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| The Entertainment Review |
| Genre: Sport Developer: Midway Publisher: Midway |
When the first game in the NBA Ballers series first hit the basketball gaming scene in 2004 on the Xbox and PS2, its main focus was to
offer gamers a simple, over-the-top basketball game for adults. It was a hit from the day it was released. Now, four years after the first
release, the series has finally made its way to the next-generation gaming systems, the Xbox 360 and the PS3 with “NBA Ballers:
Chosen One.” This newest addition to the series has revamped how it looks visually and how the game plays through its mechanics.
The only problem is that almost every new addition to the game was either unnecessary or was added in such a way that almost makes
it irritating to the gamer.
As with all of the games in the NBA Ballers series, players are put to the task of creating a custom player to use throughout the game.
The Create-A-Player system works at the bare minimum and doesn’t offer anything close to what is available in a typical Tiger Woods
Golf game. Players will then pick a nickname, assign attributes to their player to make them the best player for the position of the
gamer’s choice and then it is off to the court to pursue the opportunity to be crowned as the NBA Baller’s Chosen One. Of course, like
most games that have players assign attributes, there is a laundry list of areas that players can put attribute points. Luckily for gamers,
this game doesn’t have players assign points past the creation of their player, instead, the game automatically assigns the points to the
areas in which the player did well during the game. The only problem with this is that it is very difficult to raise attributes in some areas
of the player’s arsenal.
The game’s Career Mode is pretty easy to follow, but lacks in diversity. There are six different episodes in which to play and each
containing a handful of chapters to be completed in each episode. Each episode has an introduction from Chuck D explaining more
about the competition that players will be up against. This introduction is against the backdrop of an NBA studio, making it look like
players are watching a television show following the career of an up-and-coming basketball star. It is fairly entertaining and effective for
the game at first, but it gets to be a little irritating towards the end of the game.
Once players have listened to Chuck D and his introduction to the episode, players finally have the chance to take to the court and play
some ball. This time around players are offered more than the typical one-on-one duels throughout the game. If players so choose,
they have the opportunity to play two-on-two full court games if the mood hits, but it doesn’t add much to the game overall. Same thing,
longer court. Also, there are different sets of rules that will be given to the player at the beginning of the match. This gives players a little
bit of diversity in game play, but after the first two episodes, all the rule sets have been seen and players have seen all that the game
has to offer. One of these confusing rules is the “No Take Back” rule. As any basketball player knows, this rule means that players don’
t have to take the ball out beyond the three-point line after their opponent misses a shot. This also means that there is no reason to
check the ball. In the end, this means that all it takes is a good rebounder to win the game because a single missed shot can turn into
10 points quickly. Luckily most of Career Mode is played with traditional rules.
Yet again players have the ability to use combos throughout the game. The only problem with the combos is that it is sometimes very
difficult to hit the combo, and when a combo is started, there is really no way to understand how it was started. Also, players have the
ability to use super moves that show a major turning point in the game, through a steal or rejection.
The rest of the core game play from past games is still intact and plays similar to other games in the series. The three-point shots are
a little bit more difficult to make this time around, but that should be expected. The animation at times seems to be a little too realistic
for a Ballers game, and the game didn’t run as fluidly as past versions. Also, the artificial intelligence in the single player mode isn’t
very realistic. It main consists of players constantly taking the ball and shooting baskets, rarely ever having the ball stolen away.
The environments in “NBA Ballers: Chosen Ones” offer a mixed bag of content. The environments are extravagant and over the top and
the introductions are completely obscure, but are kind of cool at the same time. The main problem with the overall animation of the
game is the before mentioned jumpy animation during game play and the player models are a little misshapen at times.
