When a game steps outside of a traditional genre, it needs to be able to appeal to all ages and all types of gamers - NBA Street delivers in all departments. The excellent tutorial system will have even the most unskilled gamer playing competitively in no time, still leaving plenty of extra skills to master along the way.

Graphically NBA Street is acceptable but not overwhelming. While the courts are a pleasure to play on (with crowds, cars and various other animations taking place in the background), the players themselves seem to lack frames of animation and tend to move in a somewhat jerky manner. This is a little unusual considering the relatively few number of players on court compared to a normal basketball game and it's a shame because the animations used for slam dunks and trick shots are nicely motion-captured and realistic - the frame rate in general remains consistent with little or no slowdown evident. When the action gets going however, you will tend not to notice the graphical shortcomings as you find yourself having the time of your life actually playing the game.

EA have added certain gaming elements that make the game unlike other arcade-style basketball titles and the developers have borrowed heavily from SSX for its trick-based points system. It's not just about shooting hoops - A player can be the king of the court all they like, but trick shots are where the skilled player will really shine. How does it work? Gamebreaker mode. As you perform more tricks during a game your Gamebreaker meter will slowly fill up - when it's full, your players will switch into Gamebreaker mode. This mode is very similar to Midway's rumble mode (which they used to great effect in their boxing title Ready to Rumble), causing the scoring system to change. Not only will the Gamebreaking player get their normal amount of points when they score a basket, but their opponent will also lose the same amount of points from their score until the Gamebreaker mode wears off. This causes the player to balance normal scoring with performing trick shots, with whoever achieves that balance most effectively tending to win the match.