As soon as you boot up the game you can just jump right into a game if you’re playing on your own. The game is set up with teams of three, so you really don’t have to keep track of that many players on your team. The controls are simple, if you use a mouse it’s really just pointing your mouse in the direction you want to go and clicking left to pass and right to do everything else such as shoot, jump, block, steal, or rebound. These games always worked better for me with a keyboard though, especially since I’d rather use the arrow keys instead. Control, shift and enter are your only other keys that you need to be aware of and you’re set. There is a shot meter when you are about to shoot, and your accuracy is based on how full the meter is. Grabbing power ups gives your team an extra boost. The manual doesn’t go over what the power ups do but generally they either allow you to do things like run faster or steal better. There are three levels of difficulty however even on hard mode, the game is still very easy. I know I mentioned that I enjoyed easy video games but this is getting to the point where it’s TOO easy. The Backyard Sport series is targeted towards 5 to 10 year olds, but you would think the hard difficulty level would at least be a challenge.

There are three modes of play. You can immediately jump into a game by picking the option of “Play Now” from the main menu or choose to do a pick-up game or start season play. In Pick-up game mode you choose from 30 NBA teams and 19 Backyard teams. You can also decide to create your own custom team and choose your players from the very diverse assortment of kids. Season play allows you to create a coach and team to play a 14 game BBA season schedule. Your BBA Championship trophies (once you’ve collected them) are displayed in the Hall of Fame.

There’s a short list of Goodies you can unlock, with only one secret player and various power ups. I am not too impressed with the extras since there doesn’t really seem to be anything really worth unlocking. There is a mini game of Around the World where you try to make your basket on 19 various locations around the lane. There is a moving circle that moves up and down from the rim of the basket and all you have to do is once the circle touches the rim, you click your mouse and your basket will make it in. It takes a bit of reflexes especially when it starts moving faster, but otherwise it’s not very hard at all. The mini game mode allows you to take turns playing against the computer or you can challenge your friends. The other option is practice mode where you pick a court and practice your shooting skills.

There are a ten NBA stars for you to play with, although they’re there for namesake only. Their skills aren’t based on how they actually play in real life, but there’s that coolness factor when you get to have Yao Ming and Shaquille O’Neal on your team shooting 3 pointers and making it in every single time. The player designs are funny, especially since I’m not sure why they gave Yao Ming an afro. The music is a mix of synthetic funky beats which is better than elevator music but it’s not very inspiring either. Of course you have your sports commentators as well, but they don’t add much to the value of the game except that they sort of get on your nerves after awhile.

I wouldn’t consider Backyard Basketball 2004 one of the better games in the series. It is just too easy to the point where you are winning the games by consistently doubling the computer’s score. There is a lack of extras and other options to play around with and the overall feel of the game just isn’t very engaging or fun. It’s one of those games where it’s amusing for about a game or two, and then it starts to get a little repetitive and redundant. If you like basketball and want to boost your ego by doing 3 point shots all the time, then here’s your chance. Otherwise this game is really targeted towards younger children and possibly really casual gamers who just want to do a quick game of basketball and then move on to something else.