For a long time, NBA Jam was the arcade basketball game to play – at least until NBA Street came along, stole its thunder and delivered a swift pimp-slap for good measure. Although EA has tried to recreate the magic of “Street”-style play with other sports, basketball is the only one that seems to have had success. NBA Street Homecourt is the latest game in the series and the first to show up on the new consoles. Rather than making it a pretty looking rehash of past games, EA Canada has gone through and revamped nearly every aspect of the game, resulting in tighter, easier to understand mechanics and a very fun game of basketball.

Homecourt sticks to the more realistic characters from the last Street game rather than going with the caricatures seen in the first few games. While the players look and animate incredibly well, the most striking part about the entire game is its style. Everything is presented through a faded, grainy lens giving it the appearance of an old 8mm filmstrip. The washed out look isn’t something that will appeal to everyone, but I really enjoyed it and thought it gave the game its own personality – something many sports games are lacking. Several big, bold, retro-styled menus and other interface elements pop in during the game, adding to the game’s over-the-top feel.

Sound also has a retro feel to it. Few of the sounds appear in their entirety, though famous parts of songs are scattered throughout the game to add emphasis to things. Most of the time, you’ll hear players trash talking each other during games, which, again, adds personality.

NBA Street Homecourt sticks to the over-the-top arcade mechanics made popular by previous games. This is in no way a simulation, so if that’s what you’re looking for, you’re better off with NBA Live or 2K7. NBA Street is 3-on-3 gameplay where just about anything is legal and gravity-defying dunks, wild passes and speed-of-light ball handling is the norm.

Homecourt’s biggest weakness is the lack of any significant play modes. There’s enough here to keep you occupied for a little while, though not for a long time. A bulk of the gameplay is found in Homecourt Challenge. You begin by creating a player using one of the oddest Create-a-Player modes I’ve ever encountered. Rather than sliding a bunch of sliders around to modify a player’s look – you know, how every other game does it – you, instead, begin with two NBA player’s faces and merge them together in a digital version of Conan O’Brien’s “If They Mated” segment. The end results look okay, though you can come up with some really unique characters. For instance, my character ended up looking like ex-Alabama football coach Mike Shula - if he were black.

After creating a player, you assign him a position and playing style as well as creating a three man team. From here, you go around to different real street courts and take on other teams. Game types vary with each team; sometimes you may play a first to 21 game, while at others you may need to get 3 points ahead or only be able to dunk. Street ballers give way to NBA and WNBA stars, who will eventually join your team.

As you play in matches, your created player gains points towards the attributes you used the most in the game. So, if you concentrated on jump shots, your character will become better at those. After reaching a certain level, you can even designate a particular skill to max out, making a player unstoppable in that area. You can also purchase new gear to further enhance your team’s attributes.

Other than Challenge, you can enter Gamebreaker mode, where points only count if the Gamebreaker meter is full, or play in a straight 3-on-3 game with no bells and whistles. Online play is also around and includes the same match types, only with a human player on the other end.

Basic tricks dunks are easy enough to pull off, though it does take a little while to really get the concept down. It took me 2 – 3 games before I was really comfortable with both. Dunks took a little longer, only because in order to pull off some really great ones, you need to time your button presses. Tapping the button goes for a basic lay up, while holding it sets up a dunk. Once the press timing is down, you’ll have to make sure you release the button at the right time or you’ll end up blowing the dunk or, worse, stuck in the rim.

One of the increasing problems I’m seeing with a lot of games lately, especially EA games, is the lack of a good tutorial mode. The basic moves are explained through a labeled controller diagram, but the more advanced moves are left for exploration. I don’t mind learning through doing, though some sort of guided explanation would have been a great help.

The Trick Stick has been replaced with a new trick system that is just as deep, but much easier to use. Moves are mapped to the Square and Triangle buttons and, when tapped in conjunction with analog stick movements, create a number of fake outs and other fancy moves. The shoulder buttons add modifiers to the moves and help build up the Gamebreaker meter.

Once the Gamebreaker meter is filled, you can activate Gamebreaker moves. These drastically alter the gameplay. While the meter is active, player moves get even crazier and begin to resemble break-dancing moves. The time is limited, though, and you want to pull off as many tricks as possible before scoring, since the number of tricks can affect how many points you’ll get when you finally go for a score.

Dunks are another major weapon and are just as off-the-wall as the ball handling moves. Dunks follow the same mechanics as tricks, except that dunking is mapped to the Circle button. One of the newer additions involves one of your teammates kneeling on the ground and you jumping off his back. Another addition are double dunks which are much harder to pull off and can be either the best thing you’ve ever seen or the cheapest depending on who is doing it. During Gamebreaker sessions you can even go for triple dunks, which take even more skill.

Defense isn’t as flashy as offense, but it is just as important. Things that would usually be marked as illegal in standard NBA games are completely legal and encouraged. Goal-tending is the only way to make sure your opponent doesn’t score, though you can always try to steal the ball or push him, making sure he doesn’t get close to goal in the first place.

NBA Street Homecourt is an all-around great game. I’m not the biggest of basketball fans, but I found myself spending much more time than I originally thought I would with Homecourt. The only downside is that the game is incredibly short and shallow. However, the gameplay more than makes up for it and sets a great foundation for future games.