There is nothing that comes close to the flashy pass/acrobatic dribble move/dunk-fest that is the NBA Street series. Its first, second and third renditions were held close to streetball junkies' hearts, continuously progressing towards the status of absolutely awesome. With the wait for the next generation version finally over, it's time for the series to step up its game and show us what it can do on new turf.

Most fans will feel right at home with the rules of the game - not too much has changed, but for those of you who are unfamiliar with the series, I will briefly explain. NBA Street doesn't follow the conventional rules of basketball - you compete in games of three-on-three and you never stop play for a foul or stepping out-of-bounds or anything like that. Furthermore, scoring is a little different too - you still take shots and perform dunks/lay ups to score game points, but there is also something called a gamebreaker. To get a gamebreaker you need to perform a series of tricks throughout the match, combined with successful baskets, and the better the tricks are, the closer you will get to earning one. This gamebreaker can then be used to perform even bigger and better tricks - and if you get a successful basket - you will earn more game points (to a maximum of four points). This means that performing flashy moves and playing with flair is actually beneficial, rather than just looking good.

That summary is a little misleading though, as the gamebreakers have changed for NBA Street: Homecourt. You can now also steal the ball while your opponent has a gamebreaker and use it against them. Furthermore, they can steal it back and there is no longer a time limit on how long it lasts - it is only over when a basket is scored. This new style of gamebreaker is by far the best change that Homecourt introduces and it's a huge improvement over the somewhat stale interaction that previous versions offered. It's not all good news though, as the controls have changed and it will be harder for veterans of the series to get to grips with the new system. It may well take over an hour to adjust to the controls and probably a fair amount more to become proficient at it. You could get considerably frustrated with the new system, but the changes do begin to make sense once you're familiar with them, so it's worth sticking with.

It's worth the initial frustration because the controls incorporate a few new weapons into your arsenal. Along with the dribble moves, kick passes, alley oops and so on you can now perform jump-off dunks; when one of your players is crouching on the floor you can run towards them and leap off their back for a rim shaking jam! Although this is borderline over-the-top, it does add a new element to the gameplay and works in conjunction with another new feature. When you are on defence you can stop players crouching to assist a jump-off dunk by fouling them. I think this is a clever system, but you can also use the foul button in any situation, so weak players just get thrown around like rag dolls when the computer players are feeling particularly vindictive.

In addition to this you can now also perform a double-dunk, where your player slams the ball through the basket, catches it and dunks it in once again. This looks truly awesome, especially the first time you see it. However, as with some of the other new features, there is a flaw alongside the innovation. Although double-dunks can usually only be performed by using a player with a good dunking skill, they are worth two game points rather than just increasing your trick points score. This might sound amazing, but personally I think it should have been saved only for gamebreaker situations - if you dunked twice in one jump in a real streetball game you would get some props, but you wouldn't get any more points for it. Maybe I'm being overdramatic about it, but it does mean that long range shots aren't as important as they used to be.

Don't get me wrong - Homecourt is the best gameplay in the series concerning when it comes to the responsiveness of the controls, the smooth animations, crisp transitions between moves and that sort of thing - but I am hard pushed to say that it is a better game than NBA Street V3. I also don't mean to say that it is marginally or significantly worse, it just hasn't progressed a huge amount either. Having said that, my real concerns only lie with the single player experience. For example, when you compete in the career mode or 'Homecourt Challenge', creating a baller (which is compulsory) lacks a considerable amount of depth. Although it is a cool feature that you can merge face shapes with up to three ballers (so you can have a half-and-half representation of two NBA players for example) there isn't much else to do. Pick a position for your player, choose his playing style, change his head, change his name and you are ready to go. I like the way your attributes now increase automatically after playing pick-up games and you can get to the courts quicker, but it means that you can't really do a great job of recreating yourself. Furthermore, you can't even choose whether you want sweatbands or wristbands on the created baller. You can change outfits and shoes during the Homecourt Challenge to further increase your attributes, but these need to be unlocked as you play.

Once you get started in Homecourt Challenge, anything above the Easy setting is going to frustrate you, as you can only recruit 'the worst players to ever pick up a ball' (my words, not the game's!) Getting through this initial stage is dull and unfulfilling, because your players ruin more tricks than an incompetent magician and couldn't dunk with a trampoline on the court. However, once you finally recruit some decent NBA players, you can bump the difficulty level higher and the mode starts to become a lot more fulfilling. A word of warning though - once you think you have the perfect team formed there may well be a conflict between the players and you might then have to choose which one stays and which one goes.

When you do have a good combination of players and your own attributes have increased (including obtaining a 'freak skill' where you have 100 points in a chosen attribute, for example dunking or passing) it does become a much more enjoyable experience. You will often leap out your seat screaming 'BOOYA!' in admiration of your best tricks… or maybe that's just me. Working your way through the many different game types suddenly changes from a chore into thrilling entertainment. You can take part in a number of challenges with different players, for example dunks-only games, shots-only games, back to basics games (no gamebreakers), first to lead by a set amount of points and much more. Shots-only games are the most interesting addition, as they force you to change your style of play considerably. Shots are easy to block, so you need to come up with ways of penetrating the defence. For example, you could use a pump fake to get your opponent in the air or wait for your teammates to push the player positioned under the basket out of the way. These games are good in small doses as they offer a new challenge, but I mostly stuck with the more straightforward modes.

As I have mentioned, the Create-a-Baller feature in Homecourt Challenge doesn't have half as much depth as it should have done. After a while, competing against the computer players can get a little tedious and unexciting once you have learnt their patterns or become frustrated that they can perform an action without any hint of hesitation in harder modes whereas you have to press a button. The Homecourt Challenge is a short-lived experience, so you will have to get some of your friends around or venture online. It does serve a purpose though, because you can learn skills and unlock courts for use in the multiplayer and online modes.

The lifespan score has suffered because of a short single player experience, but you will spend many more hours playing this against other human players. You can also customise the rules of each game to avoid repetition or to work on a certain aspect of your game (such as shots or gamebreakers). This doesn't totally save its lifespan score, because that is pretty much all there is in terms of game modes. At least it looks pretty though - I wouldn't say that it pushes the Xbox 360 to its limits, but when you look at close up replays, player detail and clothing movement you can't help but be impressed. The animations are superb - dunks look spectacular, dribble moves have smooth transitions and steals never look out of place no matter what move the opponent performs. Players still have the odd rough edge during regular play but the lighting effects and detail of the court are second to none in sports games. There are better looking games around, but the visuals are nothing to complain about.

The sound on the other hand issomething to complain about! Although it won't keep me awake at night, I would still like to point out that there is no commentary and there are no big-name/exclusive tracks to be seen. Although the omission of commentary is realistic, it would have been nice to have the option to turn it on (like you could in previous versions), as this would add a sense of occasion to the somewhat quiet mood of the game. This doesn't mean to say the gaming experience is ruined, but it would be nice to hear these elements, providing I could turn them on and off at my discretion. At least you have the option of custom soundtracks if you don't like the range of tunes on offer though - good old Xbox 360! Homecourt isn't a totally silent encounter - all the sound effects, menu music and of course trash-talk are present and correct. The most impressive sound feature (ironically) is when you venture to the inside court and the acoustics of the sound effects change; trainer squeaks and trash-talk now echo off the walls, a very nice touch.

NBA Street: Homecourt isn’t quite the show stopper I thought it would be, but it’s hardly a disappointment either. Its career mode is a short experience and the graphics and sound don’t push the Xbox 360 to its limits - even the gameplay has some frustrating features - but the innovation and entertainment for those who persevere through the learning curve and mundane early matches using rubbish players more than make up for that. The animations and lighting effects make for a wonderful atmosphere to the game and it is a blast to play with friends online or off. While not quite as good as it could have been, Homecourt is probably the best streetball game we will see on 360 until the next instalment in the Street series.

Reviewed by Liam Bennion for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).