NBA Ballers PS2 Review Denver CO

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Basketball games are divided into two sections; simulation and arcade, and there are fans for both. NBA Jam is one of the most well known basketball games because its over the top dunking mechanism and there has been various other basketball games which can firmly be called arcade games released over the years. What the developers have tried to do with Ballers is introduce a new element to the sport and that is the lifestyle off the court of an NBA player. The game is fairly decent but there is a few problems with it that keep it from being a game that lives long in the memory like NBA Jam.

While NBA Ballers contains a number of game modes, the main mode features a storyline where you build yourself from unknown player through to one of the most well known players and with everything that comes with that. The game has been built with the help of some of the biggest stars of the NBA and it really shows. Ballers is built around a reality television show where you play through a number of tournaments taking on progressively tougher opponents to win your way to the lifestyle of the stars . The storyline is fairly decent but it has one issue and that is it just doesn't appear enough to make you want to keep playing.

NBA Ballers is one on one street ball which may turn some people off straight away. It means that the key to victory is the skills of your player which build up as you win matches throughout the various tournaments you have to enter during the storyline. Although NBA Ballers is not a simulation in the vein of NBA Live and other games, don't expect to see ridiculous dunk moves or anything else you may see in an arcade game because the players come to play street ball and that means tough hits and rough play. The game is not easy to get into and this is another problem with the title.

The single player game is made up of a number of tournaments which is expected but how they are constructed is what really dampens the enthusiasm for the game. To win a tournament you have to win three matches in a row which on paper is ok but considering you have to beat each player twice before moving on it makes the tournaments extremely long and it gives the feeling the game is artificially extended. This is one reason why the storyline components do not appear enough. Also, moving away from the simulation aspect of the game you can also unlock the ability to perform normally illegal things such as unlimited goal tending. This kind of goes against the rest of the game which seems to be a simulation of the sport and lifestyle. It's not a good feature because it can't be turned off for fans of non-arcade titles.