NBA Baller Beats Hands-On Impression

Okay, okay! Now I know I couldn’t have been the only person looking at NBA Baller Beats laughing at the concept. It sounds absolutely ridiculous on paper. That’s how I felt until I managed to see the game, and respected it even more after playing it.

NBA Baller Beats is currently under development by Majesco, who are known for hit or miss titles like the ever so popular Zumba Fitness lineup to the horrendous Hulk Hogan’s: Main Event. Upon looking at earlier trailers, one didn’t know what to expect. Admittedly, we were a bit in the dark on gameplay.

Kenny “The Jet” Smith was in attendance at the GameStop Expo with a couple of friends to show off what Baller Beats had to offer. While he discussed just how much work went into the process of each play session, the game was demoed. The player showing off Baller Beats made the game “look” like a cake walk. I can assure you, it’s not.

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Clear your gaming space now, your ball is going to need it; tile or carpet is fine. NBA Baller Beats will include a regulated size NBA basketball, which is the primary source that Kinect will track. You’re more than happy to use your own basketball or an inflated ball to keep the noise down.

It’s a decent challenge, bouncing the ball to the tracks in a Guitar Hero/Rock Band  fashion.  I thought it would be a breeze, yeah right! This Kinect game has exploited my b-ball skills to a whopping low, especially once you begin to integrate pump fakes, crossovers and passes.

I won’t call NBA Baller Beats a must buy, but definitely a must try. I stepped up the booth thinking “I can do that!” and left pretty happy I didn’t have an audience.  It was also a pretty good workout that I didn’t even feel until the end of the session. It’s one game that I am seriously look forward to come release. I got to get my game right!