Franklinnoble
05-15-2003, 02:52 PM
Franklinnoble's Unneccessarily Long-Winded Review of NBA Street Vol. 2
My gaming habits fall into three basic categories.
There's the turn-based and real-time strategy "conquer the Earth, or some other planet" type - Civilization 3, Age of Empires, etc.
Then there's the "Tycoon" style games - I lump The Sims, Sim City, and even FOF and TCY into this category (although you could probably separate the graphical and text-based simulations) - basically, any game where you manage some entity (a person, a city, a zoo, a railroad, an airline, a sports franchise) from the ground up.
Then there's the somewhat limited "arcade" style games - and for me, they're almost all sports. Currently, they're Madden NFL 2003 and NCAA 2003, Virtua Fighter 4, occassionally Gallop Racer 2001, and whatever else I periodically rent at Hollywood Video for my PS2. I rarely play arcade style games on the PC. Now that I think about it, the only ones I play are via my NES emulator (go figure).
In fact, I rarely use the PS2. Maybe I'm just getting old, but the more cerebral and in-depth strategy and management games do a lot more for me than most console games which often boil down to being able to mash the right combination of buttons in rapid sequence.
But there was a time, long ago, when sports "arcade" games basically ruled my life. Tecmo Bowl gave me a taste on the NES, but it wasn't until I played Madden on the Sega Genesis that I got truly hooked. And, for the most part, it was strictly football games.
With two exceptions. And they were both basketball games - and they are both now over ten years old. The first was an arcade game that soon made it to the Genesis - NBA Jam. If you've played it, skip the rest of this paragraph - I needn't say anymore about it. Quite simply, it was the most fun I've ever had with an arcade game... and who can forget trying madly to hit three shots in a row, just to hear that announcer say "He's on FIRE!!!" and then be able to dribble the smoldering basketball and basically make a bucket from anywhere on the court? Plus, it came out the year that Barkley and the Suns made the NBA finals... it sported a veritable all-star cast of potential players. You could play the Suns with Sir Charles and "Thunder" Dan Majerle (Suns fans LOVED that guy - I quit watching basketball when they traded him for John "What'd I ever do to earn the name 'Hot Rod?'" Williams. You could play the Bulls with Jordan and Pippen. I think the Celtics even still had Larry Bird. It was awesome.
Then there was the one and only PC-only arcade-style game I ever really spent a disproportionate amount of time with: Michael Jordan In Flight (you can now get it free here at the Underdogs (http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?gameid=1874) ). It was the first 3D-style sports game, and (keep in mind, this is 11 years ago - running under MS-DOS) really broke a lot of ground for the genre. It was a very simple 3-on-3 style basketball game - basically, you could have a team with Jordan and two other generic players (no NBA licensing here).
I liked both of them because of the simplicity, I think - 5-on-5 just seems like too much to keep track of. 2-on-2 or 3-on-3 makes for a fun, casual gaming experience where you can really play to the individual strenths of everyone on your team (and the weakness of the players on the other team) without getting a headache from keeping track of 10 guys on the court.
So, this brings me to the point of the post. I'd seen the commercials for NBA Street Vol. 2 while watching the NBA playoffs. The graphics looked sharp. The moves looked, well, fun. And seeing the digitized Michael Jordan from 10 years ago dunking over some fool on a playground hoop was enough for me to go out and rent it last night.
I was up until 1:00 a.m.
I probably could have made this post about two sentences long: You must go out and at least TRY this game. It kicks ass. Not just any ass - we're talking Bruce Lee-style kung-fu ass kicking here. This game is the most fun you could have short of a six pack of drunken and horny underwear models.
I haven't even played all of it yet. In fact, I'm sure I've played less than a quarter of it. My wife is now a PlayStation2 widow for the next week, and she doesn't even know it. I can tell you that the parts I have played are just too much fun.
For starters - go into the game intros and play the tutorials. They help. A lot. The basic controls for the game are fairly intuitive, but the really good sh*t takes a little training. You could play this game right out of the box without touching the manual, but you'll have a lot more fun with it if you spend 10 minutes learning a little more about the finer points.
