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 real shock is that, nearly 14 months later, Chosen One doesn't live up to the tech, the style, or the ambition of EA's "Homecourt." The game has far too many flaws -- and far too little polish and juice to make it worth playing.

Chosen One offers a decent arcade basketball experience, but its short single player and weak online options ultimately keep it from unseating the current street champ, "NBA Street Homecourt."

NBA Ballers: Chosen One is a battle game. Think Street Fighter meets the NBA, and that's where the game is in its element.

So yeah, Chosen One has its woes, but gameplay is what’s always made this series fun. If you’ve got some tolerance and some RTFM time, Chosen One will deliver.

There's no reason to pick this one up, regardless of how bad you need a basketball fix--there are plenty of cheaper, better options available.

The graphics look cleaner, but more artificial. The create-a-player is functional, but nothing spectacular. Character development looks good on paper, but not in practice. The addition of combo minigames is interesting, but takes away more than it adds.

If you don’t care too much about precise game play, Chosen One is a good, brainless time. Otherwise, the game just becomes infuriating.

NBA Ballers: Chosen One has some enjoyment if you play in short sessions.

A game that focuses on its themes rather than gameplay or functionality. The theme is definitely the building of your "baller" status, though the process of doing so is sometimes nonsensical given the rule system and gameplay mechanics.

NBA Ballers: Chosen One feels like a relic, like an old arcade game that’s been given a fresh coat of paint, but no additional gameplay depth. Like an old arcade game, it’s fun for awhile, but unless you have nostalgic feelings for, well, the other two Ballers games, you’ll probably get fed up fast.

NBA: Ballers: Chosen One has all the right stars but when it comes to the game, it lacks the stylish action that made this series such a blast to play.

Midway didn't update its roster (Jason Kidd plays for Dallas, not New Jersey), the story mode (what there is of it) makes no sense and the artificial intelligence is quite boneheaded.

Nearly an identical, less-than-stellar experience on the PS3 or 360 (save for knowing what you unlock after each episode on the PS3), NBA Ballers: Chosen One feels like a step back for the arcade genre.

Despite some flaws, Chosen One is immensely fun and brings a wider audience to the delights of shooting hoops. [Issue#32, p.84]

While Ballers hits from long-range with pretty graphics and plenty of Cribz-esque intros and unique elements, it clangs off the rim a bit with its Chosen One storyline execution.

NBA Ballers: Chosen One tries to do too many things at once, never really succeeded at any of them.

The multi-player is still addictive and beefing up your baller is simple enough for anyone to enjoy, but the problems float a bit too close to the surface for fans of the genre to ignore.

Ballers is just too glitchy, ugly and frustrating to be worth even a rental.

Some of the fun of old wacky b-ball games has been replaced by what's perceived as cool. [June 2008, p.72]

Play basketball on half a court while Chuck D disses your sister. Nope. [June 2008, p.79]

A half-decent title.Midway have brought in a few interesting ideas to spice up street basketballand whilst a few of the ideas work, a lot of them let the game down.

I could go on for much longer, pointing out the weightless feel of your player, the cheap and featureless last-gen graphics, the repetitive and unimaginative play-by-play banter, the purposeless customization options or the usually desolate and ultimately just as crappy online multiplayer. But that would be treating the game as if it had tried, when it’s apparent that this baller was looking to ball the pooch all along.

We're not saying it's disastrous, but it is so lacklustre, so tepid, so unrefined and unbalanced that it can not be recommended as anything other than a sub £10 purchase.

This latest NBA Ballers seems to have been built in a vacuum. [June 2008, p.79]

In the case of NBA Ballers: The Chosen One, not only is concept stale, but some of the new features hurt the game more than help push it to the next level.

NBA Ballers: Chosen One lacks better production values. Career mode is short, combos should be more varied, and some objectives don't make sense.

Street basketball is all about over the top game play. However, it’s more fun when you feel like you’re making those moves, instead of watching it unfold on the screen with minimal interaction.

A treat for fans and better than "NBA Street." [June 2008, p.66]

Compared to the likes of NBA Street or the highly underrated Street Hoops, NBA Ballers: Chosen One seems sluggish and contrived.

NBA Ballers: Chosen one is a game all about super dunks, slick moves and fancy dribbles. Unfortunately Midway has missed out on one essential ingredient necessary in all great sports games: getting the player interested. With bleak graphics and shoddy controls, not even playing with a friend can help this game from being utterly mediocre.

This is one for the hardcore basketball fans only, as they are likely to enjoy the short-burst addictive action it has to offer. With that said, don’t expect to find any challenge here.

An abundance of cheap tactics and bland gameplay make this one title that will forever be warming the bench.

In one word: mediocre.

As far as street or arcade-style basketball games go, this is a far cry from what you'd expect. Taking too many strides towards "legitimate" basketball loses all of the charm, and frankly the fun-factor, that we've come to expect from this genre.

NBA Ballers is a scatterbrained game that never decides quite what it is, and at no point resembles anything good. The game is only impressive in just how badly they miss the mark.

It's not NBA Live, it's not NBA Street and it's not NBA 2K. And playing Chosen One you'll be reminded of this every couple of minutes.

NBA Ballers: Chosen One is a title that has solid basics in place, but it really needed a lot more time and budget to get everything just right. As it stands, the title is a buggy, unpolished mess with easy-to-use, overpowered moves and gameplay that is often more frustrating than it is fun.

Chosen One is a decent enough romp for a couple of nights play, however it's hard imagine you'd invest any more time than that. It fails to exceed the fun factor, and overall quality, of similar games to come before it.

We do applaud Midway for trying to do something new here, but the repetitive nature of the gameplay, complicated controls and most importantly the clip played over and over again during game time really kills off any chance of this game competing with Home court.