NBA Ballers: Phenom
| Company type | Video game |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Predecessor | NBA Ballers |
| Founded | March 31, 2006 |
| Founder | Midway Home Entertainment |
| Headquarters | United States |
Area served | North America |
| Products | NBA Ballers: Phenom (PlayStation 2, Xbox) |
| Owner | Midway Home Entertainment |
NBA Ballers: Phenom is a video game created and distributed by Midway Home Entertainment for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox platforms, launched on March 31, 2006. Serving as the follow-up to NBA Ballers, the title features notable personalities such as MC Jin, Ludacris, Hot Sauce, and Trikz. The storyline revolves around a rivalry with Hot Sauce, who infiltrates a streetball crew and takes the player's girlfriend, triggering a contest to regain reputation through streetball prowess. The game includes four Los Angeles-based venues: Hollywood, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, and Los Angeles International Airport.
Compared to its predecessor, Phenom offers greatly expanded customization capabilities, providing up to 20,000 possible combinations encompassing hairstyles, clothing, accessories, and protective equipment. Additionally, it introduces features for designing custom courts. An extra disc containing the game's soundtrack is also included.
Story
At the heart of NBA Ballers: Phenom lies its story mode, where users design a personalized character by selecting attributes like height, age, physique, and playing position. Players then face off against Philip "Hot Sauce" Champion in a competitive narrative. Following Hot Sauce’s solo success and personal takeover during NBA Finals week, the player must compete through tournament matches across four distinct locations to secure a prize of one million dollars and the top NBA draft pick or alternatively establish a business empire. Exploration of areas such as Beverly Hills and Venice Beach allows players to complete objectives, uncover hidden collectibles, engage in special events including freestyle rap battles with Jin, and customize their own mansion.
Gameplay
The classic one-on-one half-court format from the original title returns in this installment. Phenom also incorporates a new two-on-two full-court mode inspired by NBA Jam, featuring pairs of players competing together. Multiplayer options support up to two participants online and up to four players via split-screen.
Reception
Both versions of the game garnered "average" ratings according to review aggregator Metacritic.