NBA Street Homecourt takes b-ball to its roots in the finest installment in the Street series yet. Trash talking, acrobatics, and showboating are the main attractions here. The game is not a realistic portrayal of basketball, which should appease casual players looking for fast-paced fun. On the other hand, the game includes real NBA and WNBA players which should attract fans that follow the sport. It’s a pretty all-encompassing package that I think can be enjoyed by everyone.

The NBA Street series does away with traditional basketball rules and replaces them with more exciting "street" rules. All standard buckets and dunks are worth one point, long-range shots and special dunks will earn you two, plus you can travel and goal-tend to your heart's content. Typical games will end when either team reaches twenty-one points. What I like most about this setup is how easy it is to pick up and play a quick game since most won’t last more than a few minutes. You’ll pull off flashy tricks to fill up your “Gamebreaker” meter that can earn you up to six points when triggered, quickly turning the tide of the game. These segments really heighten the tension as defenders try and steal the ball away along with your points.

The main single-player game mode is the “Homecourt Challenge,” where you start off as a small fish in a small pond and work your way into the big leagues. You begin by creating your own player (by morphing two existing NBA players’ faces) and building a team from the local boys. By completing challenges such as beating your opponent by 5 points, or dunks-only games to 21, you will level up your skills and unlock new gear to wear. This mode is addictive and it is a lot of fun to watch your rookie turn into a dunking monster. There is a central storyline, but to be honest I just skipped through most of it since none of it is integrated into the game play. To me, the story is the weakest part of NBA Street Homecourt. Thankfully, it does not hold the game back from delivering its great on-court action.

EA brought its A-game to the presentation of Homecourt. The same rendering technology from other EA titles are in effect here and, wow, do they look great. The environments are extremely realistic and the lighting is top-notch. The character models still feel rubbery by comparison but don’t look out of place due to the unrealistic nature of the game. The animation is super-fluid; players will move from trick to trick, jump-fakes and shot cancels all without any noticeable stutter. The dunk animations are, in a word, crazy. Players can do flips off of the backboard, barrel rolls and helicopter spins to name a few. The game is as much fun to watch as it is to play.

I like the control setup and it works the way I want it to most of the time. Shooting and passing are done with ease and dunking is especially rewarding. By holding the B button as you go up for a dunk you can build up the meter. If you release the button at the right moment your one-point dunk will become a two-point double dunk. I love this feature and never got tired of pulling it off. My complaints with the controls lie with the "Trick Remixer". Different combinations of the X, Y and trigger buttons will perform different tricks; I always felt like I was button-mashing and hoping for the right action to occur when it came to tricks. Luckily things tended to work out in my favor, but I had many "I didn't mean to do that!" moments.

The retro-soundtrack along with the visual presentation lets off a 70's vibe appropriate for Homecourt's purist themes. Ambient sounds and trash talking between the players also succeed in coating the game with urban flavor. Sound effects are the show-stealers, though. There's nothing like dunking all over your opponent and hearing the backboard bend and buckle under your power. Finesse shots from the 3-point line bring equal satisfaction when accompanied by the simple "swish" sound of the chain-link net. I wish the game would have had more than one signature song for the Gamebreaker mode (Herbie Hancock's "Rockit"). I love the way it is used here, but it becomes very repetitive and eventually takes away some of the excitement and anticipation during Gamebreaker runs.

NBA Street Homecourt is the kind of game that will be successful because it does a good job of pleasing basketball fans while still being loads of fun for non-fans. It is a blast to play with friends, too. It belongs among the ranks of recent EA titles like Def Jam Icon and Fight Night as a true evolution of the franchise and not merely more of the same. For those simply hunting for achievement points, this title is a great way to rack up nearly a thousand just while completing the main game. A must-play.