NBA Ballers: Chosen One [PS3]

The super-move is the second piece to the game busting additions. After completing a combo or a few of the Act a Fool moves that fans of previous Ballers titles will remember, you'll earn energy towards your super-move meter. A level one super-move can be used to pull off a steal or a fancy dribble. A level two super-move lets you pull off a super-shot or a super-block and a level three move is a game ending slamma jamma.

But none of that sounds too debilitating, right? Well, it's more the presentation of the super-move that destroys the experience. Activating any super-move automatically starts a six to seven second cutscene. That's right, a cutscene that cannot be skipped comes in and completely disrupts the flow of the gameplay. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if you could quickly bypass it or if it wasn't presented with identical camera angles each and every time. Then there's the fact that the animations that are activated simply aren't cool. Soaring thirty feet in the air and pulling off acrobatic moves before stuffing the ball would have been preferable to seeing your player kick the ball around with his feet and then shooting it like a seal would at Sea World. Oh, and when the ball goes through the basket when using a super-move the net doesn't react at all which makes it feel amazingly artificial.

The rest of the core gameplay from past Ballers games is still intact and plays just as you remember. Three-pointers were said to be a little tougher this time around but I had no problem bringing the rain once I got my shooting attribute up to a respectable level. The animations seemed a little too rigid in all aspects of Chosen One. Whether it's performing a simple flick of the right stick or doing a bona fide Act a Fool move, it didn't feel like the fluidity had progressed from the Xbox versions. Breaking out of an animation is another thing that Chosen One lacks. There were moments when I felt a little out of control of my player when using the right stick alone.

Another failing of the solo action is the artificial intelligence. Here's how the bulk of my games went. Check the ball, perform full combo, dunk the ball, get level one super-move. Check the ball, perform super-steal, perform full combo, dunk the ball, get level one super-move. Repeat until victory. There are different win conditions that force you to change your strategy bit, but the AI is just as stupid regardless of the rules.

So by this point you should have realized that the single-player aspect of Chosen One isn't the main draw. It's more a means to the end of getting your custom player to a level where he can compete effectively online or against your buddies locally. That's where the real fun of Ballers has always been and it's no different here. You can now hook up four players on one system and participate in a two-on-two full court game. That's when the smack talk can really get going and when Ballers is at its best. Of course you can also take the game online, but that's only for the standard one-on-one games. Still fun, but not quite the same as linking with three other friends and letting the good times roll.

Visually NBA Ballers: Chosen is a mixed bag of sorts. The extravagant environments look good and the zany introductions, while completely ridiculous, are kinda cool nonetheless (though the video quality is poor). The real problem with the look of the game is the aforementioned rigid animations which simply don't pack the wow factor that you'd like from a title like this. The player models look solid, if not a bit misshapen here and there. It's always obvious if you're playing Shaq or Dwight Howard, but some details are just slightly off.

The audio portion follows suit with a soundtrack that is serviceable, but features nothing that you'll catch yourself singing after the fact. On the court the rim rattles with authenticity and the commentary does its job, but like the rest of the package there's nothing memorable about it.

Closing Comments
Overall NBA Ballers: Chosen One delivers more of the same gameplay from the Xbox version, but with new additions that do nothing but hurt the overall formula. The multiplayer action is still fun if you can get enough friends to sit down and play with you, but that’s probably not enough to warrant the sixty dollar expenditure.

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