The Backyard series is an established IP that has now had releases in the form of DS Football, Hockey, and of course Basketball. The games are essentially centered for the kid market, but older gamers will find them acceptable for casual gaming. There is not much to complain about Backyard Basketball, because it does many things well; however, the fun sputters out very quickly and leaves much to be desired.

Some may remember Mario Hoops, developed by Square Enix for the DS, and when I was playing Backyard Basketball, that’s all I could think about. For the Backyard series, that is not a good thing. While Mario Hoops was released to mediocre reviews, I personally enjoyed the game, and after playing Backyard Basketball, now realize just how fun and innovative that game really was -- I will be drawing many comparisons between these two games later on.

The controls in Backyard Basketball can be toggled between the standard D-Pad/button fare, which is the default setting, or the touch-screen controls. When I switched to the touch controls, there was no tutorial or instructions to get started, and the controls weren’t near intuitive enough for to just figure them out quickly enough. After digging through the instruction booklet, I realized that the controls were completely touch, not a touch/D-Pad hybrid used in Mario Hoops. While Mario Hoops was pretty much the poster child for carpal tunnel syndrome, the controls were intuitive and dynamic, allowing you to control your dribble, your shot, and to whom you passed, all in a stylus swipe! Backyard is quite a bit simpler and considerably easier, but ultimately a little boring: you tap on the court to send your players where you want them, like an RTS; you tap on the player to spin or maneuver (which stops your player in his path, something you don’t want when driving to the basket – only the conventional setup corrects this); you tap on another team member to pass the ball; and you tap on the shot meter to shoot. Simple.

And when you do figure out how it all works for the touch controls, it becomes fairly intuitive, or at least interesting. But I couldn’t help thinking just how boring the game was when compared to the dynamic touch controls of Mario Hoops.

This game is in full 3-D and features a whole host of kid characters to choose from for your NBA team. There is also a decent selection of courts to choose from, all familiar for middle school-age kids who play around the community. While the animations are relatively lackluster, and the environments mediocre, they’re appealing enough for younger kids only seeking an after school DS diversion. One thing that really disturbed me in Backyard Basketball was the color scheme: it features this really drab color scheme, where everything is just a little more pale than it should be. For all of the complaints I have just laid out, Mario Hoops did the exact opposite. Square’s game had exciting, almost hyper-active animations, pulsing and graphically rich environments, and a vibrant color scheme. While I’m not being paid by Square Enix to endorse that game (it did have a lot of faults too), when compared to Backyard Basketball, its faults only become more salient.

Backyard does have a lot of features and statistics, though, and will definitely satisfy the hardcore junior league b-ball fan. Fatigue, career stats, and a fully detailed season are tracked in the game and will provide a lot of replay value, especially when playing against a friend. The mini-games are kind of fun. For a while.

Gameplay: 7.0
While the touch-screen might not be for everyone (it significantly decreases your skill level), the standard default controls hold up just fine.

Graphics: 6.5
While featuring full 3-D characters and environments, the color scheme is drab and the animations are fairly lackluster.

Sound: 7.0
The theme song is catchy and the sound effects are adequate.

Difficulty: Easy
While there is no onscreen tutorial for touch-screen, the game is extremely accessible, though the difficulty can ramp up.

Concept: 7.0
A cute concept and one sure to appeal to DS fans the world over. What are there, like 50 million of you?

Multiplayer: 7.0
It is only available on multi-card, which is a shame because I’m sure most kids will be hard pressed to find someone with this game.

Overall: 6.5
The fleshed-out features and kiddie concept help make this game appeal to both hardcore and casual gamers; however, there is just not any pizazz or hook that really keeps the game going.

This game is essentially not very innovative and it becomes boring very quickly.