NBA Ballers: Phenom Hands-On

If you listen to the haters, they'll say streetballers have no business mixing it up with NBA pros. The players who get out on the asphalt courts in the middle of summer, they say, are all about tricks and not about fundamentals--too much sizzle and not enough steak, so to speak. Fortunately for sports gamers, Midway isn't hearing any of this--the publisher's NBA Ballers streetball/NBA hybrid has built on the company's arcade legacy that began with NBA Showtime and introduced some of the exciting new storytelling and role-playing elements that kept the genre feeling fresh. With the next game in the Ballers series, NBA Ballers: Phenom, Midway is taking the story mode to new heights, while still providing the same fast-paced and rollicking gameplay that made the last game so successful.

While the original Ballers was strictly a one-on-one affair, Phenom opens up the court to two-on-two matchups, as well as the more complex one-on-one-on-one contests. Better yet, Phenom will include online play on both the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox versions this year, for a maximum of two players in any of the aforementioned game types. When playing one-on-one-on-one matches, though, one of the competitors will be controlled by the game's artificial intelligence.

Beyond the modes, a large aspect of Phenom's gameplay has been in simply cleaning up some of the quirks of the original game (which played pretty darn well in the first place). The developers have been listening to vocal Ballers fans since the original was released in 2004, and they have heard the complaints about things like unrealistically high percentages for outside shots and players who bang their heads on the rim when going up for a monster dunk. Those kinds of problems will be ironed out by the time NBA Ballers: Phenom is released later this spring, and even though the game still had some rough edges, it was clear that the core action on the court will be exciting up-and-down hoops, full of great-looking tricks and flashy shots.

Central to the gameplay are the "act-a-fool" moves, designed to not only get the ball around your opponent, but also show him up. These come in the form you might expect, as technical dribbles between an opponent's legs, spins and turns, and basically anything else that can contribute to breaking your foe's ankles. In addition to the 30-plus "act-a-fool" moves, Phenom has added 20 trick shots--something that was missing from the original game. These shots promise to be as inventively animated as the trick moves--including novelties such as self alley-oops and big air dunks. And just like the last game, you're able to toss the ball to buddies on the sidelines for some "unofficial" assists. This time around, you can even order your sideline mates to interfere with your opponent, having them go so far as to steal the ball away from your foe.

Another new addition to the gameplay is the Baller's shoot-out mode,an arcade mode that has you draining shots from both beneath and beyond the arc to score as many points as you can in the allotted time. There are two rounds to play--in the first, you'll play by yourself, and in the second, you'll go up against a defender. To score, you'll need to find the net while shooting from a number of illuminated circular spots on the floor. The farther away from the net the circle is located, the more that shot is worth. At certain times, the circles can light up, and a shot from that point will be worth double the points. The good news is that this mode seems like a lot of fun, and it's a nice change of pace from the regular game. The bad news is that you won't be playing this mode online (though you can upload your high scores).

The original Ballers featured basketball environments that ranged from typical streetball courses to more elaborate setups, such as Kevin Garnett's mansion (complete with man-made waterfalls). Phenom adds to the number of levels with a total of 16 new courts to play on, four of which are streetball environments based on a fictional version of Los Angeles. Of course, you can expect to see plenty of NBA cribs in the game (for that matter, you can unlock NBA episodes of MTV's Cribs in the game), as well as b-ball-equipped mansions of hip-hop stars like Ludacris.

One of the big innovations in the original NBA Ballers was its story mode--and the ante will be raised with Phenom, as the development team has crafted not only an intriguing plotline to play through, but also more role-playing elements than ever before. The storyline follows your created player as he makes his way through the streetball world in the hopes of winning a shot at a big cash prize and a spot on an NBA team.

The entire story takes place in Los Angeles during the week of the NBA Finals, and basketball tournaments are taking place everywhere you look. To access these tourneys, you'll have to travel to several different sections of town, each of which offers relatively free-roaming environments, where you can stroll around, talk with non-player characters to pick up cash-earning missions, and even drop by vendors to spend some of that hard-earned cash. If it sounds a little like an RPG, it's for a good reason, as the development team has gone to more elaborate lengths to let their RPG influences show. Head to a vendor in Hollywood, for example, and you'll be able to purchase food that you can eat during a game to get a brief buff to your abilities. Sounds like a potion in World of Warcraft, right? Similarly, Phenom offers loads of gear that you can stock up on, much of which will boost your attribute points (you'll even get an added bonus if you collect an entire set of similar gear).

But it doesn't stop there. Phenom puts a sporting spin on character classes, too. When it comes time to create your virtual baller, you'll be able to pimp out things like hairstyle, height, and weight, and you'll also be given the option to choose a position for your player--either guard, forward, or center. The position you choose to play will limit how your attributes will improve over time. A big, tall center will have a higher dunk-attribute ceiling, for example, but won't be able to approach the three-point shooting abilities of a guard or forward.

Though the story mode environments are open-ended, don't expect some sort of Grand Theft Auto-esque virtual representation of LA. Instead, you'll have relatively spacious environments to explore, along with a number of NPCs to interact with, which will open up missions you can complete to keep the plot moving forward. One mission might have you entering a traditional streetball tournament; another will have you running around town and tacking up posters to promote Ludacris' latest CD. Mission types run all over the map in the game, from NBA trivia contests to a Parappa the Rapper-ish rhythm game (complete with a Los Angeles Laker Girl) to our personal favorite, the Zydrunas Ilgauskas Spelling Bee (nope, we're not making that one up). There's also a paparazzi mission where you'll want to take pictures of your opponents as you clown them on the court, and missions where you can unlock NBA mascots as playable characters, for when it comes time to recruit a teammate for two-on-two tournaments.

This brings us to the next tantalizing RPG aspect of the game's story mode: the ability to progress through different career paths in your game. On one hand, you'll have the likes of NBA stars (such as the Phenom cover star, Chauncey Billups) persuading you to stay true to your hoops roots and progress through the basketball branch of the game; on the other hand, Ludacris will encourage you to go the entertainment route and start a rap label, get into the movie business, or some other type of similar venture. The choices you make in the story mode will effect how you progress through the game, and the Phenom producers told us there will be multiple endings for the story mode depending on how you construct your virtual career.

All of the story mode missions will take place in multiple locales around the greater Los Angeles area, including Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and the Staples Center. Some sections of each environment won't be available to you right away, requiring you instead to beat certain missions or tournaments to open them up. There will also be plenty of side games to take part in, one of which, for example, will have you bouncing your ubiquitous basketball off of interactive objects in the environment. These objects will drop diamonds in the process--grab enough of the diamonds and you'll be able to have a custom necklace fashioned for your created player.

Speaking of jewelry, the NBA's new anti-bling/pro-business casual standards have meant some restructuring for the development of Phenom, especially considering the premium the last game in the series put on flashy jewels and other NBA perks. You can expect to see the NBA players that appear in the game to be accessorizing less than before. The good news, though, is that there won't be any limits on how you trick out your created player--so if you have a need for the bling, then bling away.

There's so much more to explore in NBA Ballers: Phenom that our brief demo of the game really only gave the barest glimpse of what's inside. We're looking forward to getting a preview build in the office and really exploring some of its nooks and crannies, including checking out the one-on-one-on-one and two-on-two modes, as well as learning more about the story mode. The game is due out in later this year, so you can expect to see more on Phenom in the near future.