Upon the arrival of my copy of NBA Streets, it was apparent that the game had that NBA Jam flair written all over it. You all remember that good old arcade classic that had us talkin trash and taken names…well, now NBA Jam comes in a 3v3 3D version! Tis called NBA Streets though I personally think the title would have said more by calling it NBA Jam 3D. All be it, Streets is a good game, but where does EA BIG get off on stealing ideas and what really makes this game different than NBA Jam that gives EA the rights to slap their name on it? You’ve all seen the commercials, now lets check out the goods.
The graphics in this game are some of the smoothest around for a basketball game. Its got shaking backboards, crowds, and special little fireworks to boot! But, where this game really shines is in its wonderfully fluid character animation! The ball handling and fluidity of motion is some of the best I’ve seen in a game! Non of that hurky jurky motion capture bullshit you’re used to finding on some other NBA titles. Streets has been made to capture the “flow” of show off basketball found on the “Streets” of the worlds biggest cities. If anything…Streets will show you how to add flow an soul to yo game.
From the hip hop sound track to the smack talkin street players, this games got some great sound! You can’t really pick up on most of the surround sound, but that just plays right into the games in-yo-face attitude. Wonderfully done effects such as ball bounce and hoop shakes really make this game come alive in your living room…not to forget the announcer! Only downfall is that the announcer keeps trying to get me to play a harder difficulty level.
Well, its a basketball game so I’d hope its got some gameplay. And low an behold…it does! If you’ve ever played NBA Jam then you know almost exactly what the gameplay is like in Streets. You got your shoot/block…you got your turbo…you got your pass/swipe and you’re all set to rumble! Streets even comes with its very own version of “being on fire”. During the game you amass trick points which add up over time till you get something called a GameBreaker. It can only be used once(unlike fire) and you have a limited amount of time before it runs out…but once you use it, its a sure score! The only really negative effects to gameplay are the difficulty levels…though not extremely unbalanced, it is a task to go from one to the next. That, and there aren’t many benefits to uppin the difficulty that I’ve found.
You want hardcore? You got hardcore! This game comes fully stocked with all the elements needed to keep you comin back for more! Oh, did I mention that you can be Michael Jordan? Woah! You can be his Airness himself! All around the games got the goods. Good graphics, good sound, good gameplay…what do you expect from an NBA Jam ripoff? If you liked NBA Jam then you owe it to yourself to pick up NBA Streets! If you hate basketball…then you owe it to yourself to pick up NBA Streets…and if you got 50 bucks lyin around the house…get your ass outta that chair and get yourself some NBA Streets! This is Trippyliquid…trippin out.