NBA Street

"Over the top arcade basketball action"

From the creators of SSX, and SSX Tricky came NBA Street on the Playstation 2. Once Gamecube came out, it did not take long for some of the games in the EA Big series to make their way over to Nintendo’s system. Two of those games were SSX Tricky and NBA Street. The game being reviewed here is obviously NBA Street.

NBA Street is a basketball game along the lines of the smash arcade and console system hit, NBA Jam. However unlike NBA Jam, this game has been made with the present in mind. It takes some of the best elements of NBA Jam and implements them as well as new ones. However as you will see further in the review, there is indeed one particular element that is not so good that appears to have been carried over to NBA Street.

Currently on Gamecube this is one of the best games graphically. It features real life NBA players who look true to form in the game as they do on the basketball court. They move realistically and smoothly. The animations are crisp and fast. Fictional characters in the game appear with an over the top design. Whether they be thin and incredibly tall, or they be sporting large afros, everything here looks wonderful. The basketball courts themselves are well designed with always something to look at in the background. The courts are placed in various locales which range from Miami Beach to the Windy City of Chicago. On the courts in which there is a street running behind the court, you will see traffic always going both ways on the streets. Miami Beach is a personal favorite court because it has a tropical feel to it and it is in the evening so the night life is out and about in the background. The courts themselves are sharp and clean looking. All of the courts are street courts. The Yakatomi Plaza court is outside in the rain given the ground a slick and wet look to it. It has an incredible look. One of the best ways to describe the look is that it is a bit similar to that of Special Stage Route 11 track in the PS2 hit game Gran Turismo 3. The real beauty in the game is the player animations. All of the moves performed from cross over dribbles to reverse slam dunks are awesome to watch. When players fake a dribble in one direction and go to the other, their bodies move as they do when you’re watching an NBA game in real life. The game moves blisteringly fast and there is never a moment of slowdown. When you pull off a big play where you fake out an opponent in one direction then drive and slam dunk the ball in there will be a replay. The replay slows down the action which has just occurred and allows for a better view on just how good the animations are. It can be a bit harder to see things in the heat of the moment, but when you see a replay it is fun to watch to see how the player moves. The graphics in this game are absolutely superb and definitely a great job by the people in Electronic Arts.

The sound is a bit disappointing to me. The music doesn’t really seem to be all that great to me. You don’t hear too much in the way of music. It is there, but it just does not really seem to be hard hitting which would suit a game like this perfectly fine. The sound effects are good, but they are nothing spectacular. One of the most annoying things in this game is the repetitive announcer. At first it is not too bad to listen to, but as the game marches on, the announcer becomes obnoxious. The phrases he says grow old quickly and will have to going to the options screen to turn off the announcer. There is a lack of variety of phrases he spews out during the games, so you will hear different things said over and over again in just a single match. I did however play the PS2 version of this game, and one thing I am glad about the Gamecube version is that they did not include all of the announcer’s phrases from that one. I was disappointed with the sound after the awesome job EA did with sound in SSX Tricky.

The control is good for the most part. The setup of the Gamecube controller makes it a little difficult when you have to hold down all over the turbo buttons for some dribbles or dunks. The PS2 controller was more ideal for the turbo buttons because they were all on the triggers for easy access. On the Gamecube controller the turbo buttons are the left and right triggers, but the “Z” button is also a turbo. I found it to be a tad uncomfortable pushing all of them down and then having to hit the shoot button. I felt I had to rearrange my right hand a little bit to do so. That is really the only issue I have with the control. The “X” and “Y” buttons combined with the turbo buttons are used to pull off all kinds of neat dribble and spin moves on offense. On defense those two buttons are used to try and steal the ball. The “A” button is for pass or to switch characters, and the “B” is to shoot or jump. With the exception of that one little minor control issue, the control is responsive and excellent.

