- Publisher: Play by Play Studios
- Release Date: Jun 9, 2026
- Also On: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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Jun 26, 2026NBA The Run belongs to the category of unrealistic, but all the more fun titles. It is built on famous players from the overseas league and short sessions, where you either lose and start over, or win a victory in a micro-tournament. You will not find other game modes here, and the absence of local cooperation and the obligation to have a subscription to online services on consoles are also very frustrating.
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Jun 22, 2026NBA The Run will live or die based on the adjustments it continues to make post-launch. Several improvements and bug fixes have already made an impact, but there's (always) more to do. The problems are fixable, but they detract from the experience right now. It doesn't feel good to waste time watching a measly 60 XP stack up after a first-round exit when the time is better spent loading into a new run. It doesn't feel good when the game tells you your max-handling player just fell down performing a dribble move with no one around and full stamina. But it feels good to play overall. No matter which player you like most, you're not pigeon-holed only into one playstyle. It simply feels good to learn the moves and counters to get better at the game. Basically, it feels great to play a game, and a little less great to play multiple in a row, especially when you're stacking losses. It's telling that one of my biggest issues with the game is the speed at which it lets me play the next tournament, after all.
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Jun 17, 2026NBA THE RUN is an exciting and fun basketball game that pits two teams of three players against each other in street games. Featuring many real players and fast-paced gameplay, the game aims to bring back an experience that is no longer very common in the industry.
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Jun 16, 2026There is little to complain about regarding the purely aesthetic and technical aspects. The game employs a comic-book art style; while the athlete models may not boast an immense level of detail, they closely resemble their real-life counterparts and feature convincing animations that—despite the expected stylistic exaggerations—faithfully capture the players' actual movements. The environments are varied and detailed, alternating between real-world courts, such as the one at Venice Beach, and entirely fictional ones. The frame rate is solid, as is the netcode; out of the dozens of matches played, there was only a single instance of a total connection failure.
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Jun 16, 2026It has been over a decade since a proper NBA street-style experience has come out (I'm not counting you NBA Playgrounds), and NBA The Run looks to fill that void, albeit barely. Though its gameplay is reminiscent of the classic NBA Street series, it fails to become another cult classic with its lack of offline game modes, legends, and hip-hop soundtrack.
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Jun 11, 2026NBA The Run plays a fast and fun game of basketball, but there's not a great deal of depth to keep you coming back time and time again.
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Jun 9, 2026NBA The Run plays more like a distant descendant of the NBA Street series than a successor, which isn’t a bad thing. Although the two share certain traits, like their curated roster of NBA stars and street legends, an ample rotation of carefully crafted courts, and the sultry, ever-present vocals of DJ Bobbito Garcia, The Run’s core principle of online, run-and-gun action over the classic single-player arcade approach makes it a much more exciting and enticing present-day package than its predecessors. Unfortunately, its emphasis on pushing you through a steady flurry of quick matches is also where its biggest weakness lies. While this modern, run-it-up style might work for the first several runs, the games played, highlights made, and championships secured all eventually blur together, turning the excitement of those first title wins old much too soon. Don’t get me wrong; the runs are still undoubtedly enjoyable in short bursts, but they also turn the simple joys of playing and winning into a mass-produced good, a thing practically given rather than earned, and that means I was usually ready to pack up and head home before the lights were too low to see the rim.