NBA Street Vol. 2

I remember when I first played Street 2 in 2003; it blew my mind. Now I popped the game for the first time in a few years and after the sequel NBA Street V3. Here is my thoughts about Volume 2 as a game and comparing to Volume 3.

While Street 2 might be visually outdated, the bright graffiti-style urban outlook still looks fresh. The players' outfits vary from denim shorts to track pants, while the legends use their old school uniforms. The courts look amazing and detailed. All of the visuals bring a different feeling than V3. While V3 brought a new artistic type of feeling and atmosphere, Volume 2 looks like a hot summer day in an urban setting. I like both styles as they are clearly a designed part of each games. Volume 2 has borrowed a lot of textures from EA Sports' NBA Live 2003, mainly cyberfaces. Some of the faces don't look so much like the real player, like Allen Iverson or Jason Richardson, but in this game the cartoonish style distracts the player's attention from cyberfaces, which can be a good thing.

The core gameplay is the same and used as a base in V3 ; 3 on 3 fullcourt. You get trick points by doing dribble moves, baskets, dunks and combos. At the same time your gamebreaker meter fills and when it's full, it's time for gamebreaker mode. In Volume 2 there are level 1 and level 2 gamebreakers. The level 1 gamebreaker is boosted dunk or a 3 point shot that can be blocked. In order to get gamebreaker 2 you will have to pocket your gamebreaker 1 and refill your gamebreaker meter again. Gamebreaker 2 is a sequence that can't be blocked and it's effective since it can give you four points and take one away from your opponent. The actual game sometimes feels a bit faster and more difficult than V3 and to me that is a good thing.

Volume 2 includes three main game modes that are Pickup game, NBA Challenge and Be A Legend. Pickup game is a single game you can play against your friends with any teams and rules available. In NBA Challenge you will face off against a division of NBA teams and when you have beat them all you will face the division's NBA Legends that you can unlock with a victory.
Be A Legend obviously is the main focus of the game. You will take your created baller on a journey through USA in different challenges and game modes. One thing I like Volume 2 over 3 that there is a noticable difference in NBA and amateur players in the game. It takes much more effort to get out of the "underground" than in V3 where you will be introduced to NBA caliber tournaments automatically. In 2 you have to work your way up and eventually the first NBA players will own the games in the first tournament. Once you add the first NBA player to your team the game starts to progress much faster and it feels very rewarding.
The last game mode is street school where you learn the basics of NBA Street 2. You will also receive development points that you can use in Be A Legend after completion of this game mode.

Now for the good parts, the areas that Volume 2 did so good and even better than the sequel V3. First of all, Volume 2's soundtrack is astounding. It brings the cream of mainstream and underground hiphop to the menus and games. In addition to the music the sound effects are juicy and lovable. The off-the-heezay includes a sample from Lords Of The Underground Exodus, I like to perform it just to hear the sound.
For hardcore basketball gamers and hoopheads (like me) there is also some features that Vol 2 has that V3 lacks. One is the replays. In Volume 2 you can see the whole move and the basket, might catch even the block before the hoop. The camera angles are also better thought of. V3 went in the wrong direction here in my opinion, since the camera angles and ridiculously short replay lengths didn't show you the whole ownage, just the dunk or the layup.
The biggest advantage with Vol 2 is totally customizable controls. When V3 let's you customize your dribble moves (and select 1 out of 3 sets), Vol 2 let's you assign ANY move into any combo you want, and this doesn't only go for dribble moves, it's for dunks and different shooting styles as well. For a hoop gamer this is digital heaven. You can dunk a honey dip with VC if you want or the Air Jordan dunk with MJ by pressing the right combination.

Now for the donwsides. Vol 2 of course has outdated rosters, way back from 2002-2003 season, so no LeBron, Wade for you. But for me, as a basketball gamer, this is a retro game. I like the fact that I can kick it with Vince Carter in Toronto and Michael Jordan in Washington (yes, Jordan is in the game).
Player creation and customization tools are the biggest miss in this one. Vol 2 clearly loses in customization; it comes from a time customization wasn't that usual in sports games.

Bottom line: NBA Street 2 was and still is a great basketball game. In some parts it even beats it's sequel, NBA Street V3, but mainly it can be clearly seen as the previous game. The game has a warm feeling and it is delivers to all senses, only thing that's missing is the smell of hot concrete. As an overall package of it's time and replaying value, it might just be better than V3.
If someone is thinking of still buying it, I'll give some advice.

For casual gamers: If you want to choose your baller's gear, ball against LeBron or make your own court, go with NBA Street V3. If you want a fun basketball game for a low price, haven't tried V3 yet, you could try Vol 2.

For hardcore console hoopheads: This game is a must have whether you have V3 or not. This game has as much style as the Dogg Pound in it's early days. The control's are more specific and customizable than V3, which seemed to be aimed at a more wider buyer range. And, this game got Jordan. What more do you need from a game?