NBA Street V3 review

A few months ago I reviewed a little gem called NBA Ballers from Midway and while playing NBA Street V3 I noticed a lot of similarities. It seems that arcade-style basketball games today are going the way of MMORPGs borrowing features from each other. This is of course true for any game but a very noticeable progressions in this case. These games are evolving at a faster pace and right now NBA Street V3 from EA Sports Big is at the top of the food chain.

Off the hizzay

NBA Street V3 is a three on three street basketball game where you could say that looking good is more important than scoring baskets. Some games are even won by amassing a certain number of trick points; the baskets are not even counted. Which brings us to the most pleasing aspect of NBA Street V3, every game is different; some you win with trick points, some with dunks only and some the old-school way by not counting trick points at all.

One thing this game is not however, is strategic; it’s a pure arcade game where you attack the basket and try to humiliate your opponent without having to think about timeouts, out of bounds calls or fouls. The only statistics you’ll see are the basic ones but surprisingly assists are not listed which I think is a shame. They should have been there instead of steals since stealing the ball is way too easy compared to blocking shots or rebounding, and it looks unbalanced when you get 20 steals and the computer only one or two every game. But then again, stats are not a top priority for this type of game.

Bring your A-game

The play modes are on one hand multiplayer, where you can play with or against up to five friends (you can also play online if you have that capability). And on the other hand you can start a progressive single player game called Street Challenge where you create your own player and fill out your three-man team by picking up two unknown street players (these are not all male by the way, there are some female players that can throw down the ball with the rest of them). Later on as you win more games you can replace your team members with street legends or NBA superstars some of which you have to unlock.

The Street challenge is split up into days and on every day you get a choice on what court to play (you unlock more courts as you gain respect points) and each court has a different type of game and sometimes famous stars playing there. And if that’s not enough variation you can also enter tournaments, dunk contests and some days being challenged by rivals and NBA stars. Eventually you will get noticed and an NBA team will offer you a spot on their NBA Street League, which is just another set of streetball matches but with better players. The single player mode is definitely very well designed and will keep you interested for a long time.

Breaking ankles

As you may have guessed by now, trick points are a big part of the game and for that you use the so-called Trick Stick which is the right analog stick. The way it works is that you move with the left analog stick but use the right analog stick in combination with the four turbo buttons on the front for a dazzling array of moves and dunks. This makes the controls function smoother than in previous games and makes for a more flowing gameplay.

There are new additions to what you are able to do from earlier versions of NBA Street, most noticeably being able to bounce the ball off the backboard or off your opponents’ foot, chest, back or head (popularized young streetplayers such as the AND1 group). Of course you have to have good handles when performing some of the more complex moves or you will lose the ball. The opponent can also pull a trick-counter move and strip you off the ball.

The main objective of trick points (other than making the opposite players look foolish) is to build up your gamebreaker meter. When the meter is full you can execute a spectacular dunk move to the basket where you can perform various moves while in the air and if that’s not enough you can do a double or a triple alley-oop so your whole team touches the ball in one acrobatic dunk session.

Gamebreakers are indeed a visual feast, everything darkens, there’s a dramatic sound (a la THX ads) while you do your stuff. At the end you add points to your score while subtracting points from your opponent so this is sometimes a necessary strategy to win tough games. However there is always a chance that you miss your dunk and waste your gamebreaker.

I believe I can fly

Usually in these type of games the music consists of new hip hop songs which frankly have been mediocre at best. In NBA Street V3 they still have some of those but mix them up with classics from the likes of House of Pain, De La Sol and MC Lyte. The collection is actually pretty good but needs a few more songs because it gets repetitive fairly quick.

The play-by-play commentator is the same one from NBA Street 2 (DJ Bobbito) and is just as loud and annoying. One on hand he seems at ease with the lingo and certainly fits the streetball atmosphere but boy is he annoying and I can’t believe there is no one better out there. In stark contrast there is another quality voiceover work from the person that presents the legendary basketball courts in a way that has a poetic quality to it.

It’s gotta be the shoes

The main gimmick of basketball games recently has been to add more and more customizable content and no game has more of that than NBA Street V3 right now. The creation process is quite extensive; you can modify everything in detail from facial features, physique, skin tone and of course skills.

One thing of notice is that height is related to your skills; smaller players have an easier time upgrading quickness and handles while blocks and rebounds are easier to upgrade for bigger players.

Style is of course important for streetball; you got to look good on the court. You have access to a large wardrobe including jerseys, sneakers (more on that), jewellery and tattoos, some of those you will have to unlock eventually. If that’s not enough you can head on over to the barber shop every month and get a new cut.

There are three things that have a detailed creation process, I’ve mentioned the player creation but the other two are your own home court and sneakers. I kid you not; you can design every little part of the sneaker such as the build, tongue, strap, laces, tech and heel. In the case of a court it has its lines, backboard, stanchion, banners, neighbourhood and mural among other things for you to choose and you can even unlock some additional banners etc. for it.

The Human Highlight Film

I can’t finish this review without mentioning the dunk contest, one of the most entertaining features of NBA Street V3. Electronic Arts used a dunk contest to spice up NBA Live 2005 and do the same here although they are very different in design.

Basically the NBA Live dunk contest was a bit difficult to learn and rigid, but this one is more true to the arcade-style of basketball. Actually it’s the same mechanics as for doing dunk gamebreakers which I mentioned before and just as much fun.

The dunks done in a contest basically play out like this; you take off and try to make your dunks as impressive as you can by doing moves in mid-air and even using props from your surrounding such as stepladders and tables. You can kick the ball to yourself in various ways, of the backboard, yourself or the floor. The tricky part is not trying to do much before you pull the ball through the hoop.

Breaking the backboard

The positives far outweigh the negatives but I’ll mention the negatives anyway. Too little effort was put into tutorials; there are just quick animations to show the most basic moves (You have to research prior games in the series to find out how to do a counter-trick move for example) and strangely there is no dunk contest practice mode.

The play-by-play announcer gets on your nerves and once you start a game you can’t see the player names and also in case you forget, you can’t see your objective in the street challenge when mid-game.

But overall this is quite possibly the best basketball game you can get right now on the PS2 and dare I say it, on any platform. The gameplay is fast and fun, the graphics and animation is picture perfect and the controls are good. It’s an improvement over its predecessor NBA ballers and more enjoyable than the somewhat disappointing NBA Live 2005.