When I was a kid, I didn't like spinach, so my mom mixed it into my mashed potatoes. Over time, she mixed less and less mashed potatoes with my spinach until I was used to eating it straight. I now really like spinach. Kidz Sports Basketball for the Nintendo Wii is a bit like spinach. It initially tastes very bad, but over time, the taste grows on you. I don't think I'll ever really like it, but after playing it for a while, it tastes a little better.

In short, Kidz Sports Basketball is a simple 3-on-3 game of hoops. You start out with 4 teams to choose from with 4 more unlockable by winning games. The game uses Wiimote and nunchuck with a fairly intuitive set of controls and limited moves, although it took me about an hour to get used to the controls enough to hold my own against the computer. Kids will find a similar level of challenge, which may turn off the easily frustrated. Even after getting used to them, though, I found them to either be very sensitive or misfiring, because my "steal" move was often treated as a jump, and shooting often takes multiple tries to execute--shots and passes get confused, etc.

 

Graphically, the game suffers from no major glitches, but the cartoony style seems about a generation old with very basic images. Characters are probably the most disappointing point in the game. All black males look exactly the same--using the same character model and just adding sunglasses or changing the uniform. Add in less than a half-dozen each male and female models (The women look like Bratz dolls, although with more modest clothes and more "street" hairstyles.), and you have every character, usually even the same hair color. Not only does this decrease the value of unlocking additional teams and getting mostly the same characters in a different mix, but it leads to confusion on the court as to which are your players and which are the opponents. Yes, a circle under each one and different uniforms easily distinguish teams, but the human brain is programmed to look at faces, so how about a bit more variety?

The game offers 4 modes: Exhibition Match, Knockout Cup, Tournament Cup, and Minigames (3 minigames with more unlockable).

In Exhibition Match, you play a single game against the computer or another player (This is the only mode that allows for 2 players.). You can set the length of the quarters, computer opponent difficulty, and choose a backdrop. (Tip: If you're trying to build up stars to unlock other teams, set the quarter length to 30 seconds and keep winning Exhibition Matches.)

Knockout Cup is a single-elimination tournament among the 8 teams, which works out to 3 games in a row for the player, since there's no way to interact with the other games in the tournament, winner being decided randomly by the computer.

 

In Tournament Cup, your team plays against all 7 other teams, gaining points for winning---most points after 7 games wins the tournament.

Load times are minimal, and the game has a seamless autosave feature, allowing players to come back to a tournament after turning off the Wii, a necessity when you need to play 7 24-minute games in Tournament Cup. (Just in case you don't have 3.5 hours to kill or don't want a repetitive stress injury!)

Finally, minigames mainly center around throwing basketballs at bottles and other objects for points within a time limit, with a certain number of balls, etc. I had trouble with these, since the instructions include no information on adjusting the thrown ball height beyond passing (too low for mid-range objects) or shooting (too high for the same).

During the game, performing certain moves will cause the team to accumulate Skill Points, which allow for special moves. Most notably, skill points can be used to make a perfect 3-point shot every time. Once you discover this, you can double your computer opponent's score without even trying and have to consciously not use them to provide some challenge. Skill Points accumulate too easily. When playing 2-player, this advantage disappears, since both teams can do the same thing, and the shots are more difficult to pull off without the defense interrupting you.

That leads to my next complaint: the AI. Computer opponents play using certain formations and only cover tightly when in the 2-point zone, so it's fairly easy to learn and anticipate the computer's moves.

While Kidz Sports Basketball is easy enough to learn to play, the development shortcuts taken significantly decrease the fun value of the game. If you're slightly interested, watch the used bins at your local game store, and pick it up for the same price as renting it now. "Not quite as good as spinach" doesn't really say much for it.