To say that Sony has had a rough time developing good basketball games would be quite the understatement. The company's certainly made some strides, but its products, most notably its NBA series, hasn't been nearly as good as the popular NBA 2K and Live franchises. The games just haven't been up to snuff, but the developers are making improvements, especially on the hand held front. I've been messing around with the preview build of NBA 07 for the PSP and it's actually quite impressive, though it's also buggy as hell, not a good sign for a franchise that has quite a few skeletons in its closet. But as I discovered, even with the bugs the game's very enjoyable.

The primary reason (or reasons) why the game's so promising is because of the amount of features it has. There's so much more to NBA 07 than just Exhibition and Season modes. There are the usual suspects, the All-Star Game, the 3 Point Shootout, and the Dunk Contest, but there's also Carnival mode, an assortment of mini games, the addictive Conquest mode, and online play (both ad hoc and infrastructure). Here's a break down of all the modes, and the pluses and minuses of each.

Quick Play

This contains the normal options that are present in most basketball games. You can participate in an Exhibition game, run through the All-Star Game, get a quick game of Pick-Up, or challenge people online. Nothing fancy here. It's just straight up basketball and it works.

The gameplay is reminiscent of the last two games except it feels more polished. The action flows at a consistent pace, it's easy to dunk, and the developers have finally gotten a handle on the shot meter, this halo that appears over a player's head whenever he goes up for a shot. Basically, if you've got a good look and proper form it'll glow green, but if it's orange or red you're probably going to miss, or at least that was the case in the last two games. This year, an open look isn't a guaranteed make. You're still going to hit most of your green shots, but there's always the possibility that it'll roll out. It's still not the most perfect of systems, but I've actually warmed up to it. I would never want to see it in one of 2K Games' basketball titles, but here, it sort of fits the game's arcade nature.

There are two things about the gameplay that bug me. First, it's way too easy to get pushed out of bounds. Too many times I'll go for a spin move with at least five feet separating my selected player from the baseline and he'll just roll straight into the announce table. Second, Sony hasn't gotten all of the player names and teams right. Stephon Marbury will hit a three point shot, but the announcers will credit Rudy Gay or some other player with the basket. That's got to be fixed.

Conquest

Sony's PS2 basketball games have a story mode, dubbed The Life that's absent in the PSP titles. To compensate for this, the developers have created this turn-based real time basketball game called Conquest. In it, you battle against other NBA teams to control territories. There's a map of the U.S. that shows you who owns what, and the object is to challenge teams to brief five-on-five street ball games that, if you win, allow you to not only swallow up parts of the country, but also steal opposing players. Conversely, your opponent will snag one of your superstars if you come up short, and believe me, the AI doesn't mess around. Upon losing to the Hawks, the computer immediately took Shaq from me.

What this means is you may wind up finishing Conquest with an entirely different squad, so you're free to mix and match different players and test out various combinations. Furthermore, you don't actually score any points in these games. Each team has a health bar, fighting game style, and whenever someone scores a basket the opposing side loses a certain amount of energy depending on the type of shot taken. It's a nifty idea that I'm quite fond of.

Carnival

There are three mini games here: Pop-A-Shot, Skee Ball, and Pinball, and as you rack up high scores you earn tickets that can be used to purchase prizes such as throwback jerseys and movies. It's a novel idea that Sony's almost perfectly pulled off. Skee Ball and Pinball are actually pretty solid, but I'm having difficulty picking up basketballs in Pop-A-Shot and that's affecting my overall performance.

All-Star Weekend

The usual shenanigans that I've come to expect (All-Star game, 3 Point Contest), except Sony's transformed the dunk contest into a rhythm-based affair that isn't much fun, mostly because the PSP's buttons aren't as responsive as I'd like. It's also not as rewarding or as deep as EA's version of the contest, which you can check out in NBA Live 06.

I'm also a little pissed at the Skills Challenge. It could be a lot of fun, but there aren't any on screen cues telling me where to go, and lining up icons using the PSP's analog nub is a chore.

Game Modes

This is the heart of the game, the place you want to go if you intend on playing Exhibition games, diving headfirst into a full NBA season, fast-forwarding to the playoffs, or just practicing your free throws.

Mini Games

On top of Carnival, Sony's added a slew of entertaining games such as Skills Challenge (again, the lack of cues makes it very frustrating), Own the Court (which has appeared in the previous games), 3 Point Contest (redundant, but ok), Horse, and in a very strange twist, Dodgeball. You select a team, hit the court, and fire balls at your opponent's heads. It's a novel idea and I like where Sony's head is at, but the controls aren't very responsive. I'd repeatedly get hit by a ball even though I was pressing the dodge button. That definitely needs to be fixed.

Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to check out NBA 07's online modes, but the single player stuff is pretty decent, so much so that I'm actually considering skipping Live and just buying this game. But Sony still has a lot of work to do. It's got to fix the out of bounds problem, tweak the dodgeball controls, and get a grip on that announcing bug. If it can find solutions to these issues, this could be the only PSP basketball game to buy this year. It just sucks that, taking into account the franchise's history, that it's a big IF.

NBA 07

I like...

* The rim-rocking gameplay
* The mini games and Carnival mode
* The sharp looking graphics

I don't like...

* The announcing glitch
* Shady dodgeball controls
* How players pick up basketballs in Pop-A-Shot
* The lack of cues in Skills Challenge
* Lining up icons using the PSP's analog nub
* Getting pushed out of bounds