Midway’s NBA Ballers is not a bad game. It does at times feel as if it is trying to cash in a bit too much on EA’s NBA Street, but it is a pretty good game in its own right. The design is solid and the actual play mechanics are fun. As a two-player game for a couple of friends, it harkens back to the Dr.-J-and-Larry-Bird-Go-One-On-One days – just good, solid B-ball fun. But as a full blown game package, it is missing something I can’t completely put my finger on.

NBA Ballers bills itself as inviting gamers into the world of top NBA players as they compete to determine who is the best baller of all time. “All time” describes it well as Midway has licensed 60 current NBA stars and another 24 legends of pro basketball.

The basic play is rounds of one-on-one basketball in three game matches. First player to 11 and two points ahead wins the round. Winning two out of the three rounds gives the player the match. There is a two-minute time limit on each game.

Rags-to-Riches is the story mode of NBA Ballers. Some not-too-creative TV executives have come up with yet another reality show. In this one they will take a street baller and give him a chance to work his way up to playing the best the NBA has to offer for fun and prizes. The player creates the physical form of his character with the extensive character editor, gives him a name, and then assigns a limited number of attribute points, 400 to be exact, to the different basketball skills areas that will determine how the character plays. As money is earned, the player may come back to the skills screen and add more points. Some of the skills and talents that go into a well-equipped baller won’t be immediately available. Money again buys special moves like the Ally-Oop and Stunt Dunks for your character. As the player progresses through the game he’ll earn money that can also be used to enhance his lifestyle. Cars, houses, and “bling” may be had for the money earned.

Truthfully, the whole rags-to-riches thing left me flat. Buying skills and unlocking players with money is one thing, but cars, houses and even personal items with winnings seemed pretty lame. Fantasy is nice, but I’m not sure this kind really works in a game. The story line did not click either. Of course that could just be me.

Other modes include TV Tournament, Versus and Quick Play. TV Tournament lets the gamer unlock more players for future use by winning the tournament. Versus is a game between the player and any of the unlocked players at any of the available play venues. (It’s really fun for two human players.) Quick play is like Versus but the computer picks the players and venue.

Played as a single-player game, NBA Ballers just never felt right to me. It seemed each new opponent was like a new puzzle that you had to figure out a good counter move to and then you could win and move on. Also way too much is locked at the beginning of the game – especially players. There are enough statements in the manual that codes can be entered, so it is likely the locked players and courts will be open to everyone soon.

Where I feel the game really shines is when two human players get behind the controls. While NBA Ballers seems to offer more moves and combinations than any basketball video game before and has lots of great licensed characters, when played multi-player it really boils down to two fallible humans battling it out one-on-one on the court. That seems to me to be the pure essence of playground basketball and video games all in one. It is a real pity that Midway did not see fit to include Xbox Live support for NBA Ballers. I could see this as a great game to play with a friend online – just the two of you playing a little B-ball and talking trash to one another. Oh well, opportunity lost.

There is also a rather bizarre 1 vs 1 vs 1 mode that allows three players to all be on the court in an every-man-for-himself battle. It may sound strange, but it actually plays pretty well. While I have not found a third person to make this an all-human game, I’m really looking forward to it.

Where NBA Ballers does get full respect from me is in the area of graphics. The players are large and detailed with some great animations. The settings for the action are also great, whether you’re playing down at the playground or at one of the lush homes of the NBA stars. This game just looks outstanding.