All-Star Basketball fails to make it off the bench

All-Star Basketball is a free arcade basketball game. It's simple, quick, and easy to play, but it rarely does much to satisfy. The graphics are nice, and it really does look like your player is shooting a basketball at a hoop, but that's really the best thing about this game. It's extremely repetitive, with little reward. All-Star Basketball runs on all iOS devices running iOS 7.0 or later.

This game presents itself as if you are taking a basketball player and trying to move up in the ranks of the basketball world, but it perpetually feels like you're just practicing jump shots. There are "missions" to be completed for GP (the currency of the game, used to unlock other levels, as well as to customize your player's outfits), which mainly include making a certain number of a certain type of shot.

The fact that this game feels a lot like monotonous practice just doesn't do it for me. The visual presentation looks good, is very clear, and as animated as watching a man take jump shots from different spots on a basketball court can get. It does get very flashy and colorful as you continue to make shots, but this does little to add to the experience. The sound is nearly unlistenable. An extremely repetitive beat that is aurally offensive, I found myself turning it off about 15 seconds into the game.

There is a lot of content to purchase. There are additional levels, game modes, wardrobe options, and power-ups that cost money, or GP, which is built up slowly by playing the game repeatedly, or by purchasing it in the store.

Overall, All-Star Basketball just really didn't work for me. It sells itself as a game to build up a player and conquer the world of basketball, but leaves you in a world that feels like perpetual practice, buying accessories and dressing up to go on the court to practice a jump shot. I think if more of the content were more easily available, then I could get a little more into it, but as it stands, there is just no variety.