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By Keith B (23rd Jul 2007)

“Dude, you got a ‘Z’ in your throw man”, the immortal words of Woody Harelson, from the movie that inspired an entire generation of try hard kids to take to the courts and ‘be like Mike’ (White Men Can’t Jump). I shouldn’t bag the un-co white kids, who were inspired to ‘stick it’ to Wesley Snipes by dunking 8 foot rings, seeing I was most definitely one of them. I actually don’t remember too much detail about the movie, other than the fact that generally it was boring and sucked! Two comments that were certainly not associated with NBA Street Volume’s 1 and 2. Volume 2, in particular rocked the world on the x-box. It provided me with hours of dunk filled fun, playing endless pick-up games with characters that had a strange ability to defy gravity and shoot quite accurately from half way! Needless to say my hopes were soaring at the prospect of Reviewing the latest installment, NBA Street Home Court (NSH).

With butterflies and feelings that could only resemble an 18 year old lad before his first trip to a nudie bar, I opened the snap lock container and inserted the disk into my 360. The anticipation began to climax as the drive started accelerating, spinning at full capacity and the designers logos began to appear on my 42 inch screen (and no I am not over-compensating for something!). The start looks ok, not let down so far…..the menus seem pretty sweet, a bit of old school brown and white action….looks pretty good! Game on….this is what I have been waiting for……..it is the same, just the same as before. In fact it doesn’t seem to flow as well. The heart sinks, expectations have been shot, a tear comes to the eye……I need a hug and a warm cup of Milo!

Ok, now that I have let you down relatively easy, I will describe the game for those who haven’t played the previous installments. Basically you are a player in the hood, hangin down by the cages, putting your cred. on the line every time you step onto the court. You have honed your skills to a point where you grab two of your homies and hit the streets looking for pickup games to boost your image and get noticed. On the line is a life out of the ghetto with grillz, hoe’s and a wardrobe full of clothes that don’t fit you. So game by game you work your way up through the street ranks until your rep gets to a point where you get a shot at the big time….ESPN bound baby! With a bag full of turbo moves and gravity defying jumps and dunks, you are out to stick it to the man one game at a time!

Where oh where has this game failed? Before I begin to put this one under the microscope I should make one thing very clear, the game is still pretty good. The complete package just isn’t as good as its predecessor. Right……Lets have a look at game play first. In Volume 2 the games were over the top, and completely defying the laws of physics. This is the same in NSH, but it was a lot easier to defend and you were also more accurate (even when your stats were average). It is a lot more difficult to time your blocks and in particular steal the ball this time around. There is an added icon that appears to assist in the timing of your attempted steal, but it is more annoying than helpful! I found I was more successful when I tried to steal the ball on a whim rather than waiting for the prompt. There is also something about the way the game moves that I can’t put my finger on. I think it is a mix of jerky movements and back grounds that are a bit too busy. The outdoor courts didn’t have as much of an issue, but the darker indoor environments definitely give you a headache pretty quickly!

The main aspect that really makes this game a bit of a failure is that the designers have tried to go for a bit more realism in game play and more importantly in graphics. As I mentioned above the court designs do detract a bit from the game play, but the major point of complaint is the characters themselves. If you remember in volume 2 the characters where almost comical; super short and tall players with stupidly large afro’s and bright throwbacks that looked more like a Warner Bros. cartoon than a basketball game. This design, of course, went hand in hand with the weird and wild style of play that was anything but realistic! Although the essence of the game play is still there, the graphic design is not. The game has become a bit too serious for my liking.

The characters in the game have also changed for the worse. In this installment they have used current NBA players to head up every team you play against, and in some cases the three person teams are comprised solely of professional players. This doesn’t really fit in with the concept of working your way up off the streets. I mean it is all well and good that when you complete the game you unlock characters and games with players of that level, but I really don’t think Tim Duncan or Dirk Nowitski would be caught dead on a local court, unless it was for charity.

One factor that has improved is the sound. Although in the earlier editions the sound was pretty good it has jumped up a notch with on court chatter which does add an element to the game. There is a bit of trash talk along with calls and a little touch of abuse that proves quite entertaining. The graphics of the game are technically better, but they just don’t fit in with the style of the game.

The Scott’s Final Word
I have spent most of this article bagging the hell out of this game. To be honest, it isn’t all that bad. In this case it is just better if you haven’t played the earlier games then you won’t have any expectations. I think the biggest problem is that they have tried to make the game serious, but have kept some ‘crazy’ components and it just doesn’t work! Again a lack of cheer leaders (even skanks from the ghetto) have hurt this game….when will the designers learn……scantily clad ladies = good game!