Phenomenally Yours
The sequel to Midway's rags-to-riches street hoops title is here.
Published: March 31, 2006
"NBA Ballers: Phenom is a unique combination of the franchise's highly praised, fast–paced basketball gameplay and the culture of today's professional athlete celebrity," giggled an excited Steve Allison, chief marketing officer at Midway. "Midway is continuously looking for ways to improve the player's ability to fully customize and interact with the game environment and to ultimately make decisions throughout the gameplay experience that affect the end result. NBA Ballers: Phenom retains the over the top basketball gameplay that Midway is known for while also offering the player so much more, both on and off the court."
See, now normally we'd piggyback off this by filling in something that a normal quote would have missed out on, but ol' Steve pretty much nailed everything. Sure, it's buried under the usual thinly veiled chest beating, but Ballers is a fairly unique title, and may finally land that sweet spot between basketball game and lifestyle simulator.
It's not like they're alone in this regard. Sony's definitely onto something with The Life, their balance of team player vs. human highlight real balancing in NBA '06, but Phenom takes a different approach, leaving the on-court stuff simple, but giving you the option to make a name for yourself entrepreneurially with a record label, Hollywood career and apparel line.
It's impressive that an NBA-licensed game would even give you the option of becoming a basketball star without necessarily hitting the big time, but then there's a lot about Phenom that we find intriguing. We should have a review in the next few days or so, but if you just can't wait until then, the game should be available in stores by the time you read this, if not tomorrow. Check back later to see what we thought, or sound off now on the forums.
See, now normally we'd piggyback off this by filling in something that a normal quote would have missed out on, but ol' Steve pretty much nailed everything. Sure, it's buried under the usual thinly veiled chest beating, but Ballers is a fairly unique title, and may finally land that sweet spot between basketball game and lifestyle simulator.
It's not like they're alone in this regard. Sony's definitely onto something with The Life, their balance of team player vs. human highlight real balancing in NBA '06, but Phenom takes a different approach, leaving the on-court stuff simple, but giving you the option to make a name for yourself entrepreneurially with a record label, Hollywood career and apparel line.
It's impressive that an NBA-licensed game would even give you the option of becoming a basketball star without necessarily hitting the big time, but then there's a lot about Phenom that we find intriguing. We should have a review in the next few days or so, but if you just can't wait until then, the game should be available in stores by the time you read this, if not tomorrow. Check back later to see what we thought, or sound off now on the forums.