NBA Ballers Review

Developer	Asylum
Publisher	Midway
Genre	Sports

Street Ball seems to be a sport that is becoming more and more popular. In the real world, getting fancy with a basketball dates all the way back to the Harlem Globetrotters, but has been made increasingly more fascinating by the And 1 crew and their Mix Tape videos. Little children across the country are sleeping with a basketball at night, trying to learn all the moves to be the next Hot Sauce.

So, if the sport is popular in the real world, it’d be a great idea to develop a game based on it. The craze started with EA Big’s NBA Street, which used real-world NBA stars in places like the infamous Rucker Park. Attempting to capitalize on the growing market, Activision created Street Hoops, which, sadly, was too spectacular. EA made a sequel to NBA Street, called Volume 2, which had everything gamers loved about the first and then some.

Now stepping on to the court is Midway Games’ NBA Ballers, which features 60 real-world NBA stars, including rookie sensations Carmello Anthony and the King himself, Lebron James in a game that puts you, a no-name baller, against the NBA’s finest. Sure, it’s not the most novel idea to come out of the gaming world, but Ballers does everything right, down to the gameplay, sound, and graphics, making it a premier basketball title on all consoles.

Gameplay - NBA Ballers sports plenty of gameplay modes, including three very intuitive, well-crafted modes that are completely original. Firstly is the TV Tournament, which allows you to take your created player and put him up against current NBA players. After beating the stars you unlock them, so there’s certainly incentive to play. Simply save your profile and the newly unlocked players can be used in the regular match mode.

Another cool idea is the One-on-One-on-One feature, which obviously, puts three players into a classic game of “21”; or at least the same principal. You see, Ballers plays based upon the idea of half-court basketball, with the three-point line being the “take-out” line. For those of you sad gamers that never get out and know the rules of “21”, then Ballers might not be the right game for you (even though 21 is NOT a complicated or complex game, it’s just obvious you’re not very informed on the central theme).

However, NBA Ballers uses an original idea of “Rag-to-Riches” as its solid foundation. This option essentially puts you into the role of a no-name street baller just looking for a little attention. By winning small-time tournaments, you’re created player rises up in the ranks. “Rags-to-Riches” is the name of the TV show, which is what you’re playing. At the end of every “episode”, you can go back and review the events of what happened, or progress forward to that proverbial “next episode” (for all you Dre fans out there).

Back to the ideology of 21, NBA Ballers plays on game rules that are common playground parameters known to even some five year olds. By default, it’s the first player to 11 points in regular gameplay modes, but that can be edited to any other random number. However, unlike 21, Ballers does not go on a “one or two point” scoring structure found on the court, where any shot from inside the arch is only worth a point. Normally you’ll play in a best out of 3 rounds composition, but again, that too can be customized. If the rim is hit, then you must take it out behind the three-point line in order for your points to count.

There are a variety of moves to perform while out on the court. By default, all four-shoulder buttons on the PS2 controller (we’ll use the PS2 version for controlling analysis) are used as turbo or juice. And, as first introduced in NBA Live with the “Free-Style”, the right analog stick can be used to do a few crossovers. If players combine different turbo selections with different directions on the right analog stick, different maneuvers will be performed. SQUARE can also be used to do different crossovers and moves.

All kinds of dunks can be achieved also, by using the same principal. Simply combine any turbo button (or just use one) with the dunk button (CIRCLE) inside the paint and watch your player go soaring into the air, pulling off absolutely sick dunks. And, if you feel threatened in mid-air as if the opponent was about to block the dunk, you can alter the shot to a lay-up with the push of another turbo button. One feature I particularly like is the ability to throw the other player in hopes of causing him to lose possession.

A points system is utilized by Midway in NBA Ballers, and it goes off of the basic premise that if you can mix up your play with a few cross-overs and a few really nice dunks, your “Bringing Down the House” meter rises up. Many other things can be done to make or break the meter, including self-alley-oops, and the option to pass the ball to a friend on the sideline only to have him serve it up for you. Once it is filled though, simply execute the “special” move by holding down several turbo’s and pressing TRIANGLE for the ultimate self-alley-oop. The goal will come towering down, automatically resulting in a forfeit from your opponent. Good stuff.

For Xbox users, online-compatibility was out of the question for Midway, at least for this year. However, for network-adaptor owning PS2 users, online one-on-one using your customized baller is made available, and it is great. It’s broadband only, but trust me, it’s for the best. Ballers is one of those games that requires quick reactions, and with dialup, that just can’t be achieved without lag or delay. Perhaps next year, Midway will pull an EA Sports and convert to Xbox Live, but that’s all up in the air.

Graphics - If you’ve talked to anyone about NBA Ballers yet, they’ve probably more than likely mentioned the excellent player models and faces. After all, they dramatically stand out and dwarf every other console basketball game. This is due in large part to the fact that there are only two real basketball players on the court, and, with the exception of a few small environment effects and a low-res audience, allows for all the focus to be on the players. Everything from Lebron’s headband to AI’s sleeve are all perfectly modeled, and it’s almost insane looking at all of the tattoo work.

The faces are absolutely amazing. Quite simply, there isn’t another game to even compare in terms of likeness and quality. On the Xbox, faces were visually sharper, but not by much; so fret not, PS2 fans, your game looks almost as incredible. When you can see pores on their faces, it means they’re near about identical to their real-life counterpart. There are a few oddities in the visuals, especially a few of the faces. For players with bigger noses, their faces seem entirely disproportional, as in, noses are entirely too large. Thankfully, it’s only a problem only the player selection screen.

There are plenty of venues in NBA Ballers, ranging from AI’s Studio to Yao Ming’s China home. All are designed perfectly, but unfortunately, their graphical “wow” factor is not near as stunning as the aforementioned features. Textures are moderately high, but when you can only see half of the court, the game doesn’t exactly require a whole lot of work to have an abundance of detail. And, other than a few people on the sidelines, there aren’t too many spectators or pedestrians throughout the environments.

Sound - The NBA and basketball in general is heavily influenced by rap music, and Midway took note of this. A decent mixture of both R&B and Hip-Hop comprise Ballers’ soundtrack, and luckily, if there’s a particular track you’re not too fond of, you can change it with the press of a button. While the tunes serve their purpose, I’m a little upset with the lack of main-stream artists on a game that received so much hype. Still, they get the job done.

Renowned MC Supernatural is always court-side providing commentary, but I think he could have been left out of the mix. Sure, he may have wrote the game’s opening theme song, but let’s not kid ourselves when we say we like a certain artist. He quickly becomes annoying, but I suppose he’s not nearly as bad as Midway’s “mysterious voice” that speaks during the loading screens. You all know the one I’m talking about; the guy who’s lacked a name but spoken in Midway games since the original Blitz. So, all in all, a very decent sound track and below-average commentary make up the audio framework.

Bottom Line - When it comes down to it, if you’re not a fan of basketball, or don’t even know the rules of “21”, then you might not want to consider a purchase. However, there are many NBA fans out there that are just itching to take someone like Kobe Bryant and let him play solely against Allen Iverson just to see who’d win (AI, of course), and there’s no better game than NBA Ballers. Sure, the gameplay could get a little repetitive after hours of play time, but when you sit down and think about it, you shouldn’t spend more than forty hours with a game anyway. Ballers is a great basketball title that is fully deserving of a purchase and could potentially earn multiplayer game of the year.

Review by Brian Williams