Got game? (continued)

Above the rim

NBA Street V3 is a slam-dunk

The NBA Street franchise has been so critically and commercially successful, it’s tempting to say that all EA had to do with the third installment was not mess up. But that would belie how rare it is to find games as fun as NBA Street V3.

Not that V3 represents a radical departure from its predecessors. Games are still three-on-three street ball featuring real NBA players, with a premium on trick plays and nasty dunks. As since this is an EA Sports game (under the BIG imprint) released during the current development cycle, one of the most highly touted changes is — wait for it — a Trick Stick. Yep, the formerly useless right analog stick has been incorporated into the game play. Amazing!

All sarcasm aside, the Trick Stick in NBA Street V3 probably is the best use of the concept since Madden 2005 debuted the Hit Stick. Whereas previous trick options were limited to one button, the stick allows you eight more choices. The trick system is much deeper than in past installments of NBA Street, particularly because you can edit your trick list as you progress through the game, leading to untold numbers of trick-point-building combos.

Earning trick points still builds up the Gamebreaker meter, another aspect that shows a significant improvement. The Gamebreaker is still worth an extra point, and also deducts a point from your opponent’s score; however, when you begin a Gamebreaker dunk now, you can actually manipulate the Trick Stick in midair to pull off even sweeter moves. However, if you get too greedy and overextend your character’s ability to flip, fly, and funkify, he may wind up missing the basket altogether.

The Gamebreakers come with all the graphical bells and whistles you’ve come to expect, with one addition. After a monster slow-mo dunk, an ethereal script traces the outline of a royal crown on the screen — unless the player is a superstar, in which case his nickname is written across the screen. This leads to hilarity when a superstar has no nickname, such as Steve Nash (it says "STEVE"), and I imagine Chris Webber’s PR people are berating EA for not including his "C-WEBB" handle.

The single-player campaign also follows the way the EA winds have been blowing lately. You create a custom baller, pick up two anonymous teammates, and work your way up the ladder until you’re finally facing real NBA players. I’ve long opposed this style of one-player sports games, and that hasn’t changed; I’d much rather pick a real team and play a season with them (though you can always play a single game as any NBA team).

Nevertheless, it’s hard to fault the execution of V3’s solo mode. There are numerous types of games in which to compete (traditional, no Gamebreakers, dunks only, slam-dunk contests, and more), all of which earn you points to improve your custom character, as well as to unlock new courts and players.

Again, one of the big draws is the ability to unlock NBA legends, and this time you can do so by spending your hard-earned customization points. Bob Cousy costs 500 points, but Larry Legend costs 4000 (and he’s worth every penny!). As always, there are gag characters — this time you can unlock the Beastie Boys. Exclusive to the GameCube version are the Nintendo All-Stars, a team consisting of Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach. Though it’s not reason enough to recommend the GC version above all others (particularly because the PS2 and Xbox offer online play), it’s cool to see Mario dunk on Shaq’s head.

The graphics are an order-of-magnitude clearer this time around; every player is instantly recognizable at all times, and the animation is butter-smooth. Most of the courts are based on real-life locations, and though I can’t say how accurately they reflect their sources, I can say that they’re highly detailed and impressively rendered.

The audio is the game’s one glaring flaw. Besides the expected barrage of licensed rap songs, there’s an obnoxious, motor-mouthed announcer. I suppose it’s an impressive technical achievement to have relevant commentary spooling during game play, but this guy makes ESPN’s Sunday Night Football team sound measured and erudite. Plus, I don’t enjoy being openly mocked for shooting lay-ups.

For my money, the most fun way to play NBA Street V3 is against a friend (or friends). There’s just something about basketball that lends itself to trash-talking your buddies and shouting, "Daaamn!" at opportune moments. You can do those things in, say, FIFA 2005, but do you really want to?

Fans of the series will not be disappointed with V3, and those who have never played an NBA Street title should start here. This one’s a big winner.

Score: 9.0 (out of 10)

A damn shame

Mercenaries could have been a contender

There’s no greater tragedy than potential unfulfilled. Some games make good on bold promises; others never purport to be anything more than cookie-cutter. In between are games like Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, in which every moment of frustration is compounded because what-might-have-been is clear to see.

You could describe Mercenaries as a cross between Grand Theft Auto and Halo and not be lying, exactly, but you would be disingenuous. The game is set in the near future, in which North Korea has become a free-for-all war zone (there’s a stretch) where several factions — allies, Chinese, Russians, South Koreans, and North Koreans — vie for supremacy. As one of three guns for hire, you have the ultimate goal of capturing or killing North Korean dictator General Song and 51 of his subordinates, each represented by a different playing card (collectively, they’re known as the "Deck of 52"). Along the way, you can accept contracts from any of the warring groups in order to line your pocket.

The design doc for Mercenaries must have blown away some executives. The game takes place on one massive, contiguous level, which is populated by what seem to be thousands of soldiers and vehicles. Characters can interact with the environment in myriad ways, from hijacking trucks and tanks to flying helicopters to manning machine-gun turrets. In one of the game’s most innovative features, you can call in supply drops and air strikes anywhere you’d like, provided you’ve got the cash. The only thing about Mercenaries that doesn’t sound great is the bland title.

Ah, but then you start to play, and quickly it becomes clear that Mercenaries is, against all odds, a joyless, plodding exercise. The game delivers all the things it promises, but without élan.

The slow pace alone is maddening. Forget the interminable load times and the clunkiness of the navigational menus. The size of the Mercenaries game world, such a big selling point, often works against it. Far too often, your mission takes place on the other side of the map from where it’s assigned; sometimes it can take entire minutes to get there. Should you fail in your contract objectives, you have the option of starting over ... back across the map. To complete more-difficult missions, you’re likely to spend more time cursing — as you traverse the game world yet again — than causing sweet, sweet mayhem.

Even the mayhem, promised so lasciviously in the game’s marketing, is not what you might expect. Though there are vehicle-based missions, stealth missions, and giant explosion-based missions, most of what you’ll do is mow down drab-looking soldiers in subpar first-person-shooter-style game play. (The perspective is third-person, but the dual-analog-stick controls work the same as in most console first-person-shooter games. Play control is jerky, but at least the cross hair is forgiving, and most of your bullets will find their mark.)

Still, there’s great stuff here, even if most of it is great in theory rather than in practice. The game world is so alive: choppers and jets crisscross the sky, you encounter random firefights, and there are even reporters and civilians caught in the crossfire. I love how many different ways there are to complete each mission. The three characters you can portray really do offer their own strengths, though none is markedly more fun to play than any other. In many ways, I respect what Pandemic has done here more than I enjoy it.

If not for all the downtime and the generally sluggish feel of the game, this could have been great. In its excitement to make Mercenaries a deep, expansive experience, Pandemic left too much fat on the frame. Since it already missed a Christmas release (the game shipped on January 11), why not spend a little more time optimizing the details? Mercenaries even crashed on me at one point, which is the first time I can remember a console game doing that.

I sincerely expect better from the sequel.

Score: 6.0 (out of 10)

Mitch Krpata can be reached at mkrpata[a]phx.com