NBA Street

"The PS2's first good basketball game is finally here"

I've been waiting for a good basketball game to come out for a long time now and my prayers have been answered with EA BIG's second sleeper hit. Not only is this game a very fun arcade basketball game, but an excellent addition to the ever-growing PS2 library.

1-Gameplay: ''The SSX of basketball'' is what this game is generally described as. While that is true to an extent, I can't help but feel like I'm also playing a hi-res version of the classic NBA Jam. Basically, what NBA Street shares with SSX are the crazy characters and the trick and combo system. Deep inside, however, you can't help but feel the NBA Jam-ish. The trick and scoring system are really balanced out nicely. It's these two aspects of the game that really push the arcade basketball genre to the next level and thankfully EA has executed it to perfection.

Just like in SSX, you perform tricks to fill up you're boost meter, which in turn helps give you more trick points when you perform tricks/moves. As you get more trick points, you build up a Gamebreaker meter. When the meter is filled, you can perform a special. Whatever you score during the special will be deducted from the opponent's score. It is this great and unique gameplay that you will need to master to be able to get past the later series of matches you encounter in the game. Brilliant gameplay system.

-City Circuit pits you against a series of matches against NBA teams and 5 teams that consist of streetballers. Everytime you win a match in a series, you have the choice of unlocking a new NBA teammember to add to your team. As you progress through the circuit, you unlock new characters and arena's. Unlocking these Arena's are crucial for the ''Hold the circuit'' mode.

-Hold the Circuit starts you off with the first three arenas in the game. You are basically given a set of trick points and a number of consecutive match wins needed to progress. As you beat each challenge, you are given points needed to build up you're 'create a character'. However, you need to unlock the arena's from City Circuit mode to completely play through this mode. Why would you need to create a character? Because the default character's stats cannot be improved so creating your own character and maxing out his/her stats makes your team that much stronger!

Score: 9/10

2-Graphics: Very nice. The stages are really beautiful and the characters are colorful and crazy. One thing that bother's me is a really weird wave that flies across the screen out of random. I don't know what that is but it can get distracting. Another little note is that the collision detection can be messy too but only occassionally.

Score: 8/10

3-Sound: You're gonna love Joe ''The Show'' Jackson. This commentator adds alot of personality and humor to the game. The music is sort of a funky beat that can get repititive but nothing that hurts the ears but ,again, nothing that makes you start jamming to.

Score: 8.5/10

4-Controls: This is one thing I really have a hard time getting used to. While the trick and combo system isn't anywhere nearly as deep or complex as the one found in SSX, it can still be hard to perform various moves with the L buttons. There's just something weird about pressing right on the D-pad and concentrating your other fingers on the L buttons that just make those variations hard to pull off.

Score: 8/10

5-Replayability:: This game has alot going for it. 29 cheats, 19 unlockable characters and 9 unlockable arena's is a pretty good start. There are also some familiar faces from SSX too :) If you got friends, this game would also be a blast to spend on. It's just a really good pick 'em up and play type of game. Very fun stuff.

Score: 8/10

In all, a very solid second effort by EA BIG. This is worthy of you're $54.11 (including tax ^_^ ). Go and buy this now. You won't regret it (unless of course you're into stuff like Superman64).

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/06/01, Updated 07/06/01