have been a hot commodity ever since the release of NBA Jam in the early 90s.
NBA Jam was the first of its kind, featuring faster, innovative gameplay, very
few rules and some of the coolest slam-dunks ever seen in a video game. Jam
also led the way for extreme hockey, soccer, football and baseball games.
Years later, EA BIG Sports topped Midway’s masterpiece with NBA Street, a
highly-addictive street baller with cool, fictitious players, real street
courts and a number of impressive play mechanics. Now Activison is attempting
to top EA with Street Hoops. Have they succeeded? Let’s just say that if
both games were battling it out on the court, Street Hoops wouldn’t be able to
jump high enough to score.
Street Hoops is essentially
a watered-down, rule-filled version of NBA Street. It’s played from NBA
Live’s perspective with more players and a set of standard basketball game
camera angles, but the gameplay is very NBA Street-ish. Or at least it tries
to be NBA Street-ish. That’s the main problem with Hoops. From the very
start it feels like it wants to be something that it’s not, completely
forgetting its own identity. For this reason alone, Hoops is less appealing
because it lacks anything new to draw the player in.
But that’s not the only
thing that’s bad about Hoops. Unoriginality is acceptable every now and then
if the gameplay is as good as the title that "inspired" it. However, Hoops
not only copies other games, but it plays slower then them, too. I don’t mind
if simulation sports titles are a little slow, but extreme sports games should
never provide anything less than a fast, over-the-top, exciting experience.
Hoops fails to deliver in that aspect, trading speed for the complete
opposite. Much to my dismay, this results in a very mellow game playing
experience. Being mellow isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but here it
definitely isn’t a good thing.
Then there’s the rules.
"Wait a minute, did you say rules?" Yeah, I sure did. Street Hoops has too
many of them. Some can be turned on or off, while others, like "out of
bounds," are pre-selected by the game and cannot be changed. I know it’d be
unfair to hog the ball, so a shot clock seems logical, but isn’t that what
street play is all about? In real street games there are no refs, giving the
players the option to make up whatever rules they want. Another thing I could
have done without is the "out of bounds" rule. Why should I be forced to give
up the ball just because I shot it past the line? This is a fantasy video
game where anything goes. Or at least that’s what it’s supposed to be.
Polygon replicas of real
street courts, such as Rucker Park (in New York City) and Venice Beach (in Los
Angeles). Although not nearly as pretty as most other GameCube games, the
courts get the job done without displaying any ugly material. Players, on the
other hand, look as though they were created using a 3D modeler for the
Dreamcast. They don’t look bad, per se, but they don’t look very realistic
either, and the animation is not always smooth enough to handle the complex
movements of a street baller.
Street Hoops does have
one advantage over the competition: a four-player multiplayer mode. Granted,
the gameplay isn’t impressive enough to make the game worth purchasing, but
this is the only extreme basketball game available that allows four players to
ball out their differences simultaneously. If you’ve got four controllers and
at least three friends, Street Hoops is a good way to kill a weekend or two’s
worth of time.
Gameplay: 5
When two
beautiful people have a child, it is assumed that that child will grow up to
be beautiful. That is the theory behind Street Hoops’ gameplay. If NBA Live
and NBA Street had a kid, the results would be magnificent, right? Not in
this case. Street Hoops plays too much like a simulator where it shouldn’t
(slower speed, too many rules, etc.), but fails to deliver the depth that a
simulation sports game can offer.
Graphics: 5
The main problem
with Street Hoops’ graphics is that they don’t look entirely like a
next-generation game. They were dated enough on PS2, but they look even older
on GameCube, a console that contains around 30% more power than Sony’s
console. That extra power was not used to enhance the game’s visuals in any
way.
Sound: 4
Street Hoops
features a licensed soundtrack from many popular artists, including Ludacris,
DMX and Xzibit. Good if you like rap, bad if you don’t.
Difficulty: Easy
There isn’t much
of challenge involved here. Just steal the ball, slam-dunk and repeat the
process until the game is over.
Concept: 4
Street Hoops
would be a lot better if it wasn’t such a "BIG" rip-off. EA BIG Sports took
the genre to a new level, and it’s a real shame that this game couldn’t take
it even further.
Multiplayer: 5.9
Street Hoops’
saving grace isn’t quite graceful enough to raise its status, but it makes it
worth a rental.
Overall: 5
If you like your
basketball games to be a bit mellow, Street Hoops would be a nice addition to
your collection. But if you prefer a street baller that actually plays like a
street baller, there are better options out there than this.
