NBA Street Showdown (PSP) Review

My review of NBA Street Showdown for the PSP is hot off the presses. As happy as I was with the final product, I couldn't help feeling a bit disappointed as well. The game definitely captures the spirit of the NBA Street series and effectively compresses it into a handheld format. It just makes it all the more frustrating that they didn't also nail down the controls in this version.

I mention this throughout the review, but as you play the game, you can't get away from the nagging feeling that the controls are noticeably floaty. My theory is that it has to do with being able to hold down the trick and shoot buttons to unleash a new set of moves. If it were up to me, I'd have made the triangle button a second trick button to expand out the number of available trick moves (like Vol. 2), and ditched the set-a-pick functionality altogether. Obviously with fewer buttons and no second analog stick, you're going to have to live with some control compromises on the PSP. But sacrificing crispness in control should have been a last resort. There's no reason the game shouldn't control as precisely as its big brothers on the home consoles.

OK I know I've been harping on the controls a lot, but don't get me wrong--NBA Street Showdown is still a very, very good game, one that I'm going to be playing on my morning and evening bus commutes for a while. You can definitely get used to the controls with a bit of practice, and it's still by far the best handheld basketball game available. I'm looking forward to seeing hoops games on PSP continue to evolve, and hopefully someone will get it just right, real soon. Anyone else out there pick this game up yet? What are your thoughts?