Overall “NBA Ballers: Chosen One” delivers a lot of what it has delivered in its past games. With only a few new additions that do
nothing but hurt the game as a whole, the game offers an experience that is enjoyable only for a little while. The multiplayer action is fun
if players can get their friends to sit down and play, but that isn’t enough to shell out $60 for this game.
offer gamers a simple, over-the-top basketball game for adults. It was a hit from the day it was released. Now, four years after the first
release, the series has finally made its way to the next-generation gaming systems, the Xbox 360 and the PS3 with “NBA Ballers:
Chosen One.” This newest addition to the series has revamped how it looks visually and how the game plays through its mechanics.
The only problem is that almost every new addition to the game was either unnecessary or was added in such a way that almost makes
it irritating to the gamer.
As with all of the games in the NBA Ballers series, players are put to the task of creating a custom player to use throughout the game.
The Create-A-Player system works at the bare minimum and doesn’t offer anything close to what is available in a typical Tiger Woods
Golf game. Players will then pick a nickname, assign attributes to their player to make them the best player for the position of the
gamer’s choice and then it is off to the court to pursue the opportunity to be crowned as the NBA Baller’s Chosen One. Of course, like
most games that have players assign attributes, there is a laundry list of areas that players can put attribute points. Luckily for gamers,
this game doesn’t have players assign points past the creation of their player, instead, the game automatically assigns the points to the
areas in which the player did well during the game. The only problem with this is that it is very difficult to raise attributes in some areas
of the player’s arsenal.
The game’s Career Mode is pretty easy to follow, but lacks in diversity. There are six different episodes in which to play and each
containing a handful of chapters to be completed in each episode. Each episode has an introduction from Chuck D explaining more
about the competition that players will be up against. This introduction is against the backdrop of an NBA studio, making it look like
players are watching a television show following the career of an up-and-coming basketball star. It is fairly entertaining and effective for
the game at first, but it gets to be a little irritating towards the end of the game.
Once players have listened to Chuck D and his introduction to the episode, players finally have the chance to take to the court and play
some ball. This time around players are offered more than the typical one-on-one duels throughout the game. If players so choose,
they have the opportunity to play two-on-two full court games if the mood hits, but it doesn’t add much to the game overall. Same thing,
longer court. Also, there are different sets of rules that will be given to the player at the beginning of the match. This gives players a little
bit of diversity in game play, but after the first two episodes, all the rule sets have been seen and players have seen all that the game
has to offer. One of these confusing rules is the “No Take Back” rule. As any basketball player knows, this rule means that players don’
t have to take the ball out beyond the three-point line after their opponent misses a shot. This also means that there is no reason to
check the ball. In the end, this means that all it takes is a good rebounder to win the game because a single missed shot can turn into
10 points quickly. Luckily most of Career Mode is played with traditional rules.
Yet again players have the ability to use combos throughout the game. The only problem with the combos is that it is sometimes very
difficult to hit the combo, and when a combo is started, there is really no way to understand how it was started. Also, players have the
ability to use super moves that show a major turning point in the game, through a steal or rejection.
The rest of the core game play from past games is still intact and plays similar to other games in the series. The three-point shots are
a little bit more difficult to make this time around, but that should be expected. The animation at times seems to be a little too realistic
for a Ballers game, and the game didn’t run as fluidly as past versions. Also, the artificial intelligence in the single player mode isn’t
very realistic. It main consists of players constantly taking the ball and shooting baskets, rarely ever having the ball stolen away.
The environments in “NBA Ballers: Chosen Ones” offer a mixed bag of content. The environments are extravagant and over the top and
the introductions are completely obscure, but are kind of cool at the same time. The main problem with the overall animation of the
game is the before mentioned jumpy animation during game play and the player models are a little misshapen at times.
Overall “NBA Ballers: Chosen One” delivers a lot of what it has delivered in its past games. With only a few new additions that do
nothing but hurt the game as a whole, the game offers an experience that is enjoyable only for a little while. The multiplayer action is fun
if players can get their friends to sit down and play, but that isn’t enough to shell out $60 for this game.
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