Another basketball game has been added to the App Store, so it may take some time before this becomes attractive to mobile gamers. If this review is to be this game’s advert, then perhaps it can. This game, Slam Dunk King, is a freemium game that provides an arcade basketball experience to the iOS. As the title suggests, it’s a game where you do slam dunk tricks using swipe controls to create various combinations to get a high score.

You play in time attack mode, where you’re given ninety whole seconds to come up with the highest total score. Throughout that time, you get to do various dunking tricks composed of various one-handed and two-handed dunks, spin moves, alley oops, and various combinations that are to be done in variety to accumulate the highest score possible. The progression in the game is quite nice as it’s not too slow in showing you new tricks, but it’s still slow enough as to not feel like the game is just shoving everything down your throat.

There are various characters to choose from, each with his own unique abilities that can affect your style of play. As you dunk more, the special meter on the top right fills up. Once it’s filled up, you get to use your abilities like swatting bombs or double points and stuff. In due time, you can actually master this game and score really high consistently, so you can post records quite well and unlock new content as you go along.

The visuals reflect the overall feel of this game in that it has a cartoonish feel to it like street graffiti. The soundtrack is quite limited though, playing the same tune in the main menu over and over again. If you don’t mind it, then it should be fine since it’s not too bad at all. However, if you tend to actually feel like a basketball after half-an-hour of the same music, then you might want to lower the volume while playing this game. The in-game music though is quite engaging, so you can get into the arcade action pretty well with it playing.

The controls are simple and easy to understand, especially if you’ve played other games that also feature swipe controls like Fruit Ninja. You can either go nut and swipe randomly or bring method to your madness and deliberately perform tricks as you see fit. It also gives way for some happy accidents where you might come up with a new trick that you may not expectupon swiping one way at the right time. These controls make this game quite good for children to play, as you may expect.

As a freemium game, not a lot of content is made free right off the bat. You have to either unlock or buy a lot of it before you get a whiff of how much this game has to offer. For some people, this may seem like a limitation, but it’s necessary for the freemium label. The in-game store has stuff like new levels, balls, and ad removal, so there’s actually justification for premium content.

Being a freemium game, Slam Dunk King should be given a chance right off the bat and downloaded to an iOS device for much enjoyment. You will then have the option to buy additional content if you really do like it, but it’s not a requirement. Games like this is the reason why the App Store is such a cool place to be in, so there’s no reason to not give this one a try.