$20 GOTW: NBA Ballers (PS2, Xbox)

With EA sports in firm hold of the AFL, NFL, NCAA football, and just about any other conceivable real-life football alternative, similar fears were held about other sports, namely Basketball. Thankfully, the NBA realizes it can get more of a profit by having NBA Live, NBA 2k, and Sony’s NBA on shelves as well as arcade styled hoops games such as NBA street, and more notably, this 2004 entry from Midway.

Ballers creates a unique B-ball experience by focusing on 3 main aspects; the rich lifestyles that NBA players lead, the flashy slick moves you usually see streetballers preform, and one-on one/free-for-all basketball. You don’t play on parks or gyms, but instead you ball inside the players homes. You make use of fancy footwork in order to get around the court. You have customizable abilities and special tricks such as fire mode, which brings back memories of NBA jam. Over 60 NBA superstars are available, or you can create your own in the game’s “Rags to riches” mode. Here, you participate in a reality TV show as you take on all opponents on your quest to riches and fame. All this is accompanied by a hip hop/R&B soundtrack featuring a lot of up and comming rappers.
Although this is no NBA street, you could do a lot worse in the sports department. A sequel was released earlier this year, and that isn’t bad either. This is one of thoe games that is easy to pick up and play, but hard to master, although you’ll have fun trying.