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There are few one dollar iOS games I will not buy for a dollar with a recommendation. Lobst tweeted that NBA Jam was on sale over the Easter weekend, and so I immediately bought it. That is all it takes. iOS game makers, take note.

In any case, I’m not a sports fan or sports game fan, if you exclude golf games. I mean, I played NBA Jam back in the day. Didn’t everyone? And it was pretty fun, so I was willing to give the game another try for a dollar.

This new version is still fantastically fun. It’s ridiculous and unrealistic and that is exactly why it is enjoyable to play, even to people who don’t give a shit about sports like me. I mean, I assume a sports fan who likes crazy arcade action would like it. It has specific players, and sports teams, you know? So you can be your favorite. I just pick the team I feel is the silliest, but, you know, you could pick based on team allegiance. If you wanted. Or you can just pick the quick action option and the game will even pick the teams for you!

Even better, it controls extremely well. The virtual gamepad is fine. You can move around with no issue. What really works, though, are the virtual buttons. They smartly decided that the actions normally done with multiple simultaneous button presses would be done with slides. So if you want to turbo dunk, you hold down turbo, the just slide your finger up to the “shoot” button. To take a normal shot, you instead lift your finger and tap. This works flawlessly. It is a very smart adaptation to the interface and it plays very well.

The game doesn’t have all the features the console versions have, I don’t think. You can basically just play matches, and there is a very basic campaign mode where you take a team through beating every single team in the game. Still, for the sort of gaming you’d be having on an iPhone, that’s really all you need, and the base gameplay is intact and fun. It was totally worth a buck, and if you like Jam, this is a great version and worth your time.