$10

This might very well be one of my shortest reviews ever. On a side note, I will be updating this page on weekends now with games I find at garage sales in my area. WOOT! This will of course only happen during Garage Sale season, which is about another 2 months, but hell it should be entertaining nonetheless.

On to the game at hand. Here we have Bill Laimbeer, who used to play for the Detroit Pistons, and if I know my basketball history (which I don't, because I hate basketball) he was pretty decent of a player. Decent enough to get a video game anyway.

QUICK NOTE!!!! Thanks to Jed Pressgrove (@jedpressfate), he told me that Bill Laimbeer was known for being one of the most physical, and dirtiest players in the NBA. Makes sense why they put him in a combat game then..Thanks, Jed!

As with any semi-popular player in a sports league, they'll release a game with their name on it. Why this poor soul wanted to put his name on a crap fest game such as this is beyond me. Good job, Bill. Way to scourge your name.
Here we go...Combat Basketball. After all, what futurustic basketball would be complete without BOMBS on the court? I could really picture that happening in 15 years, can't you? The game does take place in 2030. People really had a messed up vision of the future didn't they? All violence! Humanity is going down the toilet.


Why does everyone have to look like ex convicts in this picture, or like they were pulled out of DOOM. This is basketball, not a war game. The game starts with the selection of a difficulty, which doesn't really matter because this game is garbage and you shouldn't be playing it for more than two minutes anyway. So do yourself a favor and just quickly click through the selections and get to the game itself.

Your quickly presented with an overhead display for basketball. REALLY....overhead......this works with hockey, but this DOES NOT work with basketball. Especially when you're playing a game that is so absurdly slow, it doesn't even feel like basketball. Feels like American Gladiators gauntlet in sludge. Oh yeah, now that's what the outfits remind me of. American Gladiators.

The game follows basic basketball rules, with a few exceptions. You can kill your opponents with weapons and bombs. Totally legal. No fouls. Pure and utter mayhem. But it's not fun. Not at all.


So what's wrong with this game...let's see.

1) Visually it's probably one of the worst SNES games I have ever seen. The top down perspective does not work at all, and you can't even tell what the hell the characters are doing or where the God damn ball is half the time. You're forced to follow its stupid little shadow around the court, and even then you don't even know where your running your player over to.

2) The music does NOT fit the game at all. It plays like a dramatic, fast paced scrolling shooter or platformer. I didn't know there was supposed to be music in a sports game anyway. I mean it's not bad music, but seriously why is it even in here.

3) Fun factor - guess what...THERE IS NONE.

Judgement? Garbage..go away...crappy game..interrupting my good game reviews...

Final Score (out of 5) :


Until next time, keep on gaming!

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