Video Game Review: NBA Street

NBA Street

Graphics:	8
Sound:	8
Story:	None
Fun:	7.5
Controls:	7.5
Overall:	8

NBA Street is another basketball game. It brings the same punch (It literally does) as the other extreme sport titles such as Blitz and Hitz. It isn't super violent, but it manages to sneak in some pushing and shoving. It doesn't have many realistic aspects. It does have insane dunking, awesome dribbling techniques, and more controls than jump, shoot and steal. You can power up your guy with style points you earn by pulling off insane dunks and dribbles to do even more stunts. In Street, you play with three players to a team. You earn points for scoring, and you get separate points for style. The style points are pretty much pointless unless you want more insane moves. The style points save, so you can play you friends to see who has the most style. Street takes place on the street. It shows you what basketball in the ghetto is fun. And it is. It really does take place in run down neighborhood basketball courts, not little public parks. You can play in the snow, in the rain, and you can play wannabe's what you are made of in career mode. Street plays with the basic one point to a basket street style, and you can goal tend! The thing that makes this so fun is the insane tricks you do to outsmart your opponent. Pressing certain button combinations make you do falling dribbles, fakes, and really cool jams. Since you actually take control of the player's dribbling instead of the computer, you will have a lot more fun with it. It suddenly becomes a strategic game. One other attribute to add to Street, a welcome attribute, is the create a player mode. Make them fat, make them short. Make them short and fat, make them tall and slim. You can turn your guy into your own creation, load him with specific attribute, and play with him on your own custom made team. It is easier than baseball create a player modes. All you do is save to your file name, and your player is ready to play with your team. You can earn players as well, by beating their teams or just beating all of the teams. You can be a magma man, Zoe from SSX, and even the abominable snow man. This game is loaded. The graphics are even better than that of Courtside and 2K2. Instead of photo mapping, the guys are all made in 3-D and run smooth as glass. The moves displayed by the players are excellent and rarely skip a frame. It runs like a real life basketball game. The courts are well designed, and each one is different. Rain effects look real, but the snow and rain don't have an impact on the player's ability. Snow would diffidently slow anyone down if they were in a tank top. Each player is different and don't look similar by any means. They don't have their own moves, one is just better than the other. Street is full of cheesy rappers, an annoying announcer running up and down the court. Since this is a street game, it should have more sound effects like the players taunting each other, which does happen, but only very rarely. I am not one to like rap music, and this kind is annoying. With the button combos, you might expect to find it harder to play. But no, it is easy, and surprisingly, the player's show off moves are really needed to win. Dribbles are the most important. The falling dribble the players do gets passed defenders quite easily. No move you do in this game is without some sort of reward. It all helps you in some way. Is it better than Courtside? For replay value, I would go with Courtside. The reason is because of the create a player mode. Once you perfect your customized team, yo won't go back for more unless you have a friend who has a customized team as well. If you are looking for another extreme game, (which I am not) you should go with Street. Street may be more fun, but only until you perfect your team, and you have beaten the few teams to play. I have had enough with extreme, unrealistic sport game, so Courtside is the better pick for real sports fans. "Not so hot replay value." -Niloc

Archive note: The original publication day is unknown; this review existed by March 30, 2003.