[REVIEW] NBA Ballers: Chosen One (Xbox 360) - Needs some tweaking...

With the first round of the NBA Playoffs coming to a close, a lot of NBA ballers are beginning to get ready for their summer vacation. And according to the world of NBA Ballers: Chosen One, NBA superstars participate in a tournament during their summer breaks. Chosen One is the third game in the series this time focusing on the rise of your baller in a tournament against NBA superstars.

You begin by creating your character, choosing his size, position on the court and distributing his skills. There are a few modes on the game, but the meatiest is the Story Mode. When the game begins, your character has already created a buzz around the streets and you're able to enter the tournament. The games are prefaced with an in-studio segment from Chuck D, on some NBA Tonight type stuff.

There a variety of street ball games played in game. Some are just simple 1 vs. 1 to 11, and others are trying to come back from a 25 point deficit to win by 2 in about 4 minutes. Yes, it is possible. How, you ask? By racking up combo points, which lead to special moves, which can lead to your opponent not scoring at all during that four minutes or you can end the game on one shot.

How the combo system works is when you have the ball, you press X in combination with the triggers and shoulder buttons and a combination of buttons appear on the screen. Press them in the right order and time, you'll pull off some cool juke moves on your opponent, breaking his ankles or making a fool of him on your way to the basket. Now as you pull of the moves, your special move meter grows. There are three levels of the meter, each level giving a cool steal, dribble, shot or block. If you can get up to the third level, you can dunk from the three point line and win the game... even if you're down by 25 points. Yeah, sometimes it feels like you're cheating. But without the special moves and combos, some challenges would be ridiculously difficult, so the game is pretty much between a rock and a hard place.

It's also very slow moving. When running down the court, it feels like it's in slow motion. The character models don't look so bad, but there seems to be a problem with the camera, it really doesn't show the whole court. If you want to go to the corner and jack up a three, you'll be off-camera, thus not seeing yourself, making it difficult to time your shot. The entire gameplay feels like it needs to be overhauled, not that it's unplayable, but it's lacking in fluidity and makes it tough to enjoy. The other games modes include 1 vs. 1 matches, 2 vs. 2 matches, Baller Shootout Challenge, 3 Pt. Challenge, and Practice Your Skills. Online and multiplayer isn't so bad, but you still run into the same stuff as the single player campaign, it's just with other people.

Overall, NBA Ballers: Chosen One has a lot of great ideas and concepts, it was just executed poorly. Hopefully next time they can get it worked out a little better.

Q's Rating: 2.5 out of 5

1up.com: D+

Gametap: 7 out of 10

Check out the trailer here:

 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=afQ4GahgDDg