When I was in high school, few games captivated me the way NBA Street Vol. 2 did. I loved the evolution from what NBA Jam and NBA Hangtime accomplished, bringing forward the gravity-defying, rim-rattling dunks and no-rules defensive play, and recontextualizing it through the then-current streetball craze. The result was a smash hit that bridged the gap between die-hard sports gamers and the wider mainstream audience. Both sides of that aisle ate it up. However, after Electronic Arts shuttered the EA Sports BIG label and companies like Midway went under, arcade-style sports games became fewer and further between.
Enter Play by Play Studios, a team consisting of several seasoned sports game veterans, including Mike Young, who worked on the NBA Street, FIFA Street, and the SSX series before becoming creative director on the Madden franchise for nearly a decade. In 2021, the studio began working on a streetball game called The Run: Got Next, consisting of entirely fictional characters. Around 2024, the NBA caught wind of the project and contacted the studio about licensing its teams and players.
While the game now contains 32 NBA players from across the league, it retains all the core tenets the team went into the project with, namely fast-paced, approachable arcade-style gameplay and injecting personality. The result is NBA The Run, an online-focused 3v3 game that treats its players less like unidentifiable players amidst a greater team, similar to how many sim-focused sports games can feel, and more like characters in a hero shooter. Every player is hand-crafted, from their animations to their looks, creating exaggerated, yet faithful appearances that aptly capture how they look and play within these 3v3 games.
I experience this firsthand during a gameplay session with the developers, which shows me this game is more than just talk. Everything on the court feels fantastic, whether you’re talking the satisfying dunks, the hard-hitting defense, or the swish sound coming over your speakers after draining a shot from downtown. And not only do more well-rounded players like Anthony Edwards and LeBron James control completely different than specialists like Steph Curry and Giannis Antetokounmpo, but Play By Play Studios approached them with the idea of making the players feel like characters, pulling inspiration from notoriously overpowered players like Bo Jackson in Tecmo Bowl or Michael Vick in Madden NFL 04. That was certainly true when looking at an unstoppable force like