NBA Street Vol. 2 Preview

Back in 2001, EA released NBA Street, a wildly entertaining and over-the-top basketball game featuring the players of the NBA. Throwing most simulation-style and NBA rules out the window, it focused instead on the style of the streets, creating a game with flashy moves, lightning fast pacing, and a whole lot of improbable slam dunks. Recently, we got our hands on nearly complete builds of the newest installment in the series: NBA Street Vol. 2. Developed by NuFX, Vol. 2 marks the series' debut on the Xbox and boasts a much more in-depth overall experience, including new modes, new ballers, more moves, and loads of unlockable content. Additionally, the game aims to refine and perfect the addictive gameplay that made the original so much fun.

NBA Street Vol. 2 boasts a much more in-depth overall experience, including new modes, new ballers, more moves, and loads of unlockable content.

Players familiar with the first NBA Street will likely first notice some additions to the game's main modes. City circuit, Street's original story mode, has actually been split up into two new modes. NBA challenge lets you choose from any of the NBA franchises, picking a three-player team from a roster of five. You are then presented with a choice of US regions, each with its own division of teams. As you progress, eventually you'll come to a legends team consisting of classic players, including such legends as Magic Johnson, Julius Erving, Bill Walton, Pete Maravich, and three different versions of Michael Jordan. The be a legend mode is the other side of the spectrum. You start out by creating your own player in the create a baller mode, assigning him or her a body type, face, hair, facial hair, outfit, and attribute points. You then create a team by selecting from a group of generic street players and go up against other street ball teams, gaining reputation points and unlocking more hidden items as you go, including several original players who serve as bosses on the different courts. The difference between the two modes is not terribly pronounced, but it does provide a nice separation between the NBA-oriented aspects of the game and the fictional characters. The game also features a quick play exhibition mode that supports up to four players and allows you to choose from any of the game's players, NBA or otherwise.

The controls are extremely user-friendly and easy to pick up.

While the depth of the gameplay is a major plus, Vol. 2's strongest point is clearly its user-friendly control scheme. When on offense, you work with a basic three-button setup: one to shoot, one to pass, and one for trick moves. On defense, you have buttons to block and steal. Each one by itself will execute a basic version of the task it is assigned to, but the real fun begins when the turbo buttons are brought into play. Hitting any of the basic action buttons in conjunction with one or more of the turbo buttons allows for much more complex tricks and dunks, as well as several special moves used to throw off your opponents, such as the "off the heezay" (bouncing the ball off an opponent's head) and the "back 2 papa" (throwing the ball at the backboard and catching it as it bounces back). Performing these tricks, throwing down dunks, and hitting impressive shots increase your gamebreaker meter. When the meter fills up, you will be able to execute a gamebreaker. A gamebreaker shot not only looks cool, but it also takes away a point from your opponent's tally. Additionally, you have the option of canceling an opponent's gamebreaker with your own, or you can pocket it, letting the meter fill up again for a level-two gamebreaker, which takes away double the points and, of course, looks extremely impressive.