Parents' Guide to

Ultimate Rivals: The Court

By Marc Saltzman, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 8+

Fun, frantic take on basketball is suitable for all ages.

Game Apple Arcade 2021
Ultimate Rivals: The Court Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this game.

  • Ultimate Rivals: The Court Screen #1
  • Ultimate Rivals: The Court Screen #2
  • Ultimate Rivals: The Court Screen #3

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What’s It About?

ULTIMATE RIVALS: THE COURT is the follow up to 2019's Ultimate Rivals: The Rink. This new game is a futuristic fantasy arcade basketball game that allows you to play as or against cartoon versions of real-world athletes across various leagues, including the NBA, WNBA, MLB, NFL, NHL, and US women's soccer national team players. It's a fast-paced 3-on-3 match, featuring more than 140 superstars from today (like NBA's Luka Doncic and NHL's Alex Ovechkin) and yesterday (such as Larry Bird and Julius Erving). An update coming soon to the game will allow you to add WWE Superstars and Legends wrestlers to your team, including Dwayne "The Rock Johnson. Each player has a different style and varied strengths, so you're encouraged to create a complimentary squad. Once you've completed a challenge, you can head over to the Challenges menu to claim virtual tokens, which are used to unlock new athletes. Along with moves you'd expect to master in a basketball game, Ultimate Rivals: The Court also has a Turbo mode you can enable for a quick boost and lead-up to a special slam dunk or alley-oop move, plus there are other sports-themed but over-the-top "Ultimate" moves, like "Fury Ball," "Bat Breaker" and "Cold Snap" to unleash at an opportune time. Games take just a few minutes to play, plus there are several solo and multiplayer modes to choose from (you can play against Game Center friends, too). Called "The Gauntlet," a new mode in the franchise challenges you to win 6 consecutive matches to unlock a Legend.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

This is a great game for sports fans who want quick arcade-like matches, regardless of the device used to play this Apple Arcade game. Ultimate Rivals: The Court may be a little more polished than the first game in the series, The Rink, which isn't surprising given that it's debuted about 18 months later. Controlling your squad is fast and frenetic. Location and timing play a role for some dunks, but it's so gratifying and entertaining when you land one of these shots, which are complimented by an over-the-top animation. You can also tap Turbo to crossover, and then swipe down on Turbo to swap which athlete you're controlling. The only thing more fun is unleashing an Ultimate, which can be achieved after a Team's meter is filled. "Bat Breaker" for MLB players, for example, smashes the ball into the hoop, while "Cold Snap" lets hockey players summon a chilling ic storm that freezes nearby opponents when you pass the ball. The Challenges menu gives you various tasks to accomplish -- like score 10 points with Damian Lillard -- in exchange for currency to use to buy more ballers. There's a Daily Challenge, Daily Double, Daily Hard Challenge (like win the tipoff 1 time while playing online multiplayer), and Weekly Challenges, too. Online is smooth -- when it works, because there's still plenty of disconnects and failed games for multiplayer sessions. But overall, Ultimate Rivals is a blast. It's an over-the-top arcade basketball game that adds in its roster (and choosing a balanced squad) and in the tactics you can experiment with over time. Apple Arcade owners should download this NBA Jam-like experience, but with athletes across all kinds of sports and leagues.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about this "mash up" of sports greats all playing a futuristic arcade game of basketball. Is it a good idea to even play as real NHL, soccer, NFL and MLB athletes? Or is this a silly, gimmicky concept?

  • Is Ultimate Rivals: The Court more suitable for younger players than Bit Fry Studios' other title, Ultimate Rivals: The Rink, since there is no body-checking here? In real life, is basketball better for little kids to watch since it's not a contact sport like hockey and football?

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