Street Hoops? And 1 Streetball? None of these scrubs can sniff NBA Street's jock. Electronic Arts redefined arcade basketball by mimicking the antics in the old school classic Arch Rivals and adding its own personal flair, the result being one of the most celebrated sports franchises in video games. With their fourth iteration, NBA Street Homecourt, the company tweaked the controls to empower the gamer, making them feel like they have more moves than Allen Iverson and Steven Nash combined. Best of all, it got rid of the annoying Bobbito Garcia, AKA DJ Cucumberslice, the announcer that plagued NBA Street Vol. 2 & 3.

Garcia's exclusion represents a dramatic shift from the previous games' funkdafied style. EA went for a modern approach that focuses on playgrounds and the NBA superstars that made them famous. Cover boy and Denver Nuggets player Carmelo Anthony, for example, associates himself with Cloverdale in Baltimore, Maryland, as do players Sam Cassell and Juan Dixon. Similarly, gamers will take to the streets and battle NBA players in Coatesville, where Richard Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace and Kobe Bryant will make players look like chumps.

In addition to Cloverdale and Coatesville, EA shoved Venice Beach, Franklin Park, The Dirt Bowl, Ash Park, Brand Jordan Gym, Rupert Bell Rec Center and Goat Park into the game. Little details, such as banners hanging on buildings and graffiti help to authenticate these environments.

Like all NBA Street video games, players select an NBA team, and then decide which three players, out of four, they want to play as. From there, they choose Shirts or Skins (a first for the series), then hit the courts in an attempt to outscore the other team by any means necessary, whether that involves flashy dunks or rainbow three pointers. However, Homecourt doesn't play anything like NBA Live 07 or NBA 2K7. Players don't have to worry about backcourt violations or going out of bounds. Fouls don't exist, and the game encourages people to push their opponents (Y shoves).

Thankfully, this lack of officiating enhances the game. NBA Street discards organized rules in exchange for smash mouth street ball. Instead of attempting a weak looking lay up or short, baseline jumper (although those types of shots exist), the game encourages players to perform impossible, superhuman maneuvers in which guys crossover at 60 miles per hour, jump off people's backs and do 360 flip dunks. Forget about hitting a fade away jump shot to win a game. Try dunking the ball, hanging onto the rim and dunking again, then again. Instead of netting a measly basket, gamers can score three on a single trip.

Thankfully, EA makes doing these sweet looking moves easy thanks to simplified controls. Instead of forcing gamers to memorize button combinations, the developers made X and Y the primary trick buttons. Rapidly pressing X causes a character to quickly pass the ball between his legs, and pressing and holding it makes him pull off a hesitation dribble. Y, on the other hand, lets players bounce the basketball off people's heads and confuse opponents with elegant spin moves. Combined with the left and right bumpers (LB/RB) -- the trick modifiers -- guys bust out cartwheels and capoeira-style flips.