NBA Street Showdown Review (no fat)

Game Description

NBA Street Showdown Gameplay

Things start out much too easy, but get a lot tougher towards the end. Gameplay is rich and varied, with both single player and multiplayer modes that come up with enough variety to keep gamers busy and entertained.

You can create your own basketball player and customize him as you wish. Also, you can make and customize your whole team. This adds individuality to the game, since you can pit your team against a mates' or against the computer teams and see how well you can do.

The King of the Courts mode presents you with the challenge of taking on players whom you have to beat to own their courts. With no rules to keep them back, the opposition AI is sharp and they dont give an inch if they can knock you back to get to the ball. However, up against the crude play of the opposing team is the almost inactive AI of your own team. If you are not controlling a player, he isnt very likely to charge at the opposition player and block him off.

NBA Street Showdown Controls

One problem with this title is the lack of the trick stick which aided the previous PS2 title. With the trick stick you were able to pull off over 40 moves with the right analog stick, but without the right analog stick on the PSP, you have to make do with the square button and the left and right paddles for variation. This means that there are less tricks to use in this version of the game and less accuracy with the moves as well. In fact, there might be times you may pull of something spectacular completely by fluke. The idea is to keep a straight face and not let anyone in on the secret.

Even apart form the dearth of tricks, the controls can be termed slightly sluggish; there is a slight time lapse between pressing the controls and actually getting the player to go through an action. The result is annoying to start with but you get used to it as you play on.

NBA Street Showdown Mini Games

The mini games add to the flavor of the game. The Shot Blocker is perhaps the best of the lot as you stand in the way of players shooting at the basket. The closer you are to the shooter, the more points you earn.

The first person mini game, Arcade Shootout is another diversion that might catch your fancy. It doesnt match the defensive play of Shot Blocker but its challenging all the same, starting with multiple baskets that and a colorful background to baskets that move around to make things even tougher.

NBA Street Showdown Multiplayer Gameplay

The Street Showdown is fun when you're playing multiplayer as well, party play is also fun through the ad-hoc multiplayer gameplay. Its also possible for four player to compete together on one PSP so you can compare points and see who comes out best.

NBA Street Showdown The Graphics

The graphics on Street Showdown are pretty well done. They are nice and bright, and even as they don't match up to the graphics which are on consoles such as the PS2 or the Xbox and the characters look blockier, but they are just what you expect for a game which is on a hand held.

The load times are a little long and can get pretty annoying when all you want to do is just get on with the action. The game lighting is on the darker side so it can get tough to spot the ball on some courts. The overall atmosphere created by the game stands well with the theme of NBA Street Showdown.

NBA Street Showdown - The Audio

Although there aren't too many tracks in the game, they are subtle enough not to detract from the gameplay. EA has also included the feature Trax into the game too, so you can watch the sound tracks in the game visualized onto the screen as well.

The intro commentary is done well and the sound effects and atmosphere effects are good. So there cant be too many complaints about the whole audio setup at all.

NBA Street Showdown Summing Up

Even though it doesn't nearly match up to its PS2 counterpart, if you want a basket ball game on the PSP, NBA Street Showdown is a collectable.

NBA Street Showdown Cost

NBA Street Showdown currently retails for $49.88