Rating
NBA Playgrounds
"Classic NBA arcade action is back! Take your “A” game to the playground and beat the best in high-flying 2-on-2 basketball action. Practice your skills offline, play with up to three others, or take your talents online to posterize your opponents with acrobatic jams and ridiculous displays of skill."
Details
- Released
- May 8, 2017
- Series
- NBA#17 of 23 by critics
- Developer
- Saber Interactive
- Publisher
- Mad Dog Games, LLC
How it plays
Similar Games
NBA Playgrounds Reviews
Professional reviews from gaming critics
If you liked NBA Playgrounds then this game will surely be a solid improvement you enjoy. If the first game was too buggy, or there were too many issues, then Playgrounds 2 fixes many problems. There are still reasons to be cautious with things like roster unlocks and limitations in the game modes, but it is overall a solid package.
NBA Playgrounds is an officially NBA licensed arcade-style basketball game featuring both active and retired players.
Time to pick up the rock and make your mark on the NBA Playgrounds. This game is fun, wacky, and entertaining to say the least, but it's not withouts its share of flaws and holes that provide a more complete experience.
NBA Playgrounds gets so much of the setup right, often reawakening the spirit of the NBA Jam series, but it fumbles some of the finer details with needless complications and lacklustre AI. As a solo experience there are much better ways to spend your money, but when it comes to multiplayer NBA Playgrounds is so very nearly shooting nothing but net.
The NBA 2K series may be the uncontested king of simulation basketball video games, but throughout history there has always been room on the court for an arcade experience to thrive as well. Games like Arch Rivals, NBA Jam, and NBA Street distilled the sport to its purest strain of fun, ditching zone schemes and triangle offenses in favor of action-oriented dunks, steals, dishes, and treys. With EA sleeping on the NBA Jam series this generation, the door opened for a new contender to emerge, NBA Playgrounds.
NBA Playgrounds isn’t a bad game, but it isn’t great. The fun it offers is found almost exclusively in either co-op or online. The solo experience is lacking and doesn’t keep your attention for too long. The game has a great look, and plays decently well when the AI isn’t bugging out. What will most likely bog down your time with the game is the repetitiveness. With basically one game mode to play, it’s hard to make each outing feel different and fun. Playing locally definitely brought back some good memories, and online always made it interesting, but burning through the tournaments to unlock...
I'd say it's a little steep paying $20 for this one. If you're a hardcore NBA fan you might have an enjoyable time with Playgrounds, I'd recommend most other players stick to the 2K series. It's hard to even recommend the Switch version because 2K seems like it's just on the horizon. If you're looking to play NBA Playgrounds I'd suggest at least waiting until online is available. But if you've really got a basketball itch, this game does a decent job at scratching it.
The Nintendo Switch version of NBA Playgrounds is probably the most inferior. While an entertaining romp with fun mechanics, a lack of content and fundamental patches keep this from being a slam dunk.
Regardless, it’s still a great option to have an up to 4 player portable game on deck. The style of game of Playgrounds is perfectly suitable for it as there’s no split screen, just a single side scrolling screen where all the characters are clearly outlined and visible. It’s not better than having it displayed on your giant TV, of course, but a great alternative while away from the living room.
Overall, NBA Playgrounds could’ve been the next NBA Jam. It nails everything from the look of the characters, to the lighthearted commentary. While it’s fun at first for a few rounds, as time goes on the cracks start to show and you realize that this game is more of an attempted layup than an actual slam dunk. If you’ve never played an NBA Jam game before, you can give this game a shot. Otherwise, for a true arcade basketball experience, stick to the classics.
NBA Playgrounds is very nice to look at, and its roster has a strong depth that any basketball fan will appreciate. But rather than build a game with hilarious, rollicking action and balance out how that is scored and defended, NBA Playgrounds imposes condition after condition on the users and cripples any chance at consistent fun. Those who pine for the flame-throwing slams of NBA Jam or the outrageous street trickery of NBA Ballers in days past will have their hopes buried under a pile of bricks by NBA Playgrounds, as their gamepad vibrates like an ignored phone call.