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The NBA Street series goes next-gen. EA’s NBA Street series has consistently been one of their best sports franchises, partly due to the fact that EA waits a few years before the next iteration. With Homecourt, the publisher has successfully transitioned the series to the new-generation consoles. Everything from the graphics to the gameplay has that next-gen appeal that we’ve come to expect.
NBA Street Homecourt is a little light on gameplay modes. By far, the most full-fleshed mode in the game is the Homecourt Challenge. This is the game’s career mode so you’ll start off as a local nobody and eventually become a big-time NBA baller. The create-a-player mode is very limited, though, since all you do is select a generic character and two NBA stars and let the game merge them together into one character. Although you’ll start off playing against other nobodies, you’ll eventually move on to going against NBA players. You’ll also be changing and adding to your team constantly. The actual games are more or less the same with minor variations like forcing you to use gamebreakers to gain points or turning off tricks. The game does support online multiplayer with leaderboards.
With Homecourt, EA Canada has made the already tight gameplay as tight as it has ever been. Instead of using the right analog stick as the trick stick, the game instead uses two face buttons to execute batsic tricks and combine them with the shoulder buttons to pull off the really crazy moves. Expectedly, pulling these off will fill up your gamebreaker. Once you activate your gamebreaker, you’ll still have to pull off tricks since the number of points gained from the gamebreaker is tied to how many tricks you pull off during this period. The developers have also refined the dunking: if you hold the dunk button and let it go at just the right time, you’ll pull off the infamous double dunk. Be careful, though, since releasing the button too late will result in you falling on your face. Of course, the game disregards the typical basketball rules so you’re allowed to goaltend and foul.
NBA Street Homecourt is definitely the best looking game in the series. The player models are among the best of any basketball game, partly because EA could focus on having few players onscreen and partly because the players in the game tend to be big-name players. The graphics really shine with the excellent, silky-smooth animations. The great animation system does a lot for the game since it really brings to life the sick tricks and dunks that you’ll pull off in the game. The different courts you play in from beaches to indoor gyms and outside courts all look great, too. In an interesting choice, the game runs with a filter to make it look more retro. While it looks okay, it sort of detracts from the otherwise stunning visuals and unfortunately you can’t turn it off. That said, the game does run at a smooth framerate at 720p and standard resolution, but it takes a considerable drop at 1080p (which doesn’t really look any better).
The game’s audio is made up of a fitting retro soundtrack from the likes of Quincy Jones, The Jackson 5 and Herbie Hancock. There is some voice acting in the form of trash talking which actually sounds pretty good. Of course, EA Canada has by now perfected the sounds of basketball so all of the dribbles, tricks, shots and dunks sound great.
NBA Street Homecourt really takes things up a notch. EA Canada has made the gameplay tighter and more intuitive, improved the graphics significantly, and got together a killer soundtrack. For the next iteration, we want the option to turn off the sepia tone and more gameplay modes, but the gameplay itself is nearly perfect. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Mar 14, 2007
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