Graphically it’s not much to be proud of, but that shouldn’t come as a surprise. What you’re essentially getting is a watered-down port of a PS2 game that was visually unimpressive to begin with. That said, even though the textures are washed-out and character models lack detail, it’s still one of the best looking portable basketball games available (if only because there is no competition.) It’s not as if you can’t make out details – you can still read the numbers on jerseys and clearly see the lines on the court – it’s just that the assets look as if they’ve been recycled. Fortunately you can take solace in the fact that the game runs at the coveted 60FPS!

The most notable audio feature the PSP game has over its PS2 counter-part is that it retains its play-by-play commentary (one of the reasons I lamented the PS2 version.) And after playing around with the portable adaptation I’m almost inclined to dislike the PS2 release even more since the PSP has so blatantly out-done the console in this regard. If that weren’t enough, the all-new post-game Highlight Reel and Instant Reply features do a good job of further accentuating the importance of commentary (I still can’t believe the PS2 game didn’t have it.)

Controls are what you expect and, hence, very intuitive. The Green/Yellow/Red shooting guides are still there, making shots much more productive. I should mention that sometimes the guide is completely off and you’re green “haloed” ball could end up being a brick. While this is only a minor quibble, it harms the experience enough to make it noteworthy. Fortunately it doesn’t happen too, too often and, ironically, an equal amount of red “haloed” balls end up going in, so it kind of evens out.

Multiplayer is also quite robust given the platform. On top of playing a full season (completely with the usual suspects – trades, free agents, yada-yada), you can also play separate modes - like Pick-Up, which is basically just a quick-play style game that has you to selecting your team from a randomly generated pool of players - against the CPU or other players in Ad hoc. What’s more impressive, however, is the fact that – just like NBA 06 – you can take the game online to play people around the world. While NBA 07 doesn’t reinvent the multiplayer basketball game, it’s still great to see multiplayer via infrastructure mode taken advantage of on the handheld. This obviously makes the game more competitive and also adds to the longevity of the title.

Mini-Games are the main differentiating factor between most sports titles and luckily NBA 07 has a whole slew of them. A bunch of the mini-games have made their way from NBA 06 (all the classics, anyway) but there are still quite a few new ones (like the aforementioned Pick Up mode.) Two of the most major additions to 07 include a Dunk Contest mini-game and Conquest Mode. The Dunk Contest plays like a Quick Time Event and/or Rhythm game; in order to complete the slam-dunk you need to hit a sequence of buttons as they appear – kind of like DDR or GH, except not as long… oh, and the result is a dunk. It’s cool for a while, but ultimately loses its intrigue quicker than Pick Up or Conquest Mode.

The most unique feature or mini-game of NBA 07 is the new Conquest Mode, which is, to put it bluntly, a basketball-based strategy game (Yeah, I know it sounds weird.) Conquest Mode is a turn-based, acquisition game in which you try to defeat teams to either get their players (when they challenge you and you win) or their tuff/city (if you challenge them and win.) Eventually you expand your empire as you acquire more and more cities, eventually leading to complete domination. It may sound convoluted, but it works rather well. Plus, when you win you get some really neat prizes (in fact, there are decent unlockables for most of the mini-games.)

Oddly enough the exclusion of a story-driven game akin to the PS2 version’s the Live Vol. 2 – a feature that I appreciate, even though it has it’s own set of problems – does NOT hurt the PSP experience like I thought it would. Instead the focus remains on how the game plays on the court and with a few useful mini-games. For the most part this strategy seems to have paid off, as NBA 07 on the PSP is a better overall game than the PS2 iteration (a point I can’t help but mention repeatedly.)

Overall NBA 07 is a very well rounded basketball game on the go. There are obviously a few areas that could have been improved, but (assuming they had to) SCEA San Diego seems to have made the right compromises. The mini-games, whose rewards actually encourage play, are actually worth their disc space. The fact that all of the unique features of NBA 07: The Live Vol. 2 have been replaced with more traditional additions is quite ironic considering how well NBA 07 for PSP holds up. It may not be perfect, but NBA 07 offers a respectful game of b-ball on the PSP.