NBA Ballers: Chosen One

Rating Everyone Genre sports Publisher Midway External Links NBA Ballers Website

Chosen One is the most recent title in the NBA Ballers series and it is definitely showing its age. Originally released in 2004 for XBox and PS2, the first Ballers title let us create our own baller with the task of taking him from a nobody to a somebody in a series of high profile street matches far from the normal NBA venues, much like that of rival series NBA Street’s “Become a Legend” mode. Unfortunately this iteration comes up lacking in many respects.

To start lets take the game’s signature super moves. These are the over the top showboating moves aimed specifically to humiliate your opponent as you launch the ball over his back, swipe it from him as he looks on in a stupor, or do a slow motion semi-over-the-top dunk. The moves themselves are fine to look at the first one or two times, but the fact that they are essentially uncontrollable 10-second cut scenes means that they break up the pace of the action more often than not.

Ballers sports traditional street rules and a combination of 1v1, 2v2, and 1v1v1 match styles, the most frustrating of which comes in the form of 1v1v1 with the optional rule of no ball checking. This rule, combined with some sketchy rebounding mechanics make these matched nearly impossible early on as your wannabe baller watches as his opponent repeatedly rebounds and shoots unless you shove him out of the way. Passing also suffers early on while raising your passing and ball handling skills. Quite often you find yourself running down the court after a stray missed pass from your teammate or having it intercepted when utilizing the games crowd interaction passing in the 1v1 modes. Mechanical issues such as these coupled with the somewhat steep learning curve of the intricacies of Ballers’ controls make early play quite frustrating.

Chosen One’s story mode, however, is quite solid and lets your wannabe rise through the ranks as the new street phenom through a series of chapters, each of which has their own specific goals. Some of which can be frustrating in their own right such as the ‘comeback’ matches. In these matches you have a set time limit to recover from a point deficit that you start out with. Most of the frustration doesn’t lie in the specific match type itself but more so in the needing to replay the match over due to the control issues mentioned above. It’s through this mode that you also unlock clothing and new super moves for your created baller.

NBA Ballers: Chosen One is an average arcade style b-ball game that’s held back by some poor development decisions and graphics that rival first generation Xbox 360 titles. If you find yourself walking the fence between this and NBA Street: Homecourt, the latter is definitely the better choice. Although, some true ballers out there might find some fun in Chosen One’s act-a-fool and showboating mechanics in short bursts.