Mario Hoops 3-on-3

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• Expert Rating

  4.00 / 5

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• Where to buy

  Priced from: $ 47.00

  Selling at 2 stores

• $47.00 - City of Games
• $59.90 - Dungeon Crawl

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GamePro staff GamePro (online) 22/09/06 Follow @pcworldau

Pros

• Control system

Cons

• Probably won't win over diehard basketball fans

Bottom Line

With its light-hearted gameplay and silly graphics, Mario Hoops probably won't win over a diehard basketball fan but it's entertaining enough to keep most gamers glued to the on-court action. Nintendo definitely shoots and scores with this one.

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Mama Mia!

The one thing that immediately makes Mario Hoops stand out is its controls. A combination of the stylus and D-Pad lets players tread the courts with deft precision. There is a bit of a learning curve but once you get used to it, you'll be making plays like your last name was Jordan. Items will also randomly appear to help you light up the scoreboard: there are mushrooms that slow you down or speed you up, various coloured shells to throw at opponents and banana peels to give them the slip.

The game also features a quirky scoring system. Two point buckets might be fine and dandy for the NBA but in the world of Mario, each shot nets you 20 points. Depending on how many coins you've accumulated, that can ratchet up to a record breaking 100 points or more! Causing all this on-court mayhem is a classic roster of Mario characters, each with his or her own speciality. For example, Wario is incredibly powerful and can steal the ball with ease while Diddy Kong displays impressive speed.

Ball Hog

Like previous titles in the Mario sports franchise, Mario Hoops really shines when more than one human participant gets involved. You can take on your friends and foes alike in tournament mode, exhibition games and a variety of mini-games like Dribble Race and Coin Hunter.