That said, the part I got sucked into was the "Be A Legend" mode. The premise of the game (as explained in the intros and tutorials) is 3-on-3 street basketball; everything from pick-up games to tournaments, in cities all over the country. You can jump right in and play an exhibition as an NBA team (I tried this for starters - took the Kings - I chose Webber, Stojocovichshtsts... sh*t, Peja, and Divac against the Nuggets - I wanted an easy win to get my feet wet). But the "Be A Legend" game is immersive. It sucks you in, and you'll find it irresistable once you get started.
You start out by making your own player. So, I did. Using a player creator similar to what you'd find in Madden (or even the Sims), you can basically pick your player's height, weight, body type, and clothes. If you're a chick, or always wanted to be one, that's even available. Everything down to varying shades of facial hair is there - so, I created an out-of-shape looking white guy that bears a strong resemblance to what I might look like if I actually tried to play basketball. Then you take your pool of attribute points (or whatever they call them) and assign them to yourself. What's neat about this is that each attribute (Shooting, Dunks, Blocks, Rebounts, Power, Steals, Handling - I think that's all of them) requires progressively more points as you move up to higher levels - so, level one "Dunks" will cost you 100 points, level 2 will cost you another 200, level 3 costs you another 400, etc. Basically, you have to spend your initial allocation carefully, and decide which strengths your player will have, or if he'll be well-balanced across the board. Basically, you can't afford to have more than level 3 of anything to start with (and buying that would probably leave you at '0' everywhere else). I'm a vertically challenged white boy, so, naturally, I gave myself "2" for Dunks right away.
You start play by choosing from a limited pool of other mediocre players to make up your squad (your team size is 5, but you have to choose your starting 3 at the beginning of the game, and that's who you're stuck with for the duration). You take these guys to the one court available (more courts open up as your reputation grows) and play pickup games. The coolest bit? You not only earn more attributes with every win, but you get to pick one player from the team you just beat to join your team.
I cannot over-emphasize how much this one little feature adds to the game. You beat a team, and you can take their best player for your own squad. This does two things for the game:
[list=1]
It allows you to improve your teammates as well as yourself with every win.
It makes you really, really want to take on and beat better teams.
[/list=1]
So, basically, your incentive is to win like mad, and you don't ever want to stop, because every win can net you more points, a bigger reputation, and better players.
There are other incentives along the way, and while they're just gravy for me at this point, they're still pretty cool. Certain victories will unlock throwback NBA jerseys that you can put your player in... so I'm running around right now in an old Connie Hawkins jersey (any Suns fans here?).
After a few pickup game wins, you can start participating in various tournaments and challenges. This is when the game really gets cool - because now you're starting to play against real talent - NBA players and various "boss" street players that you can stack your squad with (a word of advice - beat "Stretch" and add him to your team as soon as possible - it's hella cool from that point on). At this point, I've got myself, Stretch, and Amare Stoudemire as my starting three. And I'm quite formidable.
Like I said, I've only played a fraction of this game. I'm still in the early stages of the "Be A Legend" option - I've added a few more points to my dunks, shooting, and rebounding - but I've got a long ways to go with it. And I LIKE it. The incentives for improving your player and your team are addicting - it's everything a game like this should be in that regard.
I haven't even touched on the actual gameplay. Imagine, if you will, NBA Jam, with kickass PS2-style graphics. That's about the best way to put it. There are literally hundreds of possible moves, shots, dunks, combos, passes, blocks... you name it. Don't even try to preview all the moves - you'll hurt yourself. Needless to say, the depth in gameplay is there, in ample supply.
There's also an NBA challenge option, which I haven't even tried yet. And there's a ton of "Old School" greats that you can "unlock" at some point or another (including three different versions of Michael Jordan) - haven't even gotten to that, either. I'm salivating at the possibility of playing 3-on-3 with Michael Jordan (1992), Wilt Chamberlain, and Larry Bird on my squad.
Thank God for Hollywood Video's 5-day rentals - it'll take me almost to my next paycheck, which I hope to blow a potion of on buying this game (the first PS2 game I've bought in nearly a year).
