GAME STUDIO DESCRIPTION: The third chapter in the multi-platinum-selling NBA STREET series expands on the fast-paced and larger-than-life 3-on-3 basketball gameplay that has made the franchise a hit. The all-new Trick Stick and interactive Game Breaker control elevates the experience to new heights with unmistakable style, while NBA STREET V3 also is packed with highly-detailed authentic street courts, an all-new slam dunk contest, and new Court Creator.
Featuring today’s biggest NBA superstars, 25 of the league’s all-time greats, and a Hall of Fame cast of past STREET characters, NBA STREET V3 includes online* play for the first time ever and deep player customization options. With your custom-built character, hit the proving grounds of the new STREET Challenge mode, where you’ll see if your player has what is takes – from pick-up games, to tournaments, to high-flying dunk contests – on the street courts of NBA STREET V3.
PLAY: Three-on-three street ball is fun. Those who prefer arcade over sim games will be blown away by the third incarnation of NBA Street. The same death defying dunks, alley-oops, and mind boggling aerials are back. You blow up the gamebreaker meter that allows you to jack up the score and take points from your opponent.
The tricks are here but you have the use of the right analog stick to throw down some fancy moves that can jack up your score or cause you to lose the handle and get bumrushed by another player. Get cocky and you might get beat. One of my favorite tricks is throwing the ball off the defender to rack up trick points.
You can still play tough defense by blocking shots and stealing the ball. Just make sure you don’t try stealing balls with Shaq and blocking shots with Spud Webb—it’s not going to happen.
Perhaps one of the deepest aspects of the third version is the ability to customize. You can customize a player and it’s deep. We customized three players and it took nearly an hour of messing around and tweaking—yes we are perfectionists. You can tweak the nose, eyebrows, chin, muscles, everything. It’s almost too much. After a few times at it you’ll make your way through it quickly. We made one completely ridiculous looking player that wasn’t far off from Sloth from The Goodies.
The dunk contest isn’t terrible, but it is limited. There is animation clipping, but if you can get past that you’ll have fun. You can jump over tables and ball racks or pass the ball of the backboard and of course do all sorts of crazy flight patterns. It would have been fun to be able to pull someone out of the crowd and dunk over them or come up with something completely unbelievable.
GRAPHICS: The graphics are very good. The players aren’t supposed to look like their sims but more a cartoon version of themselves. There is a gritty feel to the court and players which amounts to more of a tint over a cartoon backdrop. The courts are well detailed and give you a lot to look at. The animations are good—excluding the dunk contest where there are some really bad issues with clipping and continuity of the animations.
SOUND: The soundtrack isn’t great. There are some good songs, mostly old school hip-hop. It gets tiring after a while. The announcer DJ Bobbito Garcia is loud and particularly annoying. The biggest problem is that if you turn off the music and turn down the announcer there really is nothing more to listen to. Where are all the sounds of the ball hitting the rim, the dunks crashing down, and the dribbling and sneakers squeaking? It’s a real let down.
FRANKLY: NBA Street v3 is a lot of fun—more so when you have friends over. There are a lot of things to unlock and customize which keeps you interested.
+ Ralphie Wright
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