NBA Street Vol. 2

"The true epitome of arcade basketball."

In 2001, EA Sports Big released its arcade take of basketball, NBA Street. The game came out at the perfect time with Midway wasting away their NBA titles and no other true competitors in the market. Its success now equals a highly anticipated sequel in NBA Street Vol. 2.

Graphics: 9

Normally, graphics is not much of a deal in this type of game, but the graphics are very nice and sell the game's cartoonish street style very well. The players are detailed nicely as well, but player graphic accuracy doesn't matter that much in this type of game.

Control: 9

Very nice controls as control is always important especially since this is the type of game you want to master and play against someone else. The trick system is awesome, easy to use, and is almost always working. It also doesn't take long to figure out especially with a built-in tutorial system.

Gameplay: 9

The game is very fun but does have one weakness: it is short. The game makes up for that though by making that short time as fun as possible with an NBA Challenge mode for those who think they can beat the NBA's best, Be A Legend mode which develops the characters you create in the game, and Street School which is the aforementioned tutorial mode. There are also rewards and trophies to earn including classic NBA players and jerseys and other street legends. However, it still might take you only a few days to beat to game.

Sound: 8

The game features a good soundtrack including a few songs that might be familiar to you. The soundtrack does get old for those who don't like it. The game also features a colorful commentary by Bobbito Garcia who delivers some often hilarious lines amongst some music spun by high-time rap producer Just Blaze. If you like rap, you will like this game's sound.

Overall: 9

An amazing job by EA Big makes this sequel another awesome game. Great graphics, controls, gameplay, and even sound gives this amazing game a 9.
Can't wait for NBA Street Vol. 3 in which you will finally play as LeBron. Until then, play this definitely.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/09/04