Hoop Fighters: Party Basketball Review (PC)

Whoever thought it would be a good idea to turn basketball into a contact sport needs their head examined. And it’s not even a contact sport that Hoop Fighters: Party Basketball brings to the court. Heck, it isn’t even basketball. Instead, what it brings is a glimmer of mayhem and good old-fashioned brawling — and sometimes not in the best interests of its court goers, either. Is it basketball? Gee, maybe. But I don’t think that’s what it wants to be referred to as; it lives only to cause a ruckus and set a few friendships alight along the way. Annoyingly, though, that’s just about everything that makes up a catchy squad-based party game. Go figure.

In Hoop Fighters, there are no rules for you to adhere to, nor are there any chances of receiving a slap on the wrist for poor court etiquette. Rather, the game rewards bad behavior and reckless play. Weirdly, it doesn’t even force you to make decent shots. But it does, however, invite you to bash heads with your rivals and do whatever it takes to net points, so to speak. By that I mean, true to the darker shade of the sport, doing things like hitting, bowling, and being a general nuisance to the rival team. Think ice hockey with a basketball, and you’ll have a good idea of what we’re talking about. That, in short, is Hoop Fighters.

To make it absolutely clear, Hoop Fighters is more of an arena-based fighting game than a love letter to the traditional sport. Sure enough, it features all of the thematic components of basketball, but when it comes to executing the portrayal of it, eh — it falls short. Yet, despite all of that, it succeeds spectacularly. Odd, that.

Forgetting Court Etiquette

Hoop Fighters pits two teams against one another on a bite-sized map—a cartoon-ish arena that houses all of the usual set pieces of an ordinary basketball court. As a player in one of these teams—an athlete who you can essentially customize with various facial features and cosmetics, by the way—you have the opportunity to wreak havoc on the court in a manner that’s highly competitive and unorthodox. For example, if you find yourself with access to a weapon, like a boombox or a boxing glove, then you may, if time permits, utilize it to thwart your enemies’ attempts to score points. Alas, there are no fouls, nor are there any consequences for unruly behavior. It is, for lack of a better description, a free-for-all that somehow adopts a basketball as a centerpiece.

To state the obvious, Hoop Fighters isn’t a wholesome game; if anything, it’s an excuse to manifest chaos and bring pandemonium into a contactless sport. But that isn’t to say that it’s a bad thing, as the game actually finds a good balance between being a reckless ode to extreme sports and an addictive arena brawler that launders the brunt of a good game.

I’ll admit, the idea is a little predictable, and it certainly lacks the depth of a full-fledged NBA entrée that fosters a sizable Career Mode and all of the usual trimmings, to boot. That said, even without the added gameplay modes and passive options, Hoop Fighters still manages to find solace with its simple-to-navigate plug-and-play approach. Is it with its own form of novelty factor? Absolutely. But it’s a pretty darn good one, at least.

Chaos on the Court, Please

Rounds in Hoop Fighters are quick, sporadic, and teeming with fast-paced confrontational moments that will keep you coming back for another shot time and time again. With that, it brings a learning curve for you to tackle during the preliminary phase—a stint that mostly involves mashing buttons and testing the waters with whatever weapons and illogical tricks you might find on the court. But after that, the game truly does emerge from its ashes to a wealth of genuinely enjoyable segments, some of which result in barrels of laughter, others of which, true to the spirit of competitive pastimes, invoke a sense of self loathing and hatred. Can’t fault the authenticity there, I guess.

While there is still plenty of room for Hoop Fighters to grow in the near future, the game, at least in its current state, is still a tremendous amount of fun to play alongside a few like-minded friends. Could it do with a few more avatar skins, settings, and game modes? Sure. But I’m not about to dock points for that, given that it contains a staggering amount of replay value in its present three-dollar incarnation.

Verdict

Hoop Fighters isn’t the love letter to the NBA that you might be hoping to find, nor is it the next best thing to your usual basketball haunt. Having said all that, I will happily give credit where it’s due and say that, in spite of all its weaknesses and flaws, Hoop Fighters is, in all honesty, an absolute blast to shovel through, even if it doesn’t exactly make an effort to push the boundaries of modern basketball emulation. But that’s a small hiccup in an otherwise healthy PvP experience—a barely noticeable shortcoming that hardly deserves to be brought to the court, truth be told.

I suppose, when all’s said and done, for as little as a few dollars, you don’t have a great deal to lose here. Surely, if you have the patience to lose, as well as the heart for good old-fashioned court-based camaraderie and unconventional shenanigans, then I can’t imagine that you’ll be out of pocket here. To echo, it isn’t your bog-standard basketball game, so you ought to wipe that out of your system before donning the ball and boombox. Nevertheless, if you’re easily pleased and happen to have a few hours to spare, then you should definitely consider throwing caution to the wind and stealing the rock from this exceptionally well crafted ode to reckless basketball. Or, whatever it is that you want to call it. Anything but basketball, apparently.