Mario Hoops 3-On-3 Review
Mario Hoops 3-on-3 is Mario's first sports game on the DS (excluding kart racing) and the first time he branches out into basketball. The game was developed by Square-Enix, the makers of Final Fantasy, and have even added a few familiar Square faces.
*--GRAPHICS--* 9/10
This game actually has superb graphics for a sports game. It's visuals are very polished and backgrounds are very vibrant. The character models are indeed very good as well with a lot of details on them. One of the best looking DS games on the market.
*--CONTROLS--* 7/10
This is where the game gets a bit iffy, you have two control schemes, stylus controlled or button controlled. Stylus is the default setting and in my opinion the best setting. Stylus controls, when holding the ball are; use the forward stroke to shoot, side stokes to pass left or right, tap to dribble faster (to obtain coins on question mark panel and backwards stroke to fancy/side step. And of course the D-Pad allows you to move. When using stylus control it is also easier to pull off special shots which are always controlled on the touch screen. For Example: Mario uses a "M", which you must tap twice on your touch screen without being blocked to pull of an, once done, unblockable shot. While in defence, forward stroke is jump to block, left and right stroke is side-step block and back is swipe to steal the ball
Button control could be easier if you practice with them. All buttons ar the same direction as the strokes. EG, forward stroke is the same as X.
*--GAME PLAY--* 7/10
Another place where Hooops is a little bit of a let down is the AI. Your team is pretty dumb, they won't do anything except mark a man, which really does nothing except put you in a good place to switch to. Even if they have items the won't use them. Though, this is balanced by the opposition's team not doing anything either. The items are what makes this game completely Mario. The fun items include classics like bananas, green red and blue shells. This adds that Mario quirk people buy Mario sports games for.
*--LEVELS, CHARACTERS AND UNLOCKABLES--* 9/10
Mario and the gang are just about all in here. Including five Final Fantasy characters, who are Black Mage, White Mage, Ninja, Moogle and Cactuar. Altogether there are 25 characters, which 11 have to be unlocked. And there are also 7 costumes. The levels are vibrant like all Mario games and each level has it's own complication to it. For example, one level is on ice where you can slide on it's surface, and another is underwater making you and the ball move slower.
*--MUSIC--* 8/10
Not much to say, other than typical Mario music. Which is good, of course. hum-along tunes.
*--INSTRUCTION MANUAL--* 8/10
The instruction manual is 39 pages long and has great character artwork and explains all play very well. It has fantastic in game pictures and even tells you a little about how each character plays. It is a very good book.
- Graphics-- 9/10
- Controls-- 7/10
- Game Play-- 7/10
- Levels, Characters and Unlockables-- 9/10
- Music-- 8/10
- Instruction Manual-- 8/10
=48/60 Then averaged=
SCORE 8/10