Space Jam is pretty simple. Aliens invade Tuneland and challenge the Tunes to an intergalactic basketball tournament. But it's not just any pick up game - the outcome decides their eternal fate. Thankfully, basketball hero Michael Jordan steps in to save the day. However, despite the use of much-loved Warner Bros. cartoon characters, Space Jam fails miserably in every category.
Space Jam takes the basic play mechanics of NBA Jam and combines them with some poorly executed cartoon-based sub-games. For the basketball action, players can choose between two teams, the Tunesquad or the Monstars, and select two modes of gameplay (two-on-two and three-on-three). The sub-games consist of searching for hidden items (in locker and trophy rooms), and a pathetic excuse for a space race with Speedy Gonzales. Successful completion of these sub-games can improve an on-court character's attributes: shooting, speed, and rebounding.
At best, the graphics in Space Jam look 16-bit. No 3-D polygonal characters or texture mapping here. The only redeeming aspect of the game is playing basketball with the Warner Bros. cartoon characters. As a plus, they're well-drawn and have some nice detail. Other than that, Space Jam is a basic 2-D, side-to-side basketball game. This is unfortunate, because plenty of Looney Tunes fans would have supported a graphically hep game.
