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> Results: NBA Street Volume 2
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Off the Heezay! Crazy basketball action is the name of the game in NBA Street Vol. 2, the follow-up to an impressive series debut. The game is all about lightning-fast basketball action played three on three with hard slam dunks, no fouls and plenty of trash talk. If you played NBA Jam years ago, youﾒve got a good idea what this gameﾒs all about, but it adds to that formula in plenty of ways to provide a desirable upgrade to both that ancient series and the first NBA Street. The single player gameplay in Street Vol. 2 revolves around the "NBA Challenge" and "Be a Legend" modes. In NBA Challenge, you take one of your favorite NBA teams and challenge all the teams from another division. Come out on top in all the games and youﾒll earn rewards like new courts or players to use in both single and multiplayer modes. NBA Challenge is standard stuff for a game of this type, but seeing your favorite players in exaggerated action is satisfying. Unfortunately, the players may have the right names, but the facial mapping isnﾒt nearly as accurate as it is in the sim-style basketball games. Itﾒs usually a minor annoyance but sometimes it stands out and smacks you in the face, especially since the NBA Jam games were always so big on using photorealistic faces on the players.  Be A Legend mode removes that problem since you can ﾓCreate a ballerﾔ of your own to take on all comers with some help from hand-picked teammates. You can turn your street urchin into the picture of yourself both in looks and height, or you can try to create a powerful Tim Duncan-style player to rule them all. Either way, you should be prepared for a long haul through many games to beef up your player and your team. Be A Legend is a great addition to the series and adds a lot of longevity to the single player game. Multiplayer is where itﾒs at in any action/sports game like this one and Street Vol. 2 is a superb way to pass a few lazy Sundays while you wait for King James to hit the NBA floor. All your unlocked players are at your disposal in this mode and that includes many of the NBAﾒs best. ﾓMagicﾔ Johnson, Bill Russell, Moses Malone and the legendary Dr. J are just some of the players youﾒll get to duke it out with on the street. The gameﾒs soundtrack is funky with some rap thrown in for good measure. Itﾒs combined with a clear reverence for the 70ﾒs and 80ﾒs greatest players and a definite retro vibe from the moment you turn it on. That all goes hand in hand with the player presentation which is a caricature style suited to that older era rather than the all-slick, all-corporate era we seem to exist within today. You feel like you should be using the backboard as it was intended instead of razzing anyone that hits it.  Kids and adults alike are going to find the game easy to just pick up and play. It takes a couple weeks to put all the skills and button combinations together to execute against skilled players, computer or human, but itﾒs worth the time investment. Thankfully the game also provides multiple difficulty levels to ease the learning curve against a strong AI. The Gamecubeﾒs controller isnﾒt as well-suited to the mass of button combinations as the PS2ﾒs might be, but it does get the job done and the analog stick is still the best for precise control. You also get four-player multiplayer right out of the box with no extra hardware required. Young children will find the mammoth amount of gamepad-fu daunting, but fortunately, learning how to pass, shoot and do simple tricks with only three buttons will get them by. Teens that love basketball and even those that donﾒt are likely to enjoy Street Vol. 2ﾒs action-oriented flavor of hoops. With so many games sporting the E label for everyone these days, this is one that definitely lives up to that distinction. The only thing thatﾒs likely to slow this series down is a yearly update that doesnﾒt produce enough bang for your buck. NBA Street Vol. 2 isnﾒt that gameﾅyet. It leaves little to complain about but also leaves minimal room for improvement. Itﾒs a top notch sports product thatﾒs filled with action and even comedy. The announcer will have you in stitches before youﾒve finished your first game. Itﾒs some of the best commentary youﾒll hear in any sports game and it takes a long time before the phrases become repetitive. Best of all, while the real NBA may seem like itﾒs filled with thugs and crooks sometimes, this game takes the high road and keeps it about the game of basketball instead of a mugging. Thereﾒs rough stuff, but nothing beyond the cartoons you grew up with. You can feel safe that Junior is getting an appreciation for both current and former NBA players while passing the ball off his opponentﾒs head and talking trash after the slam to cap the play. Off the Heezay! Ages: 5+ ESRB Rating: E - Everyone Publisher: Electronic Arts Developer: NuFX Inc./EA Canada Genre: Sports/Action Players: 1 ﾖ 4 Players Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: NBA Street Volume 2 |
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