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NBA Street V3 Hands-On

We have hands-on impressions of this game.

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The NBA Street series will soon return for a third run on the asphalt with NBA Street V3. We recently sat down with a preview copy of the game, along with the title's producer, to get a feel for how the latest entry in the urban-basketball franchise plays both on and off the court. The game, now well along in its development, looks to focus on creating a unique experience for the player both in the single-player mode and when taking the game online.

All current NBA teams and rosters are included and up to date (yes, New Jersey Nets fans, Vince Carter is on your team in V3), but the game also includes familiar NBA legends such as Bill Russell, Joe Dumars, and Spud Webb (who makes his debut in the series). Nearly as important as the roster, however, are the addition of real-life street courts from all over the world, including the Hawk in Pittsburgh, the Cage in NYC, and even Brighton Beach over in jolly old England. NBA Street V3 includes day and night environments for several courts, such as Venice Beach, Oakland's Mosswood, and others.

While the development team at EA Sports Big toyed with the idea of two-on-two and even one-on-one matchups for the third entry in the franchise, it decided to stick with its strengths and keep the familiar three-man teams in the latest version. What has changed, however, are the physical appearances of the players. Gone are the caricature-style models of the first two games, replaced with a more realistic look. Familiar NBA faces are immediately recognizable on the menu screen and even on the court.

Stringing together combos is a breeze with NBA Street V3's trick stick controls.
Stringing together combos is a breeze with NBA Street V3's trick stick controls.

Another big change found in NBA Street V3 are the new trick mechanics, which are now completely controlled using the right analog sticks and trigger buttons on the PS2, Xbox, and GameCube controllers. This allows you to build combos on the fly, and it feels much more organic and, for lack of a better phrase, "in the moment" than the mechanics in the previous games. As you string together moves by moving the analog stick in a particular direction and combining it with one or more of the trigger buttons, you'll see that particular trick played out onscreen. In addition, each particular move is recorded in a combo meter found in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. Press the analog stick down, for example, and you'll see a down arrow on the combo meter. Combine it with a trigger button or two, and that down arrow will change colors to indicate a different move type.

As you combine moves, the combo meter fills up, and if your shot is successful, you'll earn combo points that will go toward your "gamebreaker" meter. Fill the up the gamebreaker meter and you'll execute the familiar stylish dunk animation. In NBA Street V3, however, you have more control than ever over your gamebreaker dunks, as you'll be able to string together moves in the air--and even pass the ball off to both of your teammates in succession--to maximize your point haul.

While the game includes a number of special moves available to all the players, certain special moves can be used only by created players, and even then only once the moves are unlocked. This feature allows you to more fully customize your created baller, especially when you take your player online to face off against other human competitors. To prevent opponents from blocking your favorite moves by peeking at your combo meter, you'll be able to rename and remap your set of unique tricks.

The dunk contest lets you create some of the sickest big-air slams around.
The dunk contest lets you create some of the sickest big-air slams around.

EA's NBA Live 2005 isn't the only game in town with a dunk contest anymore, as NBA Street V3 now has one of its own. The dunk contest be taken online on both the PS2 and the Xbox, and it features three layers of complexity--the dunks themselves, ball tosses, and props. While dunks and tosses are self-explanatory and are executed using standard analog-stick game controls, the use of props is a new twist. Place a table at the free-throw line, for example, and the degree of difficulty of your dunk--and thus the points earned upon successfully completing it--goes up dramatically. Add into the dunk mix an off-the-backboard ball toss and a string of in-air moves as you leap over the table, and you have the recipe for a truly impressive slam. The contest judges will grade your performance not just on execution but also on creativity, so try not to repeat yourself once your feet leave the floor.

Hit the Court

NBA Street V3's focus on providing a unique experience for gamers is exemplified in the game's street challenge mode, which will challenge your street b-ball skills as you attempt to build up the biggest, baddest reputation in the land. You'll start by creating your home court using NBA Street V3's deep court-creation mode. Choose a city of origin from regions throughout the world, and you'll then be able to tinker with nearly every aspect of your homegrown asphalt, from court-surface color and line types, to logos, basket types, neighborhood appearance, and sponsorships. Naturally, all this customization costs street points, which can be earned with wins on the court. As you progress through the game, you'll be able to further upgrade aspects of your court with points won from games.

Build up your rep in the game's street challenge mode and you'll be pimping out your custom home court in no time.
Build up your rep in the game's street challenge mode and you'll be pimping out your custom home court in no time.

With your home court fully tricked out, you'll next be asked to pick your team captain. In other words, you'll create yourself using the game's create-a-player mode. Both male and female models are available, with a number of player styles and body types for both genders, including the "ankle breaker," the "sharpshooter," the "center," and the "prodigy" (another name for a fifth grader with mad skills on the court). If you don't like any of the preset player types, you can always go for a custom character and distribute the attribute points as you see fit. Interestingly, when you adjust the height and weight of your player, the cost to distribute each attribute point goes up or down accordingly. Make a player who's too bulky, for example, and the cost for each dunk point goes up.

Once you're happy with your virtual baller, and have chosen your teammates from a number of fictional characters, you'll take him or her to your home court to face a number of different challenges. This mode is split up into 70 virtual days, though each day is divided into both daytime and nighttime challenges. Each day you'll be presented with several challenges to choose from. These challenges range from simple pickup games of 21 to more-involved challenges like being the first team to earn 250,000 trick points. Because you can choose only one day event and one night event, and the remaining choices are erased when you progress to the next day, your path through the game's street challenge mode might be completely different from that of a friend who is playing the same game.

As stated previously, the goal of the street challenge mode is to earn as many rep points as you can, while at the same time building up street points to buy new items for your home court, or to purchase items from the in-game store. Your rep level is affected by every decision you make in this mode--lose a game and your rep will suffer, win a game against some NBA players and you'll enjoy a big rep boost. NBA Street V3 also encourages you to play as many games as you can without tiring out your teammates in the process--skip a day and your rep will take a hit.

Graphically, NBA Street V3 has a rich, saturated color palette throughout all the courts found in the game, along with a lighting scheme that can range from subtleties such as the realistic gleam of player skin, to the ostentatiously vibrant neon scheme at Tandy, one of the game's dunk-contest arenas. The game features three camera angles: street (the default), telephoto (for a closer view of the action), and wide (perfect for online games, in which each player will want to see the entire court).

Spud Webb lives! The 5-foot 7-inch dunking machine makes his debut in NBA Street V3.
Spud Webb lives! The 5-foot 7-inch dunking machine makes his debut in NBA Street V3.

As you might expect, the game's soundtrack is peppered liberally with tracks from hip-hop artists ranging from De La Soul to Ali Vegas, all of which fit the urban vibe of the game to a T. Voice-over intros for each court found in the game by spoken-word artist Rich Medina add a nice sense of context and drama for each location.

With its focus on a unique sports experience for each gamer and full online support for both the PS2 and the Xbox, NBA Street V3 is shaping up to be another stylish and accessible entry in the series. We'll have more coverage of NBA Street V3 as the game near its release date.

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