OK so here is the plot to NBA Ballers “The Chosen One”, apparently every year after the NBA play-offs, the top players in the NBA decide to take it to the streets and compete in a street ball tournament, the winner of this tournament is then dubbed the “Chosen One.” Well where do I sign up for this prestigious honor?
I have to say that I have played almost every version of NBA Street and NBA Jam and thought perhaps NBA Balllers may provide some of the same fun, but boy was I wrong. I played a bit of the game and created my own Baller, that is what cool basketball players are called now a days apparently. The creation of your character is horrid, the character models look emaciated and picking your look and style is cumbersome at best. The best part is picking a nickname, I chose Dice because I like craps, hard 8 FTW!
Chosen One just feels clumsy, the controls are mediocre at best and the graphics really leave much to be desired. You play basketball on neon courts with ridiculous outfits on against NBA superstars. In perhaps one of the worst modes ever imagined, 1 v 1 v 1, you have three players playing at the same time in a free for all style basketball game. There is also a mode where you don’t have to clear the ball, this may sound like fun, but it is actually very annoying as there is no structure to the game and all you do is stand under the rim and dunk away to win.
The game so far has not been much fun and I have tried different modes and things to try and see if I can change my mind, but I just cant get into this title. The super moves are a bit too over the top and give you some odd percent increase to certain stats, but it all feels forced. Players seem to run across court very slowly and trying to break a players momentum and get him to turn is like moving a Mack truck for some reason. I don’t understand what they were aiming for here since I thought this would be an arcade style basketball game that would provide a fast paced game, but instead we get some kind of hybrid simulation basketball game where I get to pimp out my Baller? For a game I had very high hopes for this one has let me down something quite badly.
Look for the full review of this one shortly as it will be leaving my 360 and going back to Gamefly very soon.
