NBA Unrivaled attempts to bring back the glory days of quick, pickup and play arcade NBA action. Unfortunately it fails to produce and the outcome is a less-than acceptable gaming experience.

Within a few seconds of playing you’ll notice that something is off with the player animation. Players move with a slow, sprite-like animation that resembles an old 16bit basketball game. While you can try to ignore this during game play, it’s still unacceptable that a next-gen game could be released with such a horrible fault. Another graphic issue occurs when several players gather in the same area of the court. Because of the static camera angle and flat player models, it makes it impossible to know what’s happening anytime players start to cluster around the ball.

Not too much can be said about the games interface, the menu system is basic and works simply like any other XBLA title. The time and score are shown on two display boards, one on each end of the court. This clears screen space so the player can focus on the game play, but adding some form of an on screen display would have brought some presentation value to a game that is sorely missing it.

While the game tries to add some arcade-style elements, it immediately voids them by throwing a handful of rules at you. Making any contact with a player almost guarantees a charging or reaching-in call. These calls are made just as frequently against the AI causing dozens of stoppages throughout the game and taking away any feel of an arcade basketball game.

The controls are as simple as they come for a basketball game. You pass, shoot, juke and increase your players run speed with a turbo button. You can change your offensive and defensive strategies on the fly with the D pad, but if you’re that advanced and looking to play a basketball game with solid fundamentals then don’t bother in the first place. When your player is in a prime dunking position an “X” button icon will display over his head, simply tap “X” and the player will do the rest.

Momentum mania is a mode that activates after making a few baskets and blocking a few shots. It visually brightens a normally dark and gloomy arena and puts all players in a high-speed turbo mode. Unfortunately, this is how the game speed should have been. As soon as Momentum Mania mode is over, you’re brought back to reality and a reminder on how slow the game really is.

The audio could not be any worse. You’ll hear your basic dribble and sneaker skid sounds but the real let down is in the music. It’s the same two-second clip looped with an occasional rhythm thrown in. Momentum Mania mixes it up with a more upbeat two second loop, but both have no place in a videogame.

Unless you’re an NBA fanatic who must get his or her fix with every new basketball game, I would stay away. Even then, it’s just not worth the frustration of playing a game that should never have been released in this condition.