The original NBA Ballers brought a breath of fresh air to the arcade basketball genre in 2004 with its focus on one-on-one play and a story mode that glamorized the bling-bling lifestyle of NBA players. Two years later, the NBA has outlawed gaudy hip-hop style on the sideline, and NBA Ballers Phenom has also scaled back its fashion sense accordingly, showing Chauncey Billups in business casual on the cover instead of an iced-out Stephon Marbury wearing a velour warm-up suit. Phenom has also added a two-on-two mode and a free-roaming story mode to its repertoire, but underneath those additions is a game design that hasn't changed much and a graphics engine that is beginning to show its age.

Once again, it's time to make a name for yourself as an elite baller.

The core of Phenom is its story mode, which portrays you as an up-and-coming street baller looking to make a name for himself during the week leading up to the NBA Finals in Los Angeles. Apparently, Midway didn't get the memo that Kobe's now all by himself in Tinseltown, and the Finals in LA is a bit of a stretch unless they think the Clippers are going to make a Cinderella run this year. You've got revenge on your mind for this week, as you've recently been jilted by your one-time partner, Hot Sauce (the slick-handling guard who made a name for himself with And1). You and Hot Sauce were once partners on the blacktop, but when the endorsement offers came rolling in, Hot Sauce convinced the suits that he was the true talent behind the twosome and left you high and dry. Not only did he take the money and the glory, but he also had the gumption to steal your girl along with everything else. The NBA-sponsored streetball tournaments during the Finals festivities are your chance to exact a little payback and earn a little glory and money of your own along the way.

The story mode is set up as a hub system in and around Los Angeles. After creating your own baller and customizing from a satisfying array of appearance and skill options, you can travel to different areas of LA, including Hollywood and Beverly Hills. Once there, you'll find yourself in a free-roaming, third-person mode where you can walk around a neighborhood. Each area includes a number of tournaments that you can enter, and you'll play against random streetballers and/or NBA players. There are dozens of different players in Phenom, ranging from current superstars, such as LeBron and Dwyane Wade, to legends, such as Magic Johnson. The other hook to the story mode is the array of side quests you can find and do besides playing ball. You'll find non-player characters who'll give you tasks, such as putting up promotional posters around town or finding diamonds that you can turn in to a store for jewelry. You'll also find other things to do, such as battle rap with Jin (the one-time star of BET's 106 & Park) in a DDR-like minigame or a spelling bee where you have to try and puzzle out how to spell the names of (mostly European) NBA stars with complicated surnames. There are even kiosks with trivia challenges that require you to know NBA lore, such as which high school Kevin Garnett attended and which NBA star earned the nickname Mr. Clutch. Most of the NPCs in the game that have tasks for you have a yellow exclamation point over their head (World of Warcraft, anyone?), but some are hidden, so it pays to try and talk to everyone you see. The neighborhoods and character models look pretty basic, and the areas aren't particularly large either, so you shouldn't expect this wide roaming, Grand Theft Auto-like experience. The roaming portions really feel more like a side-scrolling experience, with the ability to move into or out of the screen at certain junctures, like in River City Ransom.

Thou hast found the +15 Magic Kicks of Mad Ups.

Winning tournaments and participating in side quests earns you credits, which you can use to buy new moves and purchase gear from stores you find in the neighborhoods. Like a role-playing game, you'll find that some gear offers you stat upgrades if you wear it. But instead of two-handed flaming broadswords, you'll find stuff like shoes that can give a boost to your rebounding or a hat that gives you better touch on your shooting. You'll naturally gravitate toward these items, but you'll find that the progression of your character goes fairly quickly with how many stat points you're awarded after each tournament. Over the course of the week, you'll advance the storyline and build up a reputation for yourself with either the entertainment industry or the NBA. Depending on the tournaments you choose to enter, you could find yourself beating the game as a Hollywood star or as the NBA's hottest rookie. In either case, you'll end up with a nice mansion of your own design after all is said and done. You'll also unlock more NBA players, cribs, and tons of other content along the way.