Hitcents has launched its free-to-play mobile game NBA Life so that you can live the fantasy of the celebrity athlete’s lifestyle.
Bowling Green, Ky.-based Hitcents released the game on iOS and Android under license from the National Basketball Association. The game combines elements of lifestyle role-playing, resource management, and strategy games.
It offers basketball fans a new way to engage with their favorite NBA teams and players. Users begin as a highly-coveted NBA prospect and are given the opportunity to sign with the team of their choice. As they move through the game, users must balance the competing commitments of an NBA career on their quest to become the best in the league.
Players must hire various agents, trainers, publicists and more to help them manage their busy careers, all while making time for workouts, events, and appearances as they play through their team’s real-life schedule.
“We are extremely excited to offer an innovative take on a sports mobile game that’s never been done before,” said Chris Mills, president of Hitcents, in a statement. “Creating NBA Life has been a huge focus of our company for the past year and a half, and we can’t wait to share it with the world.”
I played the game, and it has some pretty unique gameplay. You start out as a rookie. You pick your name and team, and then one of the stars, like Stephen Curry, will walk you through what you have to do. You can hit the gym and train. You can also go to practice and work on your three pointers. When you play a game, you have to choose an offensive and defensive strategy for each quarter. If you choose better than the opposing team, you get more points in that quarter, and eventually win.
That part of the game is more like a basketball game simulator. But the rest of the title is a lifestyle game, where you start living large. It’s almost more like a game from the genre of The Sims or Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. It seems pretty creative to me.
You can actually choose to play a female character in an NBA jersey, if you wish.
Hitcents previously created Draw A Stickman: Epic, and The Godfather on mobile devices. The company was founded in 1999 as a software company by twin brothers Chris and Clinton Mills.