NBA Street V3

"Rock the Rim!!!"

NBA Streets Volume 3- 9/10

Introduction- Wow, I'm speechless. I have played V2 and now V3 is by far way superior to the last two versions. The game play, graphics, customization, play ability, sound are great and I'll get into detail about that later. In V3, you are a street player who wants to get reputation and in order to do that, you play your way up. As you advance and get better, there will be more tournaments, dunk contests, and rival games waiting for you. You get to choose which kind of game you want to play. Will you play a tournament against stretch, go against Vince Carter in the dunk contest, defend your home court against your rival, or play a game with your NBA team of your choice? The options are all up to you. Since this game doesn't have on line for Gamecube system, they've added some extra characters. You've guessed it; Mario, Peach, and Luigi are added to the game. This just makes the game even greater to play with. For anyone that is wondering, Michael Jordan is not in the game. Since V2, this game has a high expectation so let us see if it lives up to it.

Game play: 10/10
This game is fun to play. I've beaten story mode quite many times and it seems to be more fun every time. You can customize your player in every way possible, from choosing their hairstyle to choosing the color of their shoelaces; this game has it all, and then some. The controls are quite good. I have no complaints there. Even a person who has never played a basketball game can get use to it quick. Seems like the typical controls of a basketball game. This game can range from very, very easy to hard. Easy mode is excessively easy for anyone to play. I haven't lost a game yet. Intermediate mode is still easy. There are no challenges there. Hard mode is where it gets challenging though. There's just one little complaint. Stealing the ball is excessively easy. You can get the ball at every attempt you make. You can customize your court, from the ground up. You can even break the whole net down if you do a dunk in your last point. This game might hurt your thumb a bit because you will be doing trick points in order to win. You have to win with style. Get a game breaker and you could earn up to four points, but if you get a little too greedy, you will end up with no points. The game is very addictive and it is face paced. EA even got the Beastie Boys into the game. That is a little bonus for the game. Now the street challenge is where V3 shines. Start by creating a baller, and you start with a few SP (Street Point). Street points are used to boost up your stats. You get to keep up to 5 members in your team. If you don't like someone, kick him or her out, if you want someone in your team, then win the game and take the baller from his or her original team. The street legends are also a good part of the game. For example there's, Bonafide, Biggie Little, Dine, Takashi, Stretch, Phat and many more.

Graphic/Sound: 9/10
The graphics here are great for the Gamecube system. The characters actually look like themselves. This is a great improvement from V2. The soundtrack here might not be your choice of music, but I loved it. Every song was nice and fitted to the game. There's just on problem. The play-by-play announcer annoys the heck out of me. He speaks through a microphone and it's annoying. The jokes he says are okay, half of them were used already in V2. The songs he sings are horrifying. Before you play the game, turn off the announcer. This person is worse than the play-by-play announcer in Burnout 3.

Play Time/ Replay ability: 9/10
This game takes long to complete. The story mode is very long. You have to play more than 120 games in it. I liked playing it repeatedly, but there's nothing to gain after you've beaten it once. There will be no point. Everything will be unlocked. However, on the plus side, you can go play the dunk contest, which is fun overall. The dunks are easy to do and there are many combinations of move to do. You can use props like a dumpster and you can pass off the board to jump over.

Final Recommendation- I would say buy this game for sure. There isn't any basketball game even close to this as of now. On the other hand, if you haven't tried basketball games yet, then maybe you should consider renting this one first. Though I'm sure, you'll end up buying it. This is the best basketball arcade game out there. If you liked V2 or V1, then this is the perfect game for you. It is a huge leap from V2.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/15/05