GAMEPLAY and CONTROLS:

Well, it’s basketball. This game has a bit of a different take on basketball however. This game emphasizes all of those things we wished we saw in the NBA: sweet moves, huge blocks and amazing dunks. While all of these moves look cool, they have a big effect in the game.

When you pull off a move, you get points. These fill up the “gamebreaker” meter. Once this meter is full, you can either use it for a level one gamebreaker, or save it. If it is saved, you will try to fill up the meter again to get a level 2 gamebreaker. The level 2 gamebreaker is unblockable and looks Harlem Globtrotter-esque. Oh, did I mention that these not only add to your score, but also subtract from the opponents? Yeah, a level 2 gamebreaker can add 2 points to your score and subtract 4 from your opponents, which is a big swing in a game to 21.

The controls are nice. The turbo buttons are the four shoulder buttons, tricks are square, pass is X, and shoot/dunk is circle. In typical EA Big style, using different combinations of the shoulder buttons make for different tricks or dunks. But, a couple new additions have been added from the original Street. First, you are able to throw the ball off your opponents forehead if you want. You can throw the ball off the backboard to yourself or to a teammate. But, one of the better features is when dunking. If you know that you are going to be hitting the pavement hard as your 5’7 player is trying to dunk over Shaq, you are able to hit the shot button a second time. This transforms the dunk into a lay-up. These look really nice and they really annoy defenders because they are hard to block against if they were trying to block a dunk. A new addition on defense is a trick counter. If a person is trying to break your ankles with a trick, you can perform a trick counter. This will have you steal the ball off of your man and leave your man standing there wondering what happened. If done correctly, this can leave you with a fast break to the hoop.

There are different modes for NBA Street. First is NBA Challenge. This seems, at first, like a typical choose an NBA team and play against other NBA teams. But, once a region of the NBA is completed, you face a team of legends from that region. Some of these legends have special intro movies, like Larry Bird’s half court jump shot, Michael Jordan’s dunk from the ’88 slam dunk competition, or “Pistol Pete” Maravich’s slight-of-hand move. This really adds flavor to the NBA Challenge mode, as you are able to take the modern ballers and put them up against some old-school players.

The next mode (and my favorite) is the Create-A-Legend mode. This is where you are able to create a player, customize him however you want, then take him or her (yes, you can create a female player) to the streets to take on some other no-name players. As you begin to win, you start to enter tournaments. In these tournaments there are street legends and also NBA players. If you win, you are able to take a player from the opposing team and put them onto your team. Once you complete the Create-A-Legend mode, you are able to put your player onto any team you want. Want to spark up the Cavs (who, by the way, are sporting the new jerseys) and create LeBron James? Go for it. Nuggets fan? Want Carmello Anthony? Sure. Want to put yourself alongside Shaq and Kobe? You can. My only complaint is that the last name is limited to 8 letters for some reason. First, the name doesn’t appear on the back of your jersey once you get into the NBA, second you cant choose a number, and third my last name is 9 letters long. So I am “Chris I Man” in the game. A small complaint, but one worthy of noting. For the next game, I hope we are allowed to create a number for when we have our created baller in the NBA.

Third is a pick-up game. Just as it sounds. Get a team, choose an opponent, choose a court, and you’re off.
GAMEPLAY and CONTROLS: 10/10

GRAPHICS:

The graphics in this game are more cartoon-like than before. They aren’t necessarily worse, not necessarily better… just different. I think it looks nice, though. The game has harder lines and a different look than on the other two systems, but it still looks nice. Not incredible, but good enough.

The graphics aren’t the real story behind this game, however. The thing that keeps it all together are the amazingly fluid movements. The tricks and the dunks are all very beautiful. Every dunk looks different and the character-specific dunks are amazing. This is one of the most fluidly moving basketball games out there.

The courts each have a different feel to them and they are all nice. I personally like Seattle’s court, which is lit up at night. There are some real courts in the game, like Rucker Park in NYC and Mosswood in Oakland. It’s nice to see some real courts made it into the game.

I think one of the best details in the game is the difference between the old-school players and the modern players. The modern players look like they do now, low shorts, low socks and loose-fitting jerseys. The old-school players have the tighter tops, the short shorts and the tall socks. It really makes them seem like they came right out of the era they played in.

One of my favorite parts of the graphics is how your created player can wear throw-back jerseys of the legends in the game.

The only little complaint I have about the graphics are the few clipping issues, where a person’s arm goes through another person. That doesn’t happen all too often, but it happens.
GRAPHICS: 9.0/10

SOUND:

Well, it’s hip-hop and rap… what did you expect? There are many licensed tracks, including some from Nate Dogg, Lords of the Underground, Nelly, Redman and Just Blaze. The announcer is decent. Nothing amazing, but not awful.

The sounds of the game are nice, too. The squeaking of shoes in the gym, the swish of the net, the smack of a blocked shot, the creak of the steel as a player hangs onto the rim, or the… something of the swish on a chain net. I don’t know how to describe that sound, but it sounds real.
SOUND: 8.5/10

REPLAY VALUE:

It will last a while to get good enough to unlock everything. But, the game is fun enough that you will want to pick it up a while after finishing it. It will also make for a good game to play against a friend, with a lot of taunting being thrown back and fourth. You can have up to 4 people playing at a time for a 2 on 2 match. No third computer player for each team, however. It’s just 2 on 2. and for those of you wishing for an on-line experience… not this time.
REPLAY VALUE: 9/10

OVERALL:

NBA Street Vol. 2 is a really fun game that is worth buying (or at least renting) for anyone who likes to play, watch, or is remotely interested in any type of basketball. The great animations and the many legends in this game make it a game that should be on anyone’s video game library.

OVERALL: 9.5/10