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Also this issue: Icepack |
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July 3- 9, 2003
naked city
 Julius seizer: Dr. J takes it to the hoop (in a Nets jersey) in NBA Street Vol. 2. |
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Hip b-ball game skips the hardwood and takes it to the street.
The NBA Finals have wrapped up. The Sixers still can't figure out how they let the Pistons beat them four times. Penn and St. Joe's both got knocked out of the NCAAs three rainy months ago. For the area basketball fan, genuine thrills are few and far between.
Enter NBA Street Vol. 2 (EA for PS2, Xbox and GameCube, $45.95), a ridiculously good time. With Commissioner David Stern's blessing, you can compete in high-flying games of three-on-three using authentic players from every NBA roster. Match up bitter rivals or create your own lineup from a virtual waiver-wire. Street also has 25 NBA legends at the ready, including the Doctor, the Human Highlight Film, Pistol Pete, Magic, Chocolate Thunder and His Airness.
Every player possesses an arsenal of trick moves at the ready to flummox the opposition. Taunt your defender by bouncing the ball off his noggin. Kick-pass an alley-oop to a teammate for a gravity-defying slam or pull up for a soft fade-away three, silencing the crowd's taunts as the ball rips through the chainlink netting with a satisfying clink. All the while, classic hip-hop tracks by Black Sheep and Pete Rock & CL Smooth play on the soundtrack. In Season Mode you travel the nation, going up against each city's best street ballers and NBA stars, swiping players from the teams you defeat. Don't forget to make a stop on Broad Street to battle against some local heros.
The wider the variety of tricks and combinations you execute during a game, the more respect you're going to get. Earn enough style points in a game and you can use a "gamebreaker" to take points away from your opponent. Winning tournaments at the toughest courts in the country pockets you some extra money, which you can spend on throwback jerseys so sharp they would make the good folks at Mitchell & Ness blush.
The game is easy to learn, thanks to an outstanding tutorial feature that teaches you how to execute every move through trial and error before you step on the court, from a simple chest pass to a two-handed block shot high above the rim. Follow the encouraging words of Bobbito Garcia, the voice of NBA Street Vol. 2, to learn button combinations that will leave everyone else frozen in their high-tops.
While Street is a high-wire act of impossible dribbling and creative jams, the game separates itself from fundamental disasters on your TV like StreetBall or the And1 MixTape by staying rooted in fundamentals. One-touch controls give you the option of setting hard screens, sacrificing your body while diving for a loose ball rolling free down the macadam or running sweet pick-and-rolls. To win games you're going to need to do the one thing that most street ballers never grasped: Play defense.
Thirteen years after graduating from college, I finally bought a motor vehicle -- a minivan, to be precise. How sad is that? Never got the Miata I longed for in the early '90s (but I did rent a PT Cruiser once!). No cool ride interrupted my progression from the pieces of shit I drove in high school to the four-wheeled symbol of suburban banality I now pilot. Fortunately a copy of Midnight Club II (Rockstar for PS2, Xbox and PC, $49.99) arrived in time to take the edge off my searing disappointment. Set in L.A., Paris and Tokyo, MCII plays off the same basic premise as its predecessor did in New York and London: getting together with other speed freaks to race, cause accidents and run down pedestrians in a not-quite-indestructible-but-damn-close car. At first I was far less interested in the racing than I was in creating mayhem. Gunning for pedestrians is especially fun; they’re fairly agile and will yell when you narrowly miss them, but sail satisfyingly through the air when you clip them at high speeds. But then I met Maria, a saucy young Latina racer whose repeated taunts -- I love when she calls me idiota -- drew me into the thrill of the chase. The controls are smoother and more realistic than I recall them being in the first version -- weaving in and out of traffic at 125 mph is just like I remember it from my coked-up sprints down the AC Expressway as a teenager. And in II you can choose the soundtrack. (After five years of living near South Street I finally understand the appeal of blaring crappy dance music while driving.) Winning races unlocks new, faster vehicles, and I’m hoping for a bitchin’ Grand Caravan with machine guns. —Frank Lewis
What went wrong? The concept of an action-combat motorcycle-racing game has great potential, but a gasket on Speed Kings (Acclaim for Xbox, PS2 and GameCube, $39.95) was blown before the rubber touched the asphalt. Somehow, the appeal of watching a bike disintegrate as it careens into oncoming traffic lasts all of about five minutes. Less than stellar visuals compound Kings’ problems as well as one of the poorest soundtracks this side of Britney’s Dance Beat. Online play is nonexistent (which is a shame only because there’s no one with whom to commiserate). True gear heads will find it hard to justify spending 40 bucks on this when there are far superior games in this genre on the market, including Moto GP 2 and Midnight Club II. Coasting across the finish line, Speed Kings is neither fleet or regal. —Chris Newborg
Sporting underground fighting throughout the five boroughs against and amidst a roster of hip-hoppers, Def Jam Vendetta (EA for PS2 and GameCube, $49.99) is a wrestling-based grappling game that delivers Fight Club beatdowns for the bling-bling sect. Impress with a swift knockout, or use psychology to work over specific parts of your opponent’s body all around the ring until he goes limp. Vendetta’s tutorial leaves a great deal to be desired, featuring short video clips instead of letting you try out moves and tactics on your own. While the game initially presents you with just a small number of playable second-tier Def Jam rappers to control (Keith Murray, Capone, W.C.), you can unlock heavy hitters like Method Man, Redman, Ludacris or DMX by beating ’em each silly in the game’s story mode, as past and present Def Jam hits blaze on the soundtrack. As your generic avatar battles, he’ll be presented with money, stiletto-heeled women fighting for his attention, new threads and the opportunity to do copious, impossible damage with preposterous slow-motion finishing moves. Spend your hard-earned winnings on additional strength for the next fight or reward yourself in the photo gallery with new snapshots of your devoted shortie. — Jon Solomon
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