NBA Street Vol. 2

"Almost a totally different game due to all the tweaks from the (great) Original!"

Intro: NBA Street was an awesome basketball game on the GameCube. It was an over the top b-ball game which shows how ''NBA Jam'' would be if it was fully rendered in 3d and a few gameplay mechanics were tweaked to add more fun and depth. A year or two later, out comes NBA street 2. Is it better than the original? Lets find out shall we? By the by, I shall refer to the game as S2 from now on because I don't feel like typing NBA Street vol. 2 over and over again.

Graphics: A. The art style in S2 is different than the original. First, characters seem shiny, like they have been sweating it up in a previous game, so every character looks kind of weird because they are shiny like a character in a Dreamcast game, but it also makes the game look funky in a good way. Matching the funky characters are over the top animations for the characters. Each dunk and trick looks so great, you will want to keep performing the tricks over and over even if you aren't juking anyone out because it looks that cool! Some people might have mentioned that the menus in the game are really cool so I guess I'll describe them, you spoony bard. The menus look like billboards in a giant black and white pseudo cel shaded metropolis, which looks really awesome. All in all the game is as fun to watch with all the action going on, not the mention gamebreakers (like a big giant move which increases your score and lowers your opponents) which have a really cool contrast effect along with nice lighting. Breaking the rim at the end of the game also produces a nice light show. All in all, a great looking game, except that the characters may not look cool to someone's particular taste.

Music and Sfx: B. There are actual music tracks in this game! It is composed of rap/hiphop/techno. I am not really fond of some of the songs, so EA Big thought of this particular scenario so they let you choose which tracks you want to have! So bye bye Method Man! The basketball bounce seems a little bit louder, but its barely noticeable even if there isn't any music on. The characters taunt a little bit less and Stretch (Yep he's back) don't seem to taunt as much as they used to, which is kind of a downer, since it made the game more fun to watch. The worst thing of all, is the new announcer! Gone are the days of Joe ''The Show'' and his awesome commentary. Now they have some Puerto-Rican dude named ''Bobbito''. He sometimes says some insane things and he isn't very funny, Also he talks loudly and a lot, which as an annoying and deadly combo. But once again, you can silence him if you hate him, or merely tone him down a notch, which once again is a nice option. Plus he no longer calls your characters name, so no more ''The Juice is fillin' it up!''

Gameplay: A. The game is just an awesome game, just because its mostly an arcade style game, it lets you create your own characters, and build up its stats through the many types of gameplay this game features. You can play as old all stars like Dr. J and Bob Cousy and old timers like that. They even have their authentic jersey which makes the game a learning experience (ha ha) along with a great fun game. Another new feature is the ability to play with 4 players instead of the original's 2 player mode, so 2 more times the fun for all! The codes are gone though, which is a bummer since they added some more depth and/or humor (who doesn't like playing basketball with a beach ball?), but since other improvements over the original, it makes up for that. S2 has so many modes of play, like the ''Become a Legend'' mode, where you make a character and grab a few guys or gals from a New York Rec. Center and take on some other wannabe ballers. You go through tournaments and other special rule type games along with pick up games, and add characters from the opposing team you just beat, so if you need a good big man, and the guys you just beat have one, you will want to pick him up in your squad of 5. Also you can play longer or differently from the 21 point game only in the first game, like being able to have NBA style scoring, instead of just 1's and 2's, you can play by 2's 3's, along with these you can give yourself or your opponent a handicap, evening out skill level differences making the game more even and fun for new people to the game and old NBA street veterans. You can rock out with the Jukebox mode too. The game features so many game modes and things you can unlock through the 2 different kinds or points you use(Development and reward points) so you can trade reward points for development points but not the other way around. So, you will be playing this game for many months to come.

Outro: S2 is a great game. But the original is great too. I suggest getting both since they both feature different ways to play and are both fun in different ways. S2 is a lot more balanced in the way tricks and blocks are handled. But I suggest buying S2 since its just an awesome basketball game any person should own.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/19/03, Updated 05/19/03