NBA Ballers: Phenom

"Decent game, just still needs a bit of touch-up"

Hey guys. We're here at the newest addition to the NBA Ballers series, Phenom. I have the original, and I must say, it was mediocre. This new addtion steps up the pace though, bringing new moves, new ideas, and new places to you. So lets get on to the review, shall we?

Sound--9/10
A nice new feature of the game, is that your person has a voice! Yes, you can hear your person speak. I personally think the voice sounds kind of like mine, and your person talks like a rapper. If your not a fan of street talk, oh well. The music in this game is great. I listen to rap, but I have never heard of any of these artists before, but the songs are decent. I was disappointed though when I found out my favorite rapper, Ludacris was in the game but didn't actually bring his own songs. Oh well, he's one of the reasons I bought the game. Your MC during the match sounds pretty good, and the crowd and pedestrians say nice things(or un-nice, depending on what you do)

Graphics--7/10
The graphics in this game are decent. I have seen better, but I have all seen a lot worse. Your person, and the NBA people, mascots, and other balling people look good and kind of realistic, but the pedestrians look terrible, and there aren't many variations. The surroundings look decent, even if a few are some what bland. The graphics really didn't improve since NBA Ballers, which is disappointing.

Gameplay--8/10
The gameplay is now split into two real categories, menues and street, and then the actual basketball games. I'll start with the menues and street. In this game, you can still customize you person from pretty much head to toe, but it's still not super-indepth like games such as Fight Night. You can still get some-what detailed though. There are more clothing and accessory choices in this game than the original which is nice. The biggest additon comes in the form of the Street modes. You are wondering around the streets of L.A for the most part when your not ballin', and L.A is split into four districts, Venice Beach, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, and LAX. There is also your hotel where you can change options and looks and such. In each section, there are multiple tournaments taking place, as well as the shopping areas where you can wonder the streets. The areas you can wonder around in are fairly small, so don't expect GTA. While running around, you can dribble your basketball! While this may not seem like much, it can prove useful. Other than making you look cool as you pull AND 1 moves around the street, you can throw your ball at certain objects to find diamonds which unlock things, distract guards so you can get into V.I.P sections, or just annoy people. That is not all you can do in the shopping areas however. You can visit the stores to buy clothers, tattoos, shoes, and other things. You can even visit hot dog stands to buy food! Around these streets are a number of side missions which have absolutely nothing to do with the game. These events may include rap battles, mascot dancing, or a Lakers Girls Car Wash just to name a few. Most of these events use a system similar to Dance Dance Revolution to play. There are many other things you can do, I don't want to spoil everything.

Yes, you can still play basketball in this game. If you played NBA Ballers, you'll know what to expect. Standard streetball play. Most of the games take place in tournaments, which have a ladder of people you must climb to win. While playing, you can perform some of the sickest streetball moves you have ever seen. You can throw the ball off the persons head, do a handstand, run circles around your opponent, or run up your opponent to dunk the ball. Of course you can always perform regular NBA moves, like post-ups, lay-ups, or even an alley-oop. There are easily over a hundred moves you can perform, and most players have different sets of moves. A new addition to this game though comes in the form of 2 vs 2 games. These play just like single person games, only with more people. One thing about this game which is horrible though, is the horrendous load times. During the story mode their not that bad. But in a 1 vs 1 game, when you have to pick your people, you can be waiting for minutes on end.

Story--6/10
The last Ballers didn't have a story at all really, at least not one that you could follow. This game at least has a story that will keep the game moving. It starts out with you finding out your boy Hot Sauce(AND 1 fans should recognize him) stole your contract, and took all the glory for himself and your girl. Well your not going to let that stand, are you? This game takes place during a fictional NBA Finals week, at you can bet all of the stars are there. During the game, it will be your choice to make it to the top. Depending on how you play though, you might follow in Chauncey Billup's footsteps and become the #1 Draft Pick, or maybe you will role like my boy Ludacris and become a big time business man.

Replayability--5/10
Heres where we run into some problems. While the story mode can be completed quickly, theres still a lot of stuff to do in it. Though these extras can become repetitive quickly. You can always make a new person and go through the story again, but that might get kind of boring to some(not to all hopefully). Sure you can play matches against the computer in 1 vs 1 or 2 vs 2, but the load times will probably make you quit after a short time. So there are things to do, you just have to push yourself to do them.

Overall--7/10
Not bad. A decent game. It's certainly a lot better than the original, but it still leaves much wanted. Maybe there will be a third with even more stuff. This game has a great concept, it just needs some work.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/10/06