Most rookies in the NBA are often coached to "try not to do too much" when they're in the game. Keep it simple, and the rest will fall into place. Unfortunately, developer Blue Heat didn't heed this advice when creating NBA Basketball 2005. On paper, it appears to be a winner, offering a full five-on-five game of basketball, complete with player ratings and different play calls. However, the game's good qualities are mostly undermined, primarily because of poor control.
Each game of NBA Basketball 2005 offers four quarters of full-court, five-on-five basketball. The court extends diagonally across to make maximum use of screen real estate. Quarters are adjustable between three and 12 minutes of play, and a few of the standard NBA rules are in effect, including a three-point line, eight-second half-court violations, and a 24-second shot clock. There's no way to commit a foul, however. There's a rudimentary playcalling system included that lets you call simple plays on offense, in addition to letting you change your defense from man, zone, or press to man, zone, or press. It doesn't seem to affect things much, though, especially on the offensive end, where it's not all that difficult to get a good shot, with or without a specific play called.
All 30 NBA teams are on offer, including the expansion Charlotte Bobcats. Each team is represented by its five starting players, and for the most part, the game's rosters seem accurate. What's more, each player is differentiated from another by seven different skill ratings, such as three-point-shooting ability, speed, and rebounding ability. These skill ratings actually play a role in the game, because you'll immediately notice faster guards, such as the mercurial Allen Iverson, running past most other players on the floor.
The biggest shortcoming in NBA Basketball 2005 regards its control. On our test handset, the LG VX6000, the game uses the number pad for player movement. The 5 button is used for shooting, blocking, and rebounding, while the 0 key is used for passing the ball on offense or for switching players on defense. It sounds pretty standard, but the fast pace of NBA Basketball 2005 makes playing defense all but impossible. The control scheme simply makes it difficult to react to the computer players' movements, so staying in front of a ball handler is quite a chore. Likewise, it's also difficult to track down rebounds as you fumble on the keys while trying to switch to the closest player, subsequently reacting to where the ball bounces. Perhaps on a phone that has a joystick, the game might work better, but if you don't have a stick device on your handset, keeping the computer from scoring is a hit or miss affair.
What complicates matters even further is that the court extends diagonally across the screen, but you must still press "up" (the 2 key) to advance the ball down the court. There's something unintuitive about pressing up and seeing your player run diagonally, so until this gameplay nuance gets settled in your mind, your control will be hindered even more. The good news is that playing offense isn't nearly as difficult as playing defense. The opponents don't seem to react all that quickly to your own player movements, so it's often easy to just stroll into the lane with your best ball handler for an easy layup or dunk.
As far as presentation goes, NBA Basketball 2005 does a decent but not commendable job. Players all look like stick figures, and when they all clump together in the lane, it can be difficult to discern what's going on. The game at least gives you the option of turning on icons that indicate player positions so you know who's who. The play-by-play text along the bottom of the screen also lets you know which player has the ball. Soundwise, the game offers the usual array of clanks and crowd cheers that you'd expect from a basketball release, but there's nothing especially noteworthy here. Dunks cause your handset to vibrate, but there's an option to turn this feature off.
The game is also pretty skimpy as far as modes go. There's no league play included, nor does there appear to be any type of multiplayer or leaderboard functionality. NBA Basketball 2005 is quite simply a bare-bones basketball offering that sports an NBA license and all the trappings that license affords it. While it does some things right, such as presenting unique player ratings and attempting to model a full five-on-five game of roundball, it falls short of the mark because of poor controls and a lackluster presentation.
