Streetball Review (Android)

Written by Craig Will (puffkix) Sunday, 09 October 2011 11:00

Looking to play some hoops on your Android phone? BatteryAcidGames' Streetball may be the answer you've been searching for, especially if you want to play as Abraham Lincoln.

Reminiscent of NBA Jam, or more recently EA's NBA Street, this is two-on-two no rules streetball. No rules really just means no goaltending as there doesn't seem to be a way to push other players down… 

There are 3 game modes and a tutorial:

• Tutorial - Um, gives instructions on how to play
• Two on Two - The team with the most points at the end of 4 minutes wins
• First to 21 - Play to 21
• H.O.R.S.E - Take turns shooting. Each miss gives a letter. First to spell out HORSE loses.

For the two exhibition modes (ToT and Fto21) the controls are simple and the standard fare for phone games that require controls. A virtual stick for movement is in the lower left corner while the action buttons are in the lower right corner. Those buttons change function based on which team has the ball. If you're on offense then the left button is passing while the right button is shooting. On defense they are steal and block, respectively.

As far as strategy and gameplay goes this game isn't too deep. You only control the player that you selected before the game, though you can call for the ball and your teammate will pass it to you 9 times out of 10, and shooting is controlled by pressing and releasing the button when the meter is as close to accurate as possible (defined by a green line). Defense boils down to little more than standing in front of their hoop and jumping when the ball gets close. Since there is no goaltending it doesn't require anything more than this. This is also the most viable strategy because hitting the steal button can be cumbersome due to it's position and your player will end up jumping instead.

The game mode that really stands out is H.O.R.S.E. You take turns with an A.I. opponent trying to sink pre-determined shots by tracing the line on the screen. The lines vary from triangular to wavy to a shoe looking shape and add an almost puzzle aspect to the game.

It would have been nice to see some multiplayer support via wi-fi, at least for H.O.R.S.E where players could take turns making up their own shapes to draw, but I've yet to see a phone game that offers decent MP support so it's hard to actually find that as a fault for this game. Other than the controls being clunky or a bit laggy, there isn't anything to dislike about this game. It's no NBA Jam but it is a competent streetballer on your phone.