We played Niantic’s NBA All-World, and it’s a surprisingly fun collect-a-thon
Niantic’s been on a rough streak recently. The dizzying success of Pokémon Go is fading away, replaced by astring of failed games and canceled projects. With these failures fresh in my mind, I loaded up NBA All-World, expecting the worst. However, while I don’t think this game will mark a Niantic comeback, I was pleasantly surprised by my experience.
NBA All-Worldis basically Pokémon Go but with basketball. You’ll wander around the streets, collecting new members for your team while challenging other players for dominance over local basketball courts. Instead of Gym battles and Pokeballs, you’ll play short one-on-one games, utilizing swipe controls to be the first to three points.
I should preface this hands-on by pointing out that not only do I not live in the US but that my sleepy North Yorkshire has a similar relationship to the NBA as the US has with cricket. Therefore, I wasn’t entirely sure I’d get a decent experience when I loaded up the game. Still, to my surprise, I not only discovered a decrepit basketball “court” nearby but that Niantic had decided that my local WW2 memorial was also deserving of a virtual basketball court. So while I expect that major US cities will be the best places for an All-World experience, the game lives up to its title by providing a fun adventure wherever you live.
NBA All-World contains an unnerving commercial slant to its gameplay
Loading up the game, you’ll pick your favorite NBA team, create a username, then, after a brief tutorial, you’re off to the courts. However, you don’t actually need to head to your local basketball court or war memorial to play some matches. Players will pop up around you, and defeating them in aPokémon battleone-on-one basketball game will add them to your roster. I’ll touch on the actual gameplay later, but these random games appear frequently enough that I never struggled for a game, even while sitting at my desk. Defeating players earns you Cred, XP, and other in-game items.
Small amounts of Cred will appear as random pickups as you walk, but you’ll need to head to real-world locations to collect substantial amounts of in-game booty. NBA All-World attempts to associate items with real-world locations, so clothes can be found at department stores, energy drinks at convenience stores, and so on. And just like the basketball courts, Niantic is forgiving of us remote dwellers, so expect to find pickups near signs, local landmarks, or bars.
Clothes are the most crucial pickup, as they’ll boost your player’s stats and can be swapped between players free of charge. This is where the game’s commercialization creeps in. While many of the clothes are generic, most of the highest-level clothes are branded items from Adidas or Puma. I get that branding is as part of sports as anything else, but something about crossing my fingers hoping for a virtual Adidas hoodie felt a little disconcerting. But for those fans of real-world NBA, you’ll be able to outfit your players with the clothes they wear in real life, which is nice.
NBA All-World games are fun but drag on
Part of what makes Pokémon Go a success is the ease with which you can catch the little monsters. Your phone vibrates, you pull it out of your pocket, tap on a Pokemon, swipe a few times to catch it, then put your phone away. The entire process can be done while holding a conversation, but it doesn’t feel trivial. NBA All-World’s one-on-one gameplay is much more challenging, but the amount of time spent in games occasionally discouraged me from starting them.
Multiple game modes exist, but the core match is a straightforward best-of-three. You’ll control your player with simple swipe controls, attempting to evade competitors to score via slam dunks or long-distance shots. It’s fun enough, but I soon found that victory was achieved by not bothering with the swipe controls and just taking shot after shot from a stationary position. Defending is simple as your player moves by themselves, and all you need to do is tap a button to either steal the ball or block a shot. It takes a bit to get used to, but you’ll soon be able to react and block balls easily.
The issue is that the matches are far too involved for a location-based game. It’s hard to concentrate on anything else as you play, and if you’re struggling to master the controls, you might end up standing gormlessly on the spot for the full five minutes. It’s fine if you’re planning on settling down for a bit, but those who enjoyed playing Pokémon Go on their walk to work may struggle to replicate the experience in NBA All-World.
NBA All-World attempts to bring people together through virtual basketball games
Niantic’s focus on real-world locations is optimistically designed to get people playing actual basketball games. The idea is that after you’ve collected and trained up yourPokémonNBA players, you’ll head to your local basketball court to challenge other players for dominance of the court. While there, you might even pick up a basketball and play a match while you wait.
It’s hard to tell how successful this strategy will be, as Niantic made the bizarre decision of releasing All-World in January, a month traditionally reserved for wrapping up with hot chocolate and a blanket rather than heading out in your sneakers and t-shirt for a pickup game. We’ll have to wait for warmer months to see how this strategy plays out.
NBA All-World is a fun game, but a niche audience might not lead it to success
While I enjoyed NBA All-World, my lack of familiarity with the NBA meant a lot of the content went over my head. I expect basketball fans to be the main demographic, but when you mix that with those who enjoy location games, the resultant pool is relatively small. Indeed, Niantic’s senior producer Marcus Matthews said theoverlap between Niantic’s player base and other sports games is just 10 percent.
I have a hunch that this game won’t take off (if it does at all) until it’s summer in the US, but in the meantime, you can build up your star team and collect enough branded merchandise to fill a house.
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