SportPlanet | Reviews | NBA Street (PS2)
by: Dave Kocher | July 5, 2001

It Hurts To Be This Good!

When it was announced that hotshot development house EA Canada's next project was going to be a game called NBA Street, some of us at SportPlanet cringed just a bit. After all, this were the guys that had brought us SSX, one of the best titles released on Sony's fledgling Playstation 2, and now they were going to do an NBA Jams/NBA Hoopz clone? "Say it ain't so!", we thought. SSX had innovative play, great graphics, and encouraged players to keep mashing those buttons long after that new game bloom had worn off. We loved SSX, and awarded it a well deserved 89%. But in the gaming industry (much like Hollywood), you're only as good as your last project, and we sincerely hoped that NBA Street wouldn't be a disappointment.

Well I am happy to report that not only is NBA Street not a disappointment, but is a rousing success, and EA Canada has another PS2 hit on their hands. Instead of taking the easy way out by creating a clone of a once innovative style of play, they have taken that innovative style of play, and made it into something of their own. In Street's case, they took the over-the-top style of the arcade classic NBA Jam, and added a trick system similar to the one used in SSX. This blend of 3-on-3 arcade basketball action and trick performing makes for an killer combination, as you will see.

When you first fire the game up, you are greeted with a kickin' hip-hop track and rendered hoopsters, both street ballers & NBA Stars, slamming it down and getting just downright nasty under the rim. Once you finish with the intro, there are a few gameplay choices to select from. These include the two main styles of play, City Circuit and Hold The Court, as well as Create-A-Player and Street School.

City Circuit is a one-player quest mode, in which you take on the best 3-player squads in the land, both NBA and street baller teams. You start out by choosing a primary NBA squad for you to take to the top. After choosing your team (I grabbed the Lakers my first time out), you then get a little intro from NBA legend Michael Jordan himself. Next its time to choose your opponent. The NBA teams you take on are ranked by region, in a ladder-type formation (beat one group, move up to the next, etc) and you get to choose from either Toronto or Vancouver at first. Now its time to pick your 3-player squad from the player pool. At the beginning, you get to pick from the 5 guys on your team (the Lakers, in this case), plus MJ is available to help you out. You can also choose your created player (more on this in a bit) as well. After you have your 3 hoopsters, its time to hit the court!

The other main gameplay mode is Hold The Court, which are either one or two-player games that are used to unlock new create-a-player items, teams, and courts to jam on. The way you unlock new items is to achieve certain objectives that are laid out before each game, such as winning 2 games in a row, or scoring 200,000 trick points. When playing Hold The Court games, the set up is similar to the City Circuit mode, as you can choose your 3 ballers from one of the NBA teams, any teams you might have already unlocked (such as R&B; girl group 3LW, or the EA Big team), or you can choose from your City Circuit group of players. The only unfortuate part about Hold The Court mode is that it is only one or two players. The game does not support multi-tap, so your extra buddies will have to suffice as broadcasters & cheerleaders until their turn rolls around.

Next: Gameplay, Gameplay, Gameplay!