Game Evaluation

1
Game Evaluation

• Jim Nardecchia
• CIS 487

2
Basic Information
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Mario Hoops 3 on 3
4
Developer

• Developed by Square-Enix
• Best known for Final Fantasy series
• Primarily features Nintendo characters and
  settings
• Some Final Fantasy unlockables
• Published by Nintendo

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Type of Game

• Basketball game
• Teams of 3
• Nintendo twists
• Baskets are worth 20, 30, and 40 points
• There are ? blocks on the court, dribbling on
  them gives coins
• Coins are added to basket point totals
• ? blocks also give familiar Mario items

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Price

• 29.99 to 34.99
• Most 1st party DS games are 29.99
• Most 3rd party DS games are 39.99

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Hardware Requirements

• Nintendo DS or Nintendo DS Lite
• Retails for 129.99

8
Game Summary
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Quick Overview

• 3 on 3 Basketball game with Mario characters,
  items, and settings.
• Gameplay uses only the D-Pad and touchscreen.
• Extensive tutorial
• Tournaments are main gameplay mode
• 2 Minigames

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Quick Overview (cont.)

• 21 Characters
• 11 are hidden
• 5 are from Final Fantasy universe
• 16 unique courts
• 4 are hidden
• Single and Double cart multiplayer
• Single and Multiplayer stat tracking

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Players Role

• The player is in control of one character at a
  time.
• On offense, whoever has the ball
• On defense, player can swap characters

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Installation
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User Interface

• Game is played using the D-Pad and Touch screen.
• It is possible to use the buttons instead, but
  the game was designed for the touchpad
• Game plays better with the stylus than it does
  with the thumbstrap
• The menus in the game can only be navigated
  through using the touchpad.

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Gameplay

• Move character using D-Pad
• Touchpad controls all other moves
• Offense
• Tapping touchpad dribbles the ball
• Sliding touchpad up shoots the ball
• Sliding touchpad left or right passes ball
• Defense
• Sliding touchpad up jumps
• Sliding touchpad down steals
• Pressing the L button changes characters

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Gameplay (cont.)

• Special shots tap pattern on touchpad
• Dunks are unbeatable
• Alley-oops can be blocked
• Advanced moves
• Charge shot
• Charge dunk
• Blind pass
• Ground pound
• Charge steal
• Jump steal

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Scoring

• 2 point shots 20 points
• 3 point shots 30 points
• Special shots 40 points
• Then add any coins that were picked up by the
  player.
• Team can score a maximum of 140 points per
  basket.
• Team with most points at the end of a game wins

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Graphics and Artwork

• The game looks beautiful
• Arguably best 3D game available for DS
• Models look great
• Textures arent as blocky
• Framerate is consistent and smooth
• Visual style is impressive
• Mario with a twist
• Menus are very colorful and animated well

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Sample Screenshots
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Sound and Music

• Backround music is good
• Title screen theme song especially
• Game music gets tuned out
• Sound effects are great
• Each character has their trademark voices,
  sayings, and/or noises
• Game sound effects are adequate

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Special Features

• Tournament Trophies
• Bronze for winning
• Silver for winning each game by 100
• Gold for winning each game by 200
• 11 Unlockable Characters
• 5 from Final Fantasy Universe
• Unlockable costumes
• 4 Unlockable stages
• Several unlockable balls

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Game Manual

• Game Manual is adequate
• In game tutorial is better
• Manual doesnt give enough detail
• Technical content is great

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Bugs

• None that Ive run across

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Game Review
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Good stuff

• The game is simply fun to play
• Game mechanics are refreshing
• Playing Basketball in a Mario setting is a lot of
  fun
• Plenty of unlockables
• Final Fantasy characters add a special extra
  touch to it
• Multiplayer is great and a ton of fun

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Bad stuff

• Computer AI needs work
• Teammates are practically worthless
• Opponents go from stupid to awesome too quickly
• Touchpad controls get touchy at times
• Tournaments are the main mode
• Game could really use a league feature
• Basketball sometimes plays 2nd fiddle to coin
  collecting
• Single-cart multiplayer options are limited

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How does it compare

• Not meant to compare to basketball games
• Compares to other Mario sports titles somewhat
  favorably
• Probably comes in last
• Definitely on the DS

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Why is it better/worse

• Other games are more fleshed out
• Other games focus more on their sport
• Other games have one or more key features that
  are missing here

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Appropriate Audience

• Anybody (Rated E for Everyone)
• Primarily
• Any fan of past Mario sports games
• Secondary
• Mario fans
• Basketball fans
• Final Fantasy fans

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Design Mistakes

• Could argue there is a fundamental flaw with the
  basketball aspect, too much focus on coin
  collecting.

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Summary
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Overall Strengths Weaknesses

• Pros
• Fun to play
• Controls are refreshing
• Mario setting is fun
• Final Fantasy extras are cool
• Cons
• Not enough modes
• AI could be better
• Basketball plays 2nd fiddle
• Touchy touchpad controls (at times)

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Worth Purchasing

• Like Mario sports games?
• Yes
• Like Basketball or Mario
• Perhaps
• Hate Mario Kart
• No
• Want something unique that takes full advantage
  of the DS hardware?
• Definitely

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How can it be Improved

• Fix AI
• Teammates need to defend
• Computer difficulty curve needs to be lighter
• Add a league mode
• 6 teams, 5-20 games, playoffs
• More Basketball, less coins
• Tighten up controls a tad
• More characters