For all the dribble control at your disposal, the shooting is more of a
random affair. You can’t select whether to lay it in or throw it down, and the
dunks are selected at random. Each player in the game is rated in numerous
categories including dunking and shooting skills and these ratings have a
greater effect on your shot success than anything else. Your job is primarily to
get yourself to a position where you can set up for an uncontested shot or drive
it to the hole.
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| Duncan finds his path bloacked. |
If you want to try a little force over finesse, the game includes a post-up
feature. When you decide to post-up, a power meter appears to represent the
pushing between you and the defender. From there it is a question of who can
press the X button faster, with the winner pushing the loser either towards or
away from the basket.
As you may have guessed there’s not a tremendous amount of defense in the
game, although a defensive stop can completely swing the momentum. Defense is
primarily keeping yourself between your opponent and the basket. You do have two
steal keys at your disposal and with a little bit of practice and timing you can
get your fair share of steals. Also, you can interrupt an offensive player’s
move or combo by timing the button press correctly, but it can be a bit tricky
to time it right.
NBA Ballers has several modes of play. There’s the obligatory quick match
that allows you to pick an NBA player to play as and one to play against in a
standard match. The game has 84 pros included, but most of them will need to be
unlocked by playing the game’s other modes. There’s also a 1 on 1 on 1 match
which works like the standard match except that there are three players
competing to be the first to reach eleven, with the other two players defending
against the player with the ball. The main modes of play though are TV
Tournament and Rags to Riches.
In the TV Tournament mode you play as an NBA player in a series of one on one
battles with other NBA stars. Each tournament has a theme, such as playing
against a series of number one picks. The tournaments are tiered, so you’ll need
to complete the tournaments at one tier before unlocking the next. Each time you
win a tournament you unlock a player for use in the game. As you move up the
tier the competition gets harder, but you also get the opportunity to unlock the
NBA’s bigger stars.
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