What Parents Should Know
Parents should know that this game brings professional
basketball players to the street courts where they learned
their skills. As a result, the playground game is a bit more
raw than those played in an arena. There are no referees, so
players are free to push opponents down and take the ball.
There's constant trash-talking on the court, and while it never
rises to the level of vulgarity, it doesn't really promote
sportmanship either. At the game's core, though, is a theme of
people rising above neighborhoods marred by poverty or
violence.
Families that play this game should talk about the role basketball players take in popular culture. Like Shaquille O'Neal's Superman tattoo, do NBA stars have a superhero quality about them? How do their personal struggles -- often against poverty and violence -- inform this image? Does this influence the aesthetic and storyline of this game? How has hip-hop and video game culture changed our perceptions of basketball?
Common Sense Media Review
Any video game-playing parent who was a teenager in the
early 1990s should remember the days of NBA Jam. The wildly
successful arcade mainstay featured the era's all-stars
battling it out in a high-flying, two-on-two showdown. Player
launched into the air, did multiple flips, and threw down
monster dunks on their opponents, leaving a trail of smoke in
their wake.
NBA STREET HOMECOURT sets a new standard for the arcade-style basketball games that trace their lineage back to NBA Jam. And while impossibly acrobatic dunks still define the game, it's a new twist of elegant realism that elevates the title to Hall of Fame status.
The game features four modes of play: Homecourt Challenge, Gamebreaker Battle, Trick Battle, and Back to Basics. The most interesting of these is Homecourt Challenge, a career mode that allows players to create their own player and develop their skills. As they ascend through the circuit of legendary street courts like New York's Rucker Park, the Venice Beach courts in California, or Cloverdale courts (homecourt of NBA star Carmelo Anthony who graces the game's cover) in Baltimore, players face stiffer competition from a squads of NBA and (in a refreshing twist) WNBA players. Players recruit new ballers to upgrade their team, expand the flamboyance of their moves, and freshen up their look with new (often branded) uniforms and shoes.
What brings the outrageous gameplay back down to earth is the respect EA has for each player's story, and how their basketball success resonates with his or her personal history. In beautiful, HD video Rip Hamilton talks about using the courts of Philadelphia to get out of a desperate situation, MVP Steve Nash details his unlikely Canadian high school history, and Carmelo Anthony recounts the time he won the respect of everyone in his neighborhood. This understated sense of history is a welcomed addition to the cartoonish court showdowns.
Other game modes showcase some of the game's playful functionality. Trick Battle is all about stringing together combinations of the Homecourt's signature tricks -- from simple crossovers to the elaborate "Trifecta Dunk" where the ball passes through the hoop three times. In the Gamebreaker Battle, players score only when they fill a power-up meter that allows special moves and deducts points from opponents. Back-to-Basics is simple three-on-three ball, with the special rules turned off.
All of this, plus impressively rendered, stylish court settings and fluid -- if demanding -- gameplay make NBA Street Homecourt the basketball arcade game to beat.
For other baller games, take a run at NCAA 07 March Madness for fun with college players, and Mario Hoops 3-on-3 for basketball arcade play on the Nintendo DS.
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information to help parents make media and entertainment choices for their families.
