'HOMECOURT'S' ADVANTAGE.Byline: Redmond Carolipio Staff Writer LeBron James leaps 25 feet into the air, spinning around twice before slamming the ball down on someone's head. But before the ball hits the ground, he catches it with his feet, tosses it into the air, launches himself off the rim like an acrobat, flips, catches it and dunks it again. This brand of Cirque du Slam is commonplace in EA's latest basketball game, and it might be the most hoops fun you'll have on a console. Through all the craziness that is "NBA Street Homecourt NBA Street Homecourt is the fourth game in the NBA Street series. It was released for the Xbox 360 on February 19, 2007[1] and for the PlayStation 3 on March 6, 2007. The Denver Nuggets' Carmelo Anthony is featured on the cover. ," Electronic Arts has created something of a paradox. Even though this game doesn't resemble anything close to real hoops, it manages to capture something that many disenchanted dis·en·chant tr.v. dis·en·chant·ed, dis·en·chant·ing, dis·en·chants To free from illusion or false belief; undeceive. [Obsolete French desenchanter, from Old French, NBA NBA abbr. 1. National Basketball Association 2. National Boxing Association NBA (US) n abbr (= National Basketball Association) → Basketball-Dachverband (= fans have been looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. -- pure, unadulterated un·a·dul·ter·at·ed adj. 1. Not mingled or diluted with extraneous matter; pure. See Synonyms at pure. 2. Out-and-out; utter: the unadulterated truth. fun. In other words Adv. 1. in other words - otherwise stated; "in other words, we are broke" put differently , this game has a soul. It feels pure. Much of the atmosphere comes from the game's "homecourt" approach. You can play 3-on-3 pickup games at a variety of real-life parks and courts that have earned reputations as training grounds for some of the NBA's top players. In my mind, the courts are the real stars of the game. Visually, they're beautiful. From the way the light reflects off the hardwood floors in the Brand Jordan gym to the dusty, grimy look of Kentucky's Dirt Bowl, every park is teeming teem 1 v. teemed, teem·ing, teems v.intr. 1. To be full of things; abound or swarm: A drop of water teems with microorganisms. 2. with historic, soulful energy. Of course, if you saw any of the "Street" stuff in a real game, you'd think you were hallucinating hal·lu·ci·nate v. hal·lu·ci·nat·ed, hal·lu·ci·nat·ing, hal·lu·ci·nates v.intr. To undergo hallucination. v.tr. To cause to have hallucinations. . At the core of the game play is an assortment of ankle-breaking ball tricks and impossible, cartoonish dunks. However, as much as I enjoyed playing, "Homecourt" does have a few holes in its game. For instance, the amount of unlockable content is lacking. Aside from shoes, outfits and the ability to use squads of NBA players from a specific hometown, I was a little bored with them. But I can't complain too much. In the "NBA Jam" days, you used to run into guys that would do nothing but fire threes all day and there was NOTHING you could do about it. Not in "Street." Not anymore. Overall, I found this game to be a wacky, brilliant change of pace from the humdrum of NBA simulators. It's the kind of game that could inspire someone to go outside and shoot around with some buddies. But I'd leave the crazy dunks to the game. NBA STREET HOMECOURT - Three stars Platform: Xbox 360. Rated: E for Everyone. In a nutshell: Might be the most hoops fun you'll have on a console. |
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