All of the NBA teams are represented in NBA Street. Five players from each NBA team are in the game. When you play a normal game of NBA Street, you select a three man squad from the five players of the team you pick. Every player has certain areas where they are stronger, but others they are weaker. For example, a player you might pick is strong at shooting three point shots, but he might be not so good at blocking shots. There are several categories in which a player is rated. Once you pick your three man squad, you are taken to the court to play against another team. Every game of NBA Street is played so the first team to reach 21 points wins. However if the score happens to be very close, you need to win by at least two points. Say, if the score is tied at 20, when you or the other team hits 21, they will not win the game. Instead you have to get a lead of 2 points in order to win. This type of game format works better because you don’t have to concentrate on having set time limits and quarters. The only time limit you have to worry about is a shot clock. Even by not having a traditional game clock, this game becomes very frenetic when close. You will be swearing at the game trying to win. Every steal and shot in the game counts. Instead of points being score the traditional NBA way, a two point shot counts as one point, and a three pointer counts as two. This is better because then the score does not reach 21 as quickly. You get points for pulling over different kinds of dribbles, slam dunks, blocks, steals, and other sorts of things. There is an emphasis on doing flashy moves because you have a meter which fills up every time you do a dunk or a fancy dribble. Eventually when the entire meter fills up all the way, you get what is called a “Gamebreaker”. The “Gamebreaker” can sometimes drastically change the way a game is going. You get a limited amount of time to make a special shot whether it be a normal jump shot, or slam dunk. You hold down two turbo buttons and then shoot the ball. If the ball goes in, depending on what the score is, you will get extra points and points may be subtracted from the other team’s score. It may seem cheap, but it adds to the excitement. The main beef of the game is the “City Circuit” mode. In this mode you select a NBA team and take on all of the other NBA teams as well as special teams. There are six regions in which you will play in. They represent different areas of the country and the teams that are located there. One region is the West region. There you will face six NBA teams: Seattle, LA Lakers, Golden State, LA Clippers, Kings, and Portland. After you defeat those teams, which I might add can be beaten in any particular order, and then you will face a street challenge. The team you face in this challenge is made up of fictional characters. Each time you beat a NBA team you are given the option to select one of the players from that team to join your squad thus making that player a selectable choice on your team for the rest of the game. If you don’t like the players on a given team, you are given the option to take creative points which can range from 25, 50, 75, or 100 points. These points then can be used towards a created player’s skills. When you defeat a street challenge, you automatically have the leader of that team added to your squad. Eventually when you get too many players on your squad, you will have to drop one that you do not want to make room for a new player you do want. The game has selectable difficulty which you can change in the options. Depending on whatever difficulty you select will make the game more challenging. I think upping the difficulty by at least one over the default easy setting is better because having the challenge makes for more exciting games. The one issue I encountered with this game which seems to be similar to that of NBA Jam, is that when a CPU opponent is down considerably, the old comeback will occur and it seems that there always isn’t much you can do about it. They will steal and block your shots easier which can be incredibly frustrating when you have mounted a decent lead and think everything is smooth sailing.

The game’s replay value is not bad at all. It’ll keep you coming back again and again even after you beat it. It is a fun game which as I have stated is like a modern version of NBA Jam. This game is a great party game to play against someone else. When playing against a friend some games will turn into knuckle biters and you’ll be ready to scream if you lose. There are things to unlock in the game, but a lot of the extra players, courts, and cheats will be open when you play through the “City Circuit” just once. The game could’ve used a few more secrets which would have made it more fun to come back to and play.

I played this game for PS2 and I enjoyed it a lot. I decided to check out the Gamecube version to see how it was. I found it was pretty much identical to the PS2 counterpart, but it was still just as fun to play all over again. Depending on if you liked something like NBA Jam, it’s definitely worth buying. At the very least it makes for a good rental since you can finish the game off in a day or two. It’s also a good break from basketball simulations. It’s a fun over the top game which is a welcome addition to the Gamecube.

Graphics: 10/10
Sound: 6/10
Control: 9/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Replay: 7/10

Overall: 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/11/02, Updated 06/11/02