Innovation doesn’t seem to be Niantic’s strong suit
NBA All-World is Niantic’s latest attempt to resurrect the magic that made Pokémon Go a smash hit in 2016. Like previous Niantic titles, you’ll wander around the world collecting items. This time there’s a basketball theme rather than Pokemon battles, which means you’ll engage in 1v1 gameplay against various athletes in one of four minigames. NBA All-World is now available to download for free from the Play Store.
Anyone familiar with any of Niantic’s games will find the broad gameplay loop very similarr until you get into one of the basketball games. Luckily, Niantic doesn’t ask you to bounce your phone off the floor to play (a prime opportunity to market a basketball phone case); instead, you’ll use simple swipe controls to manipulate your avatar. Notably, there’s no augmented reality support, so entering a game will take you into a virtual basketball arena, though the whole thing is location-based, so it is still very similar to past Niantic titles. Oddly there are no PvP elements in the game yet.
An amusing gimmick of NBA All-World is the attempt to locate items and virtual courts near real-world equivalents. So if you need money or clothes, head to your bank and department store. At basketball courts, you can beat NBA athletes to recruit them to your team, and beating the same player will earn you extra money and experience.
Overall, NBA All-World is a polished game that hits many of the notes we expect from a Niantic title. However, after the cancellation of four games last year, the shutdown of Catan: World Explorers and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite in 2021 and 2022, respectively, and the failure of other AR games like Minecraft Earth and The Witcher: Monster Slayer, it’s easy to assume that NBA All-World’s life will be a short one. So if the game piques your interest, we recommend downloading it now before it’s gone forever.
