Reviewed: June 4, 2005
Reviewed by: Mark Smith
Publisher
Electronic Arts
Developer
EA Canada - Team Fusion
Released: April 25, 2005
Genre: Sports
Players: 1-4
ESRB: Everyone
8
8
9
9
8.7
Supported Features
Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)
It used to be that Midway was the only one who could get away with putting an arcade twist on popular sports titles, but EA has successfully infiltrated the market with their now-famous Street titles that cover NFL, NBA, and more recently, soccer. These games now have a huge following on the big consoles so it’s only logical they would spin this off onto the PSP.
NBA Street Showdown is a fairly competent port of the console version that manages to bring over all of the graphical goodness as well as some solid three-on-three extreme hoops action. Mix in some urban flavor and a thumping hip-hop soundtrack and you have one of the better sports titles to come out of EA since the launch of the PSP.
Showdown offers all of the standard gameplay modes as well as a nifty assortment of mini-games that are perfectly suited for handheld gaming. You can head to any of the stylized courts in a regular Pick Up game, Arcade Shootout, Shot Blocker, King of the Courts or test your skills in Party Play and Head to Head multiplayer modes.
Arcade Shootout is really fun and puts you in a first-person view where you have to make a shot at one of three hoops. You hold down the X to power the shot and it takes a bit of practice to get the timing down just right, especially when they keep moving the hoop on you.
Shot Blocker is even more fun than Shootout and puts you somewhere between the hoop and the three-point line. As other pros take their shots you must time the jump/block to swat the ball down. It gets a lot more challenging as the game progresses since the pros will fake or even pass to another player on the line. You earn more points the close you get to the three-point line and there are special bonus balls that reward you with extra points if you can swat them down.
For those of you who would rather not use the included NBA players you can create your own player or even your own team in the King of the Courts mode. There is also a very innovative profile customization feature called My Street that allows you to modify numerous settings then save your profile to your memory card.
Gameplay is surprisingly good for a handheld. You can control the players with either the analog pad or the D-pad; both worked well for me but the D-pad seemed a bit easier to pull of the trick moves. Tricks moves are executed with the square button and modified with the left and right triggers, while the X button passes, the circle shoots, and the triangle jumps, blocks, and rebounds.
The “Gamebreaker” feature works the same way it did on the console where you perform tricks and combos to earn letters that spell out “Gamebreaker”. When the entire word is lit your team can execute an unstoppable move that is realized with a stylish cutscene and obligatory post-shot celebration.
Defensively, you don’t have to worry about fouling. There are no refs and no penalties here. This is street ball after all, so all is fair. The gameplay is pure arcade with a lot of over-the-top action that is great fun whether you love basketball or just action gaming.
Everything you do in Showdown earns you points and these can be used later to purchase upgrades for your custom player and new items in the shop like players, uniforms, and courts. There is a ton of stuff to unlock in Showdown so you will need to earn lots of points to get it all.
I was really impressed with the graphics in Showdown. The players look great and the courts look better. The animation for the players is outstanding and there are some ultra-cool trick moves and super slam dunks. The PSP is really pushing out some serious visuals here with loads of detail, rich vibrant colors, and smooth animation.
The overall presentation has that definite urban flair about it with graffiti style fonts, earthy color schemes, and menu backgrounds that just feel very “street”. There are even subtle touches during the gameplay like spray-painted tags on backboards, brick walls, etc.
Showdown features a large assortment of urban and hip-hop tracks that combine to create a typical street soundtrack. It’s the kind of music you either like or not; hopefully you do because it’s all pretty similar. The EA Pocket Trax allows you to listen to all of these tunes or your own edited playlist, and there are some pretty fun animated backgrounds like bouncing basketballs and fireworks.
Sound effects are really great with realistic footsteps, bouncing ball, and powerful slam-dunks and rebounds off the backboard. There is some surprisingly good voice work for the commentary. Overall, this is one of the best sounding sports games on the PSP.
There is so much to do in Showdown, even after you have finished the main game, although once you play some of the addictive mini-games you might forget all about the King of the Court. And with the massive reward system you will be playing for weeks just to earn the cash to buy it all.
The multiplayer modes are exciting whether you choose the pass-the-PSP Party Play or hook-up with another local PSP via the wireless connection for an intense Pick Up game.
I’m from Indiana so I have to like basketball (or at least say I do) or they will ask me to leave. Thankfully, NBA Street Showdown makes it easy to enjoy this sport. I had a lot more fun playing this than I did the official NBA titles, but then again, Showdown forgoes the rules in favor of fun.
Plus, with all of the major players from all 30 of the NBA teams, and plenty of other historic legends and fantasy courts that you can unlock, this is one game you will be playing for a long time to come.