NBA Ballers: Phenom Hands-On
We get a first look at the second game in Midway's bling-tastic arcade hoops franchise.
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).
Big shots, great tricks, and a quick pace. Phenom's brand of arcade basketball is back on the court.
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.
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- GameSpot Score7.5good
Check Prices: $4.99 – 19.99
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NBA Ballers: Phenom Review
Phenom brings back a lot of the same blacktop-hoops flavor that made the original Ballers so much fun, and adds free-roaming action to its story mode.
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