The NBA has become one of the most popular sports leagues in the world, but while the NBA is huge, there’s an oddly low amount of good quality basketball games available on the market. And there’s not a ton of quality non-licensed games either aside from 3on3 Freestyle, which is kind of fun for a free game. But there’s one game that’s been a ton of fun to play that I’d highly recommend. It’s called First Person Hooper and it’s available on Steam, Google Play, and the App Store.
It’s free on mobile and only $4.99 on Steam. Oh, and it works great on Steam Deck too. The game is super simple in that the focus is to simply score as many baskets as possible as you play from a first-person perspective. It has some VR vibes, but it’s playable as a regular game. There are a few modes: Arcade, Spot Up and Zen Mode.
With the Arcade mode, you just need to score as many baskets as possible within the time limit. The Spot Up one focuses on finding spots and clearing each of those spots as fast as you can. And then free play obviously let’s you shoot around the tropical island-based court without limits.
What I love is that the physics are very solid. Not every shot you take is automatic, and it feels satisfying when you get on a hot streak. Everything has to be well timed, even layups and close-range shots. And there’s an active online leaderboard too so you have something to strive for as you rack up the points. You aren’t just competing with yourself.
You can also customize the ball, hoop, and court that you use too to suit your style. It appears that you can’t change the surrounding setting yet. The current location is an island surrounded by ocean and mountains, which is pretty but it would be cool to see some different environments too eventually.
And easily one of my favorite aspects of First Person Hooper is how deep the stats are. It tracks basically everything, mentioning your shot percentage from everywhere and how many shots you attempted and made like in the NBA games. It’s a cool feeling when you see that you shot 60% or better from three.
As of right now, there’s no head-to-head modes unfortunately, but the leaderboards help add a community feel to the First Person Hooper experience. The solid physics, fun statistics, and free customization options make this a good, cheap basketball option for Steam gamers. The soundtrack is pretty chill as well, which is nice for Zen Mode.
