Overall Rating: 1/5 Stars
Magic Johnson’s Fast Break was an abomination of a basketball video game produced in 1990 by Software Creations, aka Mastertronics, aka There’s A Reason You’ve Never Heard Of Us, and published by Tradewest, who was better known for being involved in the release of better NES titles, such as, say, Double Dragon or Battletoads. This sports simulation for the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System arrived at a time when the console already had a few roundball cartridges available, so how would Fast Break compare?
Gameplay
The answer is no, by the way.
The basketball games in Magic Johnson’s Fast Break take place on a hardwood court in front of animated fans, but feature only a two-on-two match-up. Not only that, but the only options are whether it will be a one, two, or four-player (yes, believe it or not, this is among the handful of NES games that supported up to four human players at a time) game, then a difficulty level. The controls are easy enough: B passes on offense and switches controlled player on defense, whereas the A button shoots the ball on offense and goes for steals and blocks on defense. However, beyond the simple control scheme lie a number of issues.
The ball is far too easy for either humans or computers to steal. Just standing in the way of the ball during a pass is enough to steal it, which not only disrupts the flow of the game to a disorienting extent, but can also make inbound passes trickier than they should be. It is actually possible, and this reviewer would not believe it himself had he not seen it twice in one quarter, to jump in the air during an opponent’s pass inbounds and, in one spectacular motion, steal and shoot the ball for an easy two points.
On certain highlight plays, especially three-pointers, the floating head of titular Magic Johnson appears and offers an affirmation, such as “Great bomb!”, or simply “Three!” He also offers “tips” after each quarter, such as “Play better defense.” Thanks, Magic. This is another factor, though, that disrupts the game: These Magic-head appearances occur too often and last too long, almost as bad as the cutscene after every single basket in Arch Rivals.
Furthermore, the whole experience just feels a little “off.” For instance, for half the shots, the player just heaves the ball up, without even bothering to jump. People have not played basketball like that since its earliest days of the two-handed set shot. Then, to shoot, this game chooses the more awkward option of hitting the button once to jump and another time to fire, rather than just holding the button through the jump and releasing to shoot. This may sound like a minor issue, but for a basketball game, it is a bad choice, especially when it makes dunking feel overwrought and ridiculous.
Beyond the over-stealing, flawed mechanics, and over-Magic-facing, the game is just too boring overall, lacking both the pacing and/or gimmick required to compete within its genre. With superior titles such as Ultimate Basketball, Tecmo NBA Basketball, and even Double Dribble available on the NES, why would anyone choose Magic Johnson’s Fast Break? It can even be argued that, perhaps, it would be for the four-player appeal; but, in a countering argument, one can point out that among the selection of four-player-compatible titles on the NES, Fast Break is among the weakest, even just for the sports games. It is abundantly clear that a sub-par developer worked on this title. No offense to them, as it certainly takes work to publish a working 8-bit cartridge, but this is not a good game by any quantifiable measure.
Graphics
This is an ugly game, too. Even basic elements of video game visuals, such as color choice from the available 8-bit palette, show poorly here; for example, the same color is used for the basketball as is used for the basketball court itself and the fill for the Tradewest logo in the middle of it. The referee has stark white skin, which contrasts oddly with his traditional striped outfit. The ball has a purple circle around it. The title screen character from Harlem Globetrotters looks more like Magic Johnson than the title screen Magic Johnson in Magic Johnson’s Fast Break. The strange thing is that this game actually does boast an animated crowd, that is either still with anticipation or actually moving around when something happens, but beyond that this is a poor-looking sports game.
Sound
The title screen and interstitial background music is bad, but at least in a “1980’s light rock elevator music” way: It is arranged well, produced well, takes advantage of all the NES sound channels, but simply does not form a pleasant harmony or enjoyable beat. Then, the game itself is quite, with subdued sound effects and no background track to speak of. This is a very underwhelming title in the sound character.
Originality
The four-player usability is Magic Johnson’s Fast Break’s one unique feature among the NES basketball games. The only other element it has to offer in terms of innovation is its innovations in showing how to make a bad sports game. There is no redeeming value to be found here, as its rating of one star out of five shows.