Concept: The basic concept of this game is to...what is this? Play basketball?! You play either a comp. controlled team or you buddy's team made up of 3 NBA/Custom players. My personal favorite here is the fact that you can not only choose from the many current NBA stars of today, but you can also choose from the 25 NBA old school legends such as Walt Fraizer, Rick Berry, and Micheal Jordan! Another option you have here is basically a "story mode" type of thing called "BE A LEGEND". In this you can create you own player, costumize thier stats, give them special moves and whatnot, then you throw them on the street and try and make them big. Overall, the concept of this game goes above and beyond the classic basketball videogame. 20/20
Graphics: As you may have noticed, this is the XBox we're talking about here, the graphics for this system have not been beaten by any consle thus far in video game history. Vol. 2 continues the reputation by losing the cartoony graphics from the original and going in a more realistic direction for its XBox debute. My only problem with the graphics here is that they get a little choppy in some spots, glitches are frequent but luckily do not effect game play at all. Also when the game stops so you can see a "replay" of an impresive move or trick the camera view is constantly blocked by another player. 15/20
Sound: Hip-Hop is the best suited style of music for this type of game, and Vol. 2 packs some of the best freestyle and old school rap songs I've heard in a while. Another cool thing while your ballin' it up is that if you find the game playing a song you don't like, you can simply press a button on your controller to skip to the next. Sound effects for this game are pretty cool too, the ball doesn't make a bouncing noise while in mid air, unlike other basketball videogames that try to make the dribbling realistic. You can also hear crazy one-liners from the players and the "host" of this game; MC Bobbito Garcia, such as: "WHOA! Who called in the SWAT team!?" This is of course optional in case you hate bald white dudes with wierd names that try to be rappers. 15/20
Gameplay: The EA Sports "BIG" franchise is known for quick and easy to learn controls, Vol. 2 is know exception. If you need a quick lesson on how to do certain manouvers, you can simply select the "Street School" option from the menu and learn all the basics and more. On the down-side though, you have the Xbox controller, one of the most confusing videogame controllers out there to date. (HINT: If you used to another system's controller, play this game for another system because it's currently out on all next-gen consoles) 13/20
Replay Value: Belive me, you won't get tired of this game anytime soon with the new REWARDS feature. You gain "reward points" for playing really good games with your friends, graduating "Street School", completing "Be A Legend", and many other crazy ways. You cash in these reward points any time you want and recieve special jerseys, unlock more NBA Legends, gain "development points" for you custom players, and unlock new courts to play on. You won't get tired of this game anytime soon. 18/20
Overall, if you were a big fan of the last NBA Street, or just love 3 on 3 basketball, Vol. 2 is best basketball video game out there. If a Vol. 3 is underway, I suggest they fix up the few glitches in the system and lose the dorky announcers...because those are the only things keeping me from giving this great game at least a 95.
FINAL SCORE: 81/100
