Easily one of the more original titles I saw at E3, NBA Baller Beats features full NBA licensing and comes with its own, Spalding basketball. This rhythm-based game plays much like Guitar Hero or Rock Band. Set to arrive only for the Kinect, the game involves bouncing the basketball to the beat of one of thirty music tracks.  Several celebrity figures arrived at the Ballet Beats live demo booth over the week so there were always a buzz around the booth. The demo I happened to attend featured DJ Skee who assured us that the tracks included in the game spanned all genres of music. 15-Tracks have been announced to date and include tracks from the likes of Diplo and Busta Rhymes all the way to Queen. The developers assured us that the ball that comes with the game won’t be cheap either. It is an authentic Spalding basketball similar to those used in NBA games.
While watching the demo, I noticed the Kinect not only knows which side of your body you’re bouncing the ball on but also recognizes finer movements such as which leg the ball is going behind during a crossover dribble. These types of moves are mixed in to the regular bounce beats much like you would when you performed the various things like hammer ons, pull offs and solos in Guitar Hero. There are twenty moves in total that you can perform.
With full NBA licensed players you can choose the branding of your favorite team to be featured during the game. The game touts being able to unlock posters and trading cards but I didn’t see much of this at the booth as the demo was focused much more on the gameplay mechanic. Majesco also states that you can play against up to 8 other players but doesn’t say whether that is online or just local play.
I’m not the world’s biggest basketball fan but watching the game being played on the hardest difficultly was impressive (there’s three difficulty levels in total). This game is going to take some serious skill and coordination to master. Majesco was demonstrating the game on carpet but I really think this game is going to need a solid floor such as tile or hardwood. Area rugs or deeper pile carpets just aren’t going to cut it. I can’t see parents being all that tolerant of their kids bouncing basketballs loudly in their rooms or living room. I give Majesco points for thinking outside the box here but I don’t see this game being a big hit. Neat idea but unless your 360 is set up in the garage it is a little bit impractical.
NBA Baller Beats ships exclusively for Xbox 360 and Kinect this September.