I'm not sure what other consoles this game is available on, but if you want a great way to blow the weekend, go out and try this one on. You won't regret it.
My gaming habits fall into three basic categories.
There's the turn-based and real-time strategy "conquer the Earth, or some other planet" type - Civilization 3, Age of Empires, etc.
Then there's the "Tycoon" style games - I lump The Sims, Sim City, and even FOF and TCY into this category (although you could probably separate the graphical and text-based simulations) - basically, any game where you manage some entity (a person, a city, a zoo, a railroad, an airline, a sports franchise) from the ground up.
Then there's the somewhat limited "arcade" style games - and for me, they're almost all sports. Currently, they're Madden NFL 2003 and NCAA 2003, Virtua Fighter 4, occassionally Gallop Racer 2001, and whatever else I periodically rent at Hollywood Video for my PS2. I rarely play arcade style games on the PC. Now that I think about it, the only ones I play are via my NES emulator (go figure).
In fact, I rarely use the PS2. Maybe I'm just getting old, but the more cerebral and in-depth strategy and management games do a lot more for me than most console games which often boil down to being able to mash the right combination of buttons in rapid sequence.
But there was a time, long ago, when sports "arcade" games basically ruled my life. Tecmo Bowl gave me a taste on the NES, but it wasn't until I played Madden on the Sega Genesis that I got truly hooked. And, for the most part, it was strictly football games.
With two exceptions. And they were both basketball games - and they are both now over ten years old. The first was an arcade game that soon made it to the Genesis - NBA Jam. If you've played it, skip the rest of this paragraph - I needn't say anymore about it. Quite simply, it was the most fun I've ever had with an arcade game... and who can forget trying madly to hit three shots in a row, just to hear that announcer say "He's on FIRE!!!" and then be able to dribble the smoldering basketball and basically make a bucket from anywhere on the court? Plus, it came out the year that Barkley and the Suns made the NBA finals... it sported a veritable all-star cast of potential players. You could play the Suns with Sir Charles and "Thunder" Dan Majerle (Suns fans LOVED that guy - I quit watching basketball when they traded him for John "What'd I ever do to earn the name 'Hot Rod?'" Williams. You could play the Bulls with Jordan and Pippen. I think the Celtics even still had Larry Bird. It was awesome.
Then there was the one and only PC-only arcade-style game I ever really spent a disproportionate amount of time with: Michael Jordan In Flight (you can now get it free here at the Underdogs (http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?gameid=1874) ). It was the first 3D-style sports game, and (keep in mind, this is 11 years ago - running under MS-DOS) really broke a lot of ground for the genre. It was a very simple 3-on-3 style basketball game - basically, you could have a team with Jordan and two other generic players (no NBA licensing here).
I liked both of them because of the simplicity, I think - 5-on-5 just seems like too much to keep track of. 2-on-2 or 3-on-3 makes for a fun, casual gaming experience where you can really play to the individual strenths of everyone on your team (and the weakness of the players on the other team) without getting a headache from keeping track of 10 guys on the court.
So, this brings me to the point of the post. I'd seen the commercials for NBA Street Vol. 2 while watching the NBA playoffs. The graphics looked sharp. The moves looked, well, fun. And seeing the digitized Michael Jordan from 10 years ago dunking over some fool on a playground hoop was enough for me to go out and rent it last night.
I was up until 1:00 a.m.
I probably could have made this post about two sentences long: You must go out and at least TRY this game. It kicks ass. Not just any ass - we're talking Bruce Lee-style kung-fu ass kicking here. This game is the most fun you could have short of a six pack of drunken and horny underwear models.
I haven't even played all of it yet. In fact, I'm sure I've played less than a quarter of it. My wife is now a PlayStation2 widow for the next week, and she doesn't even know it. I can tell you that the parts I have played are just too much fun.
For starters - go into the game intros and play the tutorials. They help. A lot. The basic controls for the game are fairly intuitive, but the really good sh*t takes a little training. You could play this game right out of the box without touching the manual, but you'll have a lot more fun with it if you spend 10 minutes learning a little more about the finer points.
That said, the part I got sucked into was the "Be A Legend" mode. The premise of the game (as explained in the intros and tutorials) is 3-on-3 street basketball; everything from pick-up games to tournaments, in cities all over the country. You can jump right in and play an exhibition as an NBA team (I tried this for starters - took the Kings - I chose Webber, Stojocovichshtsts... sh*t, Peja, and Divac against the Nuggets - I wanted an easy win to get my feet wet). But the "Be A Legend" game is immersive. It sucks you in, and you'll find it irresistable once you get started.
You start out by making your own player. So, I did. Using a player creator similar to what you'd find in Madden (or even the Sims), you can basically pick your player's height, weight, body type, and clothes. If you're a chick, or always wanted to be one, that's even available. Everything down to varying shades of facial hair is there - so, I created an out-of-shape looking white guy that bears a strong resemblance to what I might look like if I actually tried to play basketball. Then you take your pool of attribute points (or whatever they call them) and assign them to yourself. What's neat about this is that each attribute (Shooting, Dunks, Blocks, Rebounts, Power, Steals, Handling - I think that's all of them) requires progressively more points as you move up to higher levels - so, level one "Dunks" will cost you 100 points, level 2 will cost you another 200, level 3 costs you another 400, etc. Basically, you have to spend your initial allocation carefully, and decide which strengths your player will have, or if he'll be well-balanced across the board. Basically, you can't afford to have more than level 3 of anything to start with (and buying that would probably leave you at '0' everywhere else). I'm a vertically challenged white boy, so, naturally, I gave myself "2" for Dunks right away.
You start play by choosing from a limited pool of other mediocre players to make up your squad (your team size is 5, but you have to choose your starting 3 at the beginning of the game, and that's who you're stuck with for the duration). You take these guys to the one court available (more courts open up as your reputation grows) and play pickup games. The coolest bit? You not only earn more attributes with every win, but you get to pick one player from the team you just beat to join your team.
I cannot over-emphasize how much this one little feature adds to the game. You beat a team, and you can take their best player for your own squad. This does two things for the game:
[list=1]
It allows you to improve your teammates as well as yourself with every win.
It makes you really, really want to take on and beat better teams.
[/list=1]
So, basically, your incentive is to win like mad, and you don't ever want to stop, because every win can net you more points, a bigger reputation, and better players.
There are other incentives along the way, and while they're just gravy for me at this point, they're still pretty cool. Certain victories will unlock throwback NBA jerseys that you can put your player in... so I'm running around right now in an old Connie Hawkins jersey (any Suns fans here?).
After a few pickup game wins, you can start participating in various tournaments and challenges. This is when the game really gets cool - because now you're starting to play against real talent - NBA players and various "boss" street players that you can stack your squad with (a word of advice - beat "Stretch" and add him to your team as soon as possible - it's hella cool from that point on). At this point, I've got myself, Stretch, and Amare Stoudemire as my starting three. And I'm quite formidable.
Like I said, I've only played a fraction of this game. I'm still in the early stages of the "Be A Legend" option - I've added a few more points to my dunks, shooting, and rebounding - but I've got a long ways to go with it. And I LIKE it. The incentives for improving your player and your team are addicting - it's everything a game like this should be in that regard.
I haven't even touched on the actual gameplay. Imagine, if you will, NBA Jam, with kickass PS2-style graphics. That's about the best way to put it. There are literally hundreds of possible moves, shots, dunks, combos, passes, blocks... you name it. Don't even try to preview all the moves - you'll hurt yourself. Needless to say, the depth in gameplay is there, in ample supply.
There's also an NBA challenge option, which I haven't even tried yet. And there's a ton of "Old School" greats that you can "unlock" at some point or another (including three different versions of Michael Jordan) - haven't even gotten to that, either. I'm salivating at the possibility of playing 3-on-3 with Michael Jordan (1992), Wilt Chamberlain, and Larry Bird on my squad.
Thank God for Hollywood Video's 5-day rentals - it'll take me almost to my next paycheck, which I hope to blow a potion of on buying this game (the first PS2 game I've bought in nearly a year).
I'm not sure what other consoles this game is available on, but if you want a great way to blow the weekend, go out and try this one on. You won't regret it.