Sunday.May.27.2007

REVIEW: FreeStyle Street Basketball (PC)

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Basketball games have always been fairly popular, from the simulation-type NBA series to the Street series to everything in between, you'll find a plethora of enjoyable games, with the exception of Shaq-Fu, of course.

Sierra Online and JC Entertainment have teamed up to bring us FreeStyle Basketball, a persistent online basketball game that leans towards arcade pickup and play where users can duke it out on virtual basketball courts. FreeStyle is a game that has been built around the "Street Ball" culture, sporting exclusive songs from hip-hop artists and real life brands that appear in game (such as Avirex shirts and Elwood shorts), these features, complimented alongside easy to use controls and some pretty flashy moves are a few reasons why this game is definitely going to get noticed.

I'll admit it. I don't play basketball games. Sure, I'll play with a few friends once in a while, though I'd be more inclined to play, you know, out there - in the real world. The only series I've ever enjoyed has been the Street series, the same goes for most sport games - I usually just do not play them. FreeStyle really surprised me; I actually enjoy this game quite a bit. Really.

As with any online game, you begin your journey with character creation. FreeStyle wont be winning awards for their admission into this pre-game process, its bare bones to say the least. Users can select between four different skin tones, a slider for height, and 2 different body styles (thin and wide) for their respective sex. This, my friends, is where character creation ends. Don't get me wrong, this usually is a bad thing for most games touting the MMO - prefix, but there are certain circumstances in which games can get away with it; enter FreeStyle. FreeStyle has a large, almost daunting collection of clothing and accessories which boost your characters stats that can be bought with Bills (real world dollars turned into FreeStyle Dollars) or points earned in matches. JCe has added a startling amount of real world clothing into the game. Its pretty neat to see a sweatshirt you own on your character. You can choose from shoes, shorts, pants, warm-ups, jerseys, tanks, tattoos, wrist bands and even hair styles; the majority of anything you can wear will give you bonuses on the court, such as +5 to dunk, +7 to block, the list goes on. This reviewer settled on a bright yellow and striped jump suit called "Dragon Style", a fedora hat, some aviators, bald hair and a pair if Nikes.

The customization of this game is simple, solid and eager to please. The spending of bills/points doesn't stop there. Abilities and moves are also purchasable through a similar fashion, though most of the "utility", or in other words useful, abilities are locked until you reach a higher level.

The game play actually doesn't call for a mouse, instead, you use your arrow keys as well as WASD, the typical movement keys for FPS games - so how does that work out?

Well, for starters, you don't use WASD for movement really, just for actions such as dunking, blocking and passing. The same key in different situations can be used for different things - such as the S key, which you can either steal from an opponent if they have the ball, if they don't, you can "box" them out, meaning you can stop the ball from being passed to them. There are several different moves you can obtain, as I stated earlier, through points; though I'm not really sure on how you perform the moves. I know I've dunked before, I just dont know how I accomplished such a feat, and with the lack of documentation on how to execute such moves, it might be kind of frustrating for some.

FreeStyle is, for the majority, a team based game, so unless you've got a few friends in-game, expect to lose a good amount of your initial match ups. You'll encounter several different types of newbie in FreeStyle:

#1 "I can make 3s all the time" - Quickest way for your team to lose control and lose the match
#2 "..." - Again, a great way to lose a match is to get up and, you know, do your laundry in the middle of a game
#3 "How pass?" - If it isn't easy enough, each time you load into a game, the controls are displayed for about thirty seconds, including how to pass.
#4 "Y'all suck $%^#@! l8er" - Quickest way to not even play a match, as soon as someone disconnects the game is over, which happens more times than I'd like to think about.

FreeStyle isn't groundbreaking in terms of aesthetics, but it does look good. The simple cel-shaded characters provide unique avatars and allow those who don't have a high end PC to get in on some fun. The initial screen shots showed quite a bit more detail in the surroundings that actually made the game seem beautiful; as it stands, its cartoony but charming, which isn't a bad combination. There isn't much of an interface to begin with which again, is not a bad thing. There really isn't a whole going on aside from playing basketball and keeping score/time, which is all the in-game interface has - it feels uncluttered and the placement of the scoreboard and timer don't distract, which is also nice. One useless, okay well, arguably useless option is the ability to change camera angles. I've never had to do so, and with the camera angles provided, I doubt it would help my game out any, if at all. If you're really eager to check it out, you can do so by pressing tab. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Soundwise, FreeStyle fares much better than I expected; with exclusive songs by Lloyd Banks, and a ton of filler clips and tracks that go well with the game, its easy to get in the mood. Right when I thought it was the same song, over and over, it up and changed; go figure. My only gripe is that the player quips and commentary gets a bit stale after a while; unfortunately, there is no way to turn it off.
FreeStyle is surprising on so many different levels; it exceeded my expectations on all levels. Be warned: Although it is touted as an MMO, you can't really compare it to say World of Warcraft or most other popular MMO's; you play match-ups and your stats are persistent, but massive this game is not. If you're just looking to shoot the breeze or you love basketball - this might be this summers sweetest catch for the genre.

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