NBA THE RUN Review: Spiritual Successor to NBA Street

Do you miss old arcade sports titles? Do you wish that even the core ones could get updated without dealing with mods on PC? Simply taking the idea of something from the source material and making it modern. Something like NBA Street from twenty years ago? Well, NBA THE RUN is that spiritual successor to NBA Street, and it has been created from the ground up with help from the Creative Director that worked on the legend twenty years ago. These developers want the new generation to experience the same thing, but modernized with online play.

Game is Lit, Fam. 6-7, Must be the Shoes

Kids don't know about the days of premiere arcade sports games. The only experience that is similar in terms of basketball is taking to The City in NBA 2K or playing the Threes mode. Sure, there have been a few arcade NBA titles in recent years, but these hid behind microtransactions. NBA THE RUN does not do that, albeit you will be grinding for the CRED, which is the in-game currency. That's okay, though, because games last anywhere from 5–7 minutes at a time as you progress through 4 rounds of a tournament.

NBA THE RUN is 3v3 basketball featuring 40 of the best stars in the NBA today, along with Street Ball legends that were created for the game. You won't be creating your own player, but customization is available with unlockables. This isn't deep and everything costs a good bit of money, but the big thing is that there is nowhere to purchase CRED with real money. The development team wants you to be engaged, and it's easy to do so. Leaving the game makes you crave more. During the multiple-hour period that was provided for this review in terms of having servers available, the time completely flew by.

NBA THE RUN features rollback netcode. This is a sports game, not a fighting game, so the connectivity was seamless online. There are no teams as you will choose individual players who are distinct in their skills and their design. The artwork is cel-shaded mixed with a street graffiti aesthetic. This game does run on the Unreal 5 Engine, but no performance issues were experienced on PC. It isn't a very demanding title.

NBA THE RUN is the Only Sports Battle Royale

Most battle royale games have a bunch of players drop in, attempt to eliminate each other, and survive a map that closes in to shore up the best competition. That's literally a tournament, but for a different realm. In NBA THE RUN, you'll play in THE RUN tournament. This is four rounds with the option of playing on a squad of three with Knockout Squads or building a team of three where you can switch players with Knockout Solos. The option for a private tournament with Knockout Friends is available. 48 players can be invited to play in this tournament, or alone against the AI or with friends against the AI.

You earn CRED by competing in tournaments. There's a roulette wheel that decides modifiers for each game. These games only last a couple of minutes, and if you complete the entire tournament, it takes about fifteen minutes. If you lose, you bounce out and rematch for a new tournament. There are a few concerns or questions about how some things work. It seems bots with names are in the game that fill in open positions, but you can never really tell other than eliminating anyone who has custom banners. It would be really nice to know if a position in a game is a bot as there isn't really a purpose to provide a fake name.

You choose your team of three on the main screen, and then entering a match brings those same players in. Does it match up for others who selected these players? Does it just pull in someone who chose that? This may not even be an issue once the public comes into the servers after launch, but it would be nice to have some context on how that is working. Because there are times where if that is the AI, they're doing non-AI things. NBA THE RUN is fast-paced and offers a fast-turnaround for eliminations, thus making this a battle royale. Developer Play by Play Studios has even stated this was the direction it wanted to go in terms of the premise. There's no narrative mode or real single player mode. It's the idea of 3v3 NBA basketball online, since NBA Street did not have the capability.

How does NBA THE RUN Play?

This game plays like its spiritual predecessor, but the speed of it could still improve. It helps to have faster players, but it's hard to tell the difference when holding down the Turbo button. Players can achieve "In the Zone" (ITZ) to unlock their super abilities. You can also use the right stick to try and punch players on defense at this point, but that seems to depend on the player's abilities that are available for this short duration.

NBA THE RUN Unlockable Players

• Steph Curry
• Luka Doncic
• Kevin Durant
• Shai Gilgeous - Alexander
• Lebron James

There are no shot meters here, but there's a small circle in the ball carrier's player halo that indicates the best shot chances with red, yellow and green. This won't really matter if someone tall jumps and intercepts the ball. Steals feel like they can be spammed, but it doesn't always register. The offensive ball handler has different options mapped to the right stick to shake a defender, including an ankle breaker that has that sound effect and will have the defender on the ground. Different dunks can be mapped to different buttons, and these can be unlocked and purchased.

NBA THE RUN is fast-paced and offers a fast-turnaround for eliminations, thus making this a battle royale.

When you're on the same page with teammates, this game will put you in the zone. You can throw the ball off the backboard or do alley-oops to other teammates. You can come in from behind on a rebound and dunk the ball in the air. The ball placement and recognition is specific for everything, so picking the ball up can be difficult. There are no real collisions, so judging some movement feels off. Dunks are satisfying, but even if the range of dunks improved since the beta, it still won't recognize at random points. The player ratings clearly make a difference and you'll look specifically for those who excel the most in the type of play you're looking for.

With the player ratings being the way that they are in NBA THE RUN, this goes further into the battle royale territory. With those large disparities between play types for each player, each player needs to be experienced to see what all can be done. This is easier to do because these games don't last but a couple of minutes. If you are willing to engage in this game for the duration, much like you would in games like Apex or COD Warzone, then this is for you. Currently at launch, there's nothing else to do other than jumping in with others or alone and playing others. No customization, just unlocking some jerseys and banners after a few hours of play. There are a few legendary players available for free with the Deluxe Edition, but it'll take you forever to unlock them in the game.

NBA THE RUN Street Legends

• Shen Tong
• Spin Cycle
• El Gigante
• DJ
• Bobbito

The Technical Aspects of NBA THE RUN

This game encompasses everything artistically that NBA Street established. Player model art looks fantastic and detailed for caricatures of the actual NBA players. The game on PC does allow for high frame rates, but it's smooth at 60 FPS. If the game ran at a faster speed, it might actually be an issue. One thing that tends to happen is getting lost in the gameplay due to the players not really having a difference other than shirts and skins. There's a gray-out option to gray out the other team, which is a tremendous help. The environments are vibrant and all of the different basketball courts stand out with realistic lighting. Crowds are vibrant and lively and there is no shortage of excitement in the atmosphere.

Helping that excitement in the atmosphere is the commentator that was brought back from NBA Street. Bobbito Garcia returns and fits the vibe. The entire experience is rather chill and not testosterone-filled. Garcia is not over-the-top in commentating, but provides life to the gameplay. While he recorded over 3,000 lines and 50 hours of dialogue for NBA THE RUN, there's a good bit of repeating dialogue. The music doesn't do anything special other than go with the vibe of the game. There's no player voices or anything really deep.

Closing Comments:

NBA THE RUN accomplishes Play by Play Studios' goal of providing NBA Street to modern gamers. This is accomplished by setting the game up as a battle royale while keeping the gameplay completely similar to its predecessors. Taking this style of game online with real NBA players may actually bring players over from 2K who are looking for something different. What really helps is that it's only $30, and while most battle royales are free, every cosmetic is paywalled. Nothing is paywalled here, but it does require time investment. That time will go by quickly, though. The game plays and looks great, but just has a few quirks that could use some adjustment, such as game speed and dunk distance. While more content will come, much like a battle royale starting out, there's really only one thing to do. If 2K is too much for you and you just want to play some basketball, this is it.