NBA The Run Away From Playing With Others

I was very excited for NBA The Run, until I wasn't.

It appeared as a spiritual successor to the much-celebrated NBA Street series, the EA BIG production that brought together streetball culture, arcade gameplay and an unforgettable visual style. At its best - that would be NBA Street Vol. 2 - Street is recognised as not only one of the finest basketball games ever made, but one of the best arcade sport experiences period.

While The Run certainly looks the part, it's missing one of the elements that made NBA Street such a compelling package: a deep and entertaining single player mode. And that's why I didn't buy it at launch. My enthusiasm was all but killed off by the online-multiplayer-only announcement, which came after the launch trailer had already gotten my hopes up. 

I wanted to enjoy it at my own pace. I wanted to improve incrementally over un-rushed sessions, where I'm solely responsible for my own entertainment, and not at the mercy of teammates who don't want to pass, or opponents with faster reflexes than mine. I wanted to play as I wanted, and what I wanted was to play on my own. But I couldn't, so I didn't bother. 

However, that all changed when I spotted it discounted in a recent summer sale, knocked down to almost perfectly match the reward points I had sitting in my account. I talked myself into giving it a go.

At first, "giving it a go" consisted of finding inventive ways to avoid jumping into a multiplayer session! This included, but was not limited to, looking through the menus, checking out the unlockables, perusing the roster of NBA players, sitting at the main menu listening to the music, and finally, opening up the practice mode. That's the only part of the game where I was guaranteed not to have to compete against another human. Let me explain why that appealed.

I don't tend to do well with online multiplayer sports games, and rarely enjoy them. I'm fine playing against the computer, but competing against human players, particularly online, is a different sport altogether. To graduate from singleplayer to multiplayer, I essentially need to relearn the game, and I rarely excel in this endeavour. It feels hopeless, I can't visualise how to get good, and I just don't tend to have a good time.

Still, you can only hide in practice mode for so long. By my second session, I was reluctantly exploring the online options. There are three 3-on-3 modes: Squads, where you control one player on your team; Solos, where you control every player; and Friends, which is an invite-only version of Squads. The anti-social genius that I am, I soon sussed out that I could create an invite-only lobby and, because I have no friends, the game would fill the empty slots with bots. In theory, great, but unfortunately, the bots are fucking useless. Competitors and teammates alike outright refuse to play defence, so the game descends into back-and-forth uncontested dunks. Until you reach the final round of the tournament, that is, at which point every opponent morphs into Steph Curry from distance; actual Steph Curry turns into an even better version of Steph Curry. Basically, they don't miss!

Defeated, I bit the bullet and started playing against sentient beings. I've clocked maybe five hours so far, and it's been a mixed bag.

Aesthetically, I love NBA The Run. It's vibrant, playful and full of little details. The courts are an explosion of colour, and I could happily stare at the surrounding environments all day. The Run is an absolute joy to look at. Bobbito Garcia returns from NBA Street as the MC, and while he does sound considerably more tired than he did back in '03, he adds tons of flavour and authenticity.

It looks and sounds the part, but the overall experience is too bare bones. The action lacks that certain something that made NBA Street great, and most games play out in a very similar way, featuring the same half a dozen players doing the same half a dozen moves. The random rule variations are a nice touch, but only a couple of them have any noticeable effect on the action. Admittedly, this may be a skill issue on my part, but the gulf between experienced players and newcomers appears insurmountable. If you play a team that has their shit together - an organised crew, perhaps - then it'll be a miserable experience. Brief, but miserable.

I should enjoy NBA The Run for what it is, rather than what it isn't, but the core experience just doesn't do it for me. And that's a shame, because there is so much there that I want to love. And perhaps I would love it, if I could enjoy it alone.