Operation Sports:

NBA STREET V3: Play it Your Way

By Shawn Drotar, Managing Editor, OperationSports.com

NBA STREET V3 takes the fun of playground hoops and brings it to your Xbox®, and, just like the playground, when it's your ball, you make the rules.

You can experience all the different styles of play that V3 has to offer during the Street Challenge, but in the game's exhibition mode—aptly titled Play It—you can change any option to create any game experience you can imagine.

Catching some sweet air.

First and foremost, there's the Normal gameplay mode, where Gamebreakers (earned by collecting Trick Points) can change the game dramatically. Within that framework, however, you can dramatically alter many aspects of the game, including:

• Play to: Choose to play to anywhere from five to 50 points.
• Spot Points Home/Away: Whether you want to even the field for players of different skill levels or you just want a challenge, this is the place to go. Any number of points can be "spotted."
• Shot Clock: You can set the clock to 12, 24, 30, or 48 seconds, or turn it off completely.
• Long Range Value: Change what shots behind the line are worth, from one to five points.
• Short Range Value: Change what jump shots are worth, from one to five points.
• Dunk Value: Change what slam dunks are worth, from one to five points.

As you can see, you could easily create a "dunks-n-bombs" game, give your kid brother a big advantage, or formulate just about any kind of game you please—and that's just in Normal mode! There are other versions for you to tweak, as well.

In Back to Basics mode, you can alter the same settings, but Back to Basics is just that—style doesn't count. Regular points are the only things that matter, and you can try No Gamebreakers mode to turn those off as well. Of course, if pulling off fancy dribble moves and schooling the opposition is your thing, try the Trick Point Challenge. The TPC is just the opposite of Back to Basics—regular points don't matter; racking up the Trick Points is the key to winning. You can spot points and change the shot clock here, too, but instead of setting the "Play to" with a score, you set it to a number of Trick Points. The first player to rack up any number between 100,000 and a million points wins.

Like crazy dunks? Try Dunks Only mode.

Don't have the time to rack up a million Trick Points? Then try Gamebreaker Wins. This mode's simple—reach the Gamebreaker first, and it's all over. Would you rather only see show-time dunks and high-flying jams? Then try Dunks Only. You can change the settings like you would in Normal mode, but you won't have to change the Long/Short Range Values, because you only get points for the dipsy-doo dunkeroo!

Of course, there's the two other classic modes that own the playground: NBA Scoring, where each bucket is worth two points except for the three-point long bombs, and Old School Scoring, where everything is one point, so make each possession count.

Eight game modes, each with settings that you can change to your heart's content. That oughta be enough to keep you busy, right? When you feel like playing a little arcade hoops, NBA STREET V3 has everything you need.

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