European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 18, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 scene stars and stripes sunday March 182007 i i cd c 2 cd photos by a sports big Aba Street Hemecourt beasts an extreme version of basketball for Box 360 and playstation 3 Dunkin Delight Home court takes hoops to greater Heights when i was in school basketball players usually avoided physics class that might explain some of the wild action in Aba Street Home court Bailers ignore the Laws of Gravity leap ing 15 feet into the air and slamming Home double dunks it would boggle einsteins mind but its definitely Cool the a sports big game takes players to the neighbourhood courts where today Aba greats honed their skills games Are played in Gritty Parks and rundown gyms stunningly rendered to look like the actual Sites introductory narration offers Back ground on the courts and the players they nurtured All this realism sets a pretty intense mood like the courts the players Are superbly rendered from their features to their fluid movements it All seems so lifelike As the players take the court and All seems so wildly surreal As the action truly begins games Start As relatively Standard three three affairs passing dribbling shooting and layups can be pretty Stan Dard actions the controls Are remarkably simple which makes the game More accessible to beginners however things get wild when the dunking and trick buttons enter the Pic Ture pressing the trick buttons sends a Char Acter into a dribbling frenzy and holding a modifier Button turns him into a trick dribbling maniac doing enough of these leads to a game breaker sequence where your tricks can get even crazier a player uses a teammate to gain extra height for a Dunk dunking is where the game really shines holding the Button just right can result in a visually stunning double Dunk pressing the modifier Button leads to types of dunks Only seen in science fic Tion jump onto the Back of a teammate and leap sky High swing up onto the backboard while performing a double Dunk but be careful if you mess up youll end up looking foolish with your foot caught in the net Todd Batty producer of Aba Street Home court said the team let the artists run wild with their imaginations when designing the animations we actually have a very simple physics approach Batty said we have no rag doll and no physics controlling the characters in our game this was a conscious Quality decision not one that was based on time or technicalities we Felt that we wanted better than reality and to achieve that the artists needed the ability to cheat real world physics and get really creative with their animations particularly the dunks blocks and tricks so what you see in the game is 100 percent driven by the animators this allowed us to use Tim scaling and directed posing to exaggerate hang time and exaggerate Impact and i think the results speak for themselves the game offers a single player Chal Lenge Mode and a variety of game styles which can be played Solo or with others All variations can be fun but the game is Best enjoyed with friends who of course will Marvel at your phenomenal feats you can select for your teammates a Host of Aba players As Well As a few women from the Wanba your team can go shirts or skins unless you select Wanba players get your mind out of the Gutter this is an rated game you can also create your own Bailer however that function int All that hot you select a playing style and create a face this involves selecting a primary face and the faces of two Aba players and then blending the three the results Arent exactly satisfying this is a minor drawback though the rest of the game is As billed better than reality platforms Box 360 playstation 3 one the web crackdown clearly inspired by grand theft interesting k u before crack Fown is inti mashing action addicted nonsense but Youh probably be too Busy mowing Down gang mom Deri in the Street of Pacific City 4 10 in tit crime want some com Lobody hero turned badge wearing officer 01 you Kap from rooftop to rooftop Tii Ifim i Hycl r Fence i  amount of Dorofe before Fafe totem Corto onoff 1 Rifino characters Reinfo Tiet much Challenge for on tha Horow jes Ting called psychotic members Are incredibly dumb As they stand around waiting to be picked off in Good artificial intelligence if than makes up for in ambers going the Den i crime Boss is like step bees Nert of eng machine gon furl r can fake Beaugh Afonce is pro techie shield wean off youd belter find a Safe place to hide for a in seconds so it can regenerate crackdown does score scam Ite to play cooperatively Wim a Friend on the Box live network its probably rate Best Way to enjoy hit  dream where police officers Are 4 superheroes and Ceres never any doubt who the bad Guys Are