NBA Street

"Playing ball has never been so fun"

To find the most exciting dunks, the best no look passes, and dribbling techniques that break ankles on a regular basis, don’t look at the NBA. NBA is fundamentally sound basketball with strategy, in other words, boring. To discover exhilarating moves, you head to the local basketball courts, and watch some guys play street ball. In NBA Street, by EA BIG, you do just that, play ball on the street with no refs or coaches in the way.

NBA Street is pretty much a descendant of the granddaddy of all basketball arcade games, NBA JAM (by Acclaim). Lately, though, the Jam series has been going down the drain, with lack of innovation. NBA Street has revived the basketball-arcade genre with excellent graphics and gameplay. Unlike Jam, Street takes place on blacktop instead of a court, and features three players instead of two. Also there is no time limit, just play up to 21, with ones and twos, instead of two’s and three’s.

There are two modes you can play in. In the City Circuit, you team up with his Airness, Michael Jordan, to take on all the NBA teams and more, in a Mortal Kombat-like ladder. Your goal is to be the best street basketball team in the planet. In Holding the Court mode, its just like in real life, where the winner gets to play another game, and the loser goes home. There’s also a Create a Character mode in which you get to make your own street legend.

During City Circuit, you face a few street legends. The street legends aren’t actual players but they are interesting characters. One of them is like Denzel Washington from He Got Game, another is an alien, but all of them talk trash. You can also unlock secret teams, like the girl group 3LW. In Holding the Court, you unlock Create a Character things, and some cheats.

The main difference between this game and other basketball is the Trick Point system. For every fake-out, dunk, block, and steal you get certain amount of points depending how difficult the action was. You can even link them together to make combos, just like Tony Hawk Pro Skater. When you get a certain amount of points you get a Gamebreaker. With the Gamebreaker, you have an increased chance to make a shot. If the shot goes in, not only does it count as one or two points for your team, but it takes away the same amount of points for your opponent. As the name suggests, it can break a game wide open.

With all the pros of this game, there are a few cons. Although the moves are spectacular, there are only a few of them, and every player can do them. It would be cooler if each player had a special move that only they could perform. Also the Create-a-Character is a little weak with only a few options. Don’t let the cons fool you, NBA Street is a quality game, which brings us to the ratings.

GRAPHICS - 9
The most impressive graphics for this game comes from the background. The different courts are detailed to people watching to cars passing by. The court gives the feel of the area, whether it would be Arizona or Canada. The players are nicely done and move very smoothly. The only downside would be some of the players’ faces don’t look so much like the real thing, while others, like Michael Jordan’s, are perfectly exact. Overall the graphics are definitely a plus.

SOUND - 9
The music of the game goes perfectly with the game. There are heavy bass, hip-hop beats to give the style of a street game. The announcer is loud and enthusiastic always putting input such as, “Oh my man lost you!” and “My man should pay a toll!” Ah, it feels good to hear the trash talking.

GAME CONTROLS - 8.5
Controls are really simple. There’s pass, shoot, fakeout, and turbo. The only thing that needs practice to learn are the advanced fakeouts and dunks, which require combinations of buttons. All in all, the controls are easy to pick up and don’t hinder with the game.

INNOVATION – 9.5
Blocked shots and spectacular dunks have always been a part of basketball arcade games. Still, NBA Street offers two new things to the genre. The first is the fakeouts with dribbling. Everyone loves to break ankles with crossovers and spin moves. The second is the Trick Points. By, putting the Trick Points in, not only does it force the player to play to win, but to play to put on a show. Though its not necessary to get a lot of Trick Points, it certainly helps.

LENGTH – 7.5
In one player mode, all there is to do is to beat all the NBA teams, which won’t take too many hours if you’re any good. You can also try to get all the cheats and extra stuff, but it shouldn’t take long at all.

REPLAY VALUE - 9
This game is made for playing with friends. Whenever you have people over, this game would be a blast, since you could absolutely kill their egos. Two player is the essence of the game, in which the winner stays and the loser goes home.

FUN FACTOR - 10
Arcade basketball games have always been fun, on the fact its always fun to show up other people. This game takes fun to another level. With knee-breaking moves, and bone-jarring dunks this game screams trash talking. It could probably rip a friendship apart. Well maybe not, but its still pretty fun to show off.

NBA Street is probably not for everyone. If you don’t like basketball or don’t play video games you probably won’t like this game. But for the other 99 percent of us, this game is definitely worth playing, renting, and buying. I suggest, no I demand that everyone plays NBA Street.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/09/01, Updated 07/09/01