As a basketball game developer, 989 Sports has been riding the pine for a while. After the unmitigated disaster that was NBA Shootout 2004 on the PlayStation 2, 989 sent itself to the bench in order to regroup several of its sports franchises. NBA for the PSP represents the developer's roundball comeback. And while NBA is a definite improvement over 989's last hoops effort, there's still a great deal of improvement left to make. NBA offers a number of different play modes and minigames, as well as full Wi-Fi networking support for one-on-one action. Unfortunately, the core gameplay in NBA is lackluster in presentation and execution, making it difficult to recommend to anyone but the most hardcore basketball fanatics dying for a portable fix.

NBA is the only game in town at launch if you're looking for a basketball game for the PSP.

The controls in NBA are pretty basic. You move your player around using the control disc. Shooting, stealing, blocking, and passing are mapped to single button presses, although strangely enough, there is no turbo button in this game. You can, however, use other button combinations to execute jukes like jab steps, crossovers, pump fakes, and spin moves. Though, these fakes aren't all that useful, and since they simply unleash canned animations, they can be somewhat hard to control. If you try to get too fancy while you're close to the sideline, for instance, you're more likely to spin your player out of bounds rather than get by your defender.

You also have access to a simple playbook by tapping on the D pad, but as these plays are only vaguely described in the manual, it's difficult to figure out exactly how the motion is supposed to run and who you're supposed to pass the ball to. Defensive play calling doesn't have much of an effect at all. It doesn't make much difference though, as the opponent artificial intelligence on both sides of the ball isn't all that difficult to beat. Just passing the ball or dribbling around with your fastest guard is usually enough to free up for an open shot. Computer opponents also make some boneheaded moves on offense, like hoisting up deep, 30-foot bombs early in the shot clock or dribbling the ball out of bounds.

One thing that will take some getting used to is the high number of blocked shots you'll see on jumpers in this game. If your defender has any kind of position on you at all while you take a perimeter shot, he will try to swat at the ball, which ends up feeling rather unrealistic. Eventually you'll adjust to the game and get a feel for what kind of positioning you need to get your shot off, but it's still annoying to see so many unrealistic blocked shots on both sides of the ball.

The most unique aspect to the gameplay in NBA is its unique shooting system. Whereas most basketball video games stick with the tried-and-true "hold and release at the top" method of shooting, NBA requires two button presses. The first tap on the shoot button causes the ball handler to jump up in the air. You'll see a colored halo around the ball, which will change color to give you a cue as to when you should press the button again to release the shot. Red means a low shooting percentage, yellow is a bit better, and green gives you your best chance to hit the shot. If you're well defended, sometimes you may not even see the halo change to green, so in the end it's best to just try to release the ball at the apex every time. Conversely, getting a green halo doesn't mean your shot is guaranteed to go in either.

The shooting system in NBA is unique, but in this case, that's not such a good thing.

While it's nice that the developers have tried to shake up a long- held convention of basketball games, the new shooting method ends up feeling more awkward than innovative. Forcing you to press the button twice makes it difficult to get off quick, buzzer- beating shots. The overall slowness of the process is also unnatural, because NBA-level shooters are trained to release the ball quickly. Another part of this awkwardness stems from the puzzling way in which the game handles dunks and layups. If you drive to the basket with a player and press the shoot button, you'll usually unleash one of the game's few dunk animations, which doesn't require a second button press. Layups do require a second button press, but since the jumping animation for these happens so quickly, you're liable to miss out on the right moment to finish the shot. This can be frustrating from a logical standpoint, because layups ought to be easier than jump shots. But, like the shot-blocking AI, you'll eventually get used to it.