"NBA Ballers: Chosen One" Review @ JustPressPlay

5 / Gameplay

6 / Replay

9 / Graphics

8 / Sound

Friday.May.02.2008

REVIEW: NBA Ballers: Chosen One (PS3)

When the NBA Ballers first started out, Midway presented basically a good combination of the old school NBA Jam and EA's NBA Street series in a one on one format. With no appearance of a Street game this year, NBA Ballers; Chosen One had plenty of room to take the spotlight and wrestle the mantle from EA. The problem is, in order to wrestle you need strength and this new title barely has enough for a slap fight. The core problem lies in the gameplay and the clunky mechanics. When you take away the stellar graphics and almost creepy character builds on some of the leagues' best known players you have a game that frustratingly wants to be king of the court while still learning to dribble.

The basic story behind this third game in the franchise follows a similar structure of the last two. You're an up and coming nobody and you have to play your way to the top in a series of 1v1, 2v2 1v1v1 or shoot out minigames. Following a six chapter story you compete in challenges that don't vary a whole lot in the long run. Example -- there's a chapter where you compete to be in a drink commercial. But all it amounts to is you doing more head to head games and then trying to 1up Lebron James through some moves (you'll never remember). The eventual payoff of being in the commercial falls flat since it doesn't even look like a commercial. So yes there is an attempt at variety in Ballers but not enough to give a game like this the depth it should have. Granted games in this genre are not meant to be on par with a well structured RPG but nonetheless there's room for variety. Phenom tried to have the depth and some free roaming elements which actually made that sequel much more satisfying in many respects. Building off of that idea might have served this game well.

On the gameplay side the controls are clunky at best. It seems that the developers decided to incorporate previous game mechanics and unwittingly made a very complicated system that is not necessary for an arcade basketball game. The reason this type of game is cool is because they're easy to play and don't require a lot of strange combo moves like using the shoulder buttons and the analog sticks and the triggers. There's no doubt you can learn the moves but the amount of effort you have to put into it along with controls that don't often respond when you want them to, takes away from the sheer enjoyment you get from playing street ball. You expect complex maneuvers with the sports sims from EA and 2k sports but this is Ballers -- dribble, juke, dunk.

Speaking of the arcade element, since when did goal tending, charging -- or for that matter fouling -- become relevant in street ball? After 5 fouls the opponent gets a free throw worth 3 points and they keep the ball. What!!!? If that wasn't bad enough, the "super moves" (defense or offense) when executed cut to this black screen animation that's not on the court, plays like a cut scene and ultimately disorients you because when it's over you still need to score or find your bearings on the court. It's an entirely pointless way to show off a super move and like everything else gets old after the first few times.

Really the best thing going for Ballers is that it looks great, boasts a lineup of more than 80 NBA pros and legends, and the settings serve up everything from an airplane hangar to a rooftop court on a penthouse suite. Emcee Chuck D of Public Enemy fame stands in as the host of a fake sports show and does the play-by-play as well and for what it's worth is a step above previous street b-ball game announcers. As for the soundtrack, it has your various assortment or rap and hip-hop peppered throughout the game but it's nothing that either makes or breaks the game. It's just sort of there. Overall what you have is a lot of ideas that the folks at the development meeting thought would be awesome in theory. There's lots of great things to look at and a valiant attempt to have a well-built street basketball game but what's missing here is what's most important --fun.