Thi game is great
User Rating: 9.1 | NBA Street V3 PS2
NBA Street V3 combines stylistic lighting with a hip-hop art direction that looks like a cross between Def Jam: Fight for New York and NBA Ballers. In fact, the team behind the three-man teams have a goal to surpass the quality of player heads boasted by Ballers while at the same time adding more details and definition to player bodies and muscles, not to mention the dozen or so courts they'll be playing on. The mood and the attitude of the game can be seen from the first dribble as the level of shadows and shading on the playgrounds, not to mention the funky color schemes that seem straight out of graffiti lore, capture the Street style to a tee, or T-Mac, whichever you prefer. From the walls that have been moved in closer to the court to the chain-link fence surrounding Rucker Park to the green court with red lanes and white lines that pop from the screen, V3 hopes to enhance the imagination behind the moves through the embellishment of the chic urban spirit you'd expect to witness if you were sitting on the asphalt in the NYC watching a pickup game. Only difference is, this pickup game features Starbury, Stevie Franchise (in his new Happiest Place on Earth blue), and The Truth. To add to the look of each player, each superstar will be customizable in terms of alternate outfits and unlockable accessories. Like I said, LeBron's already sporting a chain with his jersey in the version I saw, but if you want to fix him up even more, you'll be able to give him a new look from his headband to his kicks. But the graphics don't stop with alternate outfits as the game will also feature double the amount of player animations. The trick system has evolved to include all of the humiliating moves of bouncing the ball off of your opponent's head that you saw played out in slow motion in Ballers, only this time you're going to see it at 60 frames-per-second and the results are truly staggering. I saw one play where Paul Pierce rolled on his back, flipped the ball between his legs and jumped up into a two-footed dance step before ooping the rock to a streaking LeBron for the jam. To top things off, the development team is talking about adding even more layers to the trick system, comboing one move into the next to build into a new GameBreaker system that they promise will have 10-times the impact on gameplay than the last iteration of the series. The development team up in EA Canada also promises a better balance between offense and defense, recognizing that the last game was too much of run-and-gun game. V3 will see individual players playing even more into their strengths, this way Shaq won't be bringing the ball up for the Heat breaking ankles as he takes it coast-to-coast. If you want to be successful, you'll need Dwayne Wade handling the rock as Shaq uses his big body to work down low in the post. Not that the game is turning into X's and O's, but it's not NBA Jam either where players are virtually interchangeable. This year, you'll want to know that Brent Barry is your man behind the arc, Tony Parker has handles, and the Big Fundamental has all around game. Get the names and the games confused, and you might just get run off the court, even if the Spurs are one of the top teams in the league. The legends will also be back with a new look to compliment the new courts, including two new courts in New York that are supposed to be the new hotspots for street hoops. Once you've figured out your game, your favorite team, and even your favorite courts, you'll then be able to bring your skills online for the first time in the series for both the PS2 and Xbox. EA promises more than just simple match-ups between teams, what that is, however, they're still not saying. If you thought the enhancements between NBA Street and Vol. 2 were something, think about this: The jump between the first and second game saw an increase of five times the content. The jump between Vol. 2 and V3…10-20 times in terms of new content and features. Add in the unique look, the best player models anyone has ever seen in a basketball game, maybe a sports game period, and you're talking about a package that Hakeem couldn't even dream. 
