Playground basketball has been getting more attention lately, thanks
first to Activision's Street Hoops and now to Electronic Arts' NBA
Street Volume 2, which comes out April 29.
Playground basketball is the more rambunctious, less rule-bound version
of the sport, where the object of the game is as much to embarrass your
opponent and awe the crowd as it is to score points.
NBA Street ($49; suitable for all ages) does a great job of presenting
both aspects of playground hoops. You get a funky combination of pure
asphalt athletes, current NBA players and scores of legendary players
from the past.
I played the Xbox version, but Sony PlayStation 2 and GameCube versions
are also available.
The heart of the game is in flashy individual moves, rather than
intricate team play.
You'll want to check out the training mode. This is where you learn to
pull off the funkiest moves, such as passing the ball by kicking it with
your foot, flipping the ball off your defender's head or the backboard
and back to yourself, and using the turbo mode to pull off superdunks.
Once you get into a game, there are two scores you need to keep track of.
The first is the traditional score when you put the ball in the basket.
The second score is for trick points, and that's where your dribbling,
dunking, dipsy-do, alley-oop and crossover skills are tested and
measured.
The better your moves, the more trick points you get. These trick points
pay off after the game, when you need them to upgrade your players to
make them jump higher, run faster or shoot better.
Speaking of shooting, although there is a three-point line in most of
the games, you're better off ignoring it.
Jump shots are pretty easy to block in NBA Street, and you get few trick
points for jumpers. Purists, leave your grumbling at the door.
Basically, you've got a dunkfest when you're playing against the
computer.
This would get boring fast if it weren't for extra strategy provided by
the Gamebreaker shots. Once you rack up enough trick points, you get a
Gamebreaker. Then when you shoot or dunk, you not only get points, but
you also subtract points from your opponent.
The controls are good enough that the combination of frenetic action and
trick point management make this a fun game.
The only things I missed were the postgame activities that Activision
introduced with Street Hoops.
In that game, each playground victory earned you cash, which you could
spend on clothes, jewelry and tattoos for your players to keep them
lookin' good.
Plus Street Hoops featured some authentic playground stars such as the
crazed dribbler Hot Sauce. The street players in NBA Street are generic
hoopsters in baggy pants.
Still, NBA Street Volume 2 has the better game play and graphics – plus
you can play as Michael Jordan – so if you can pick only one, go with
NBA Street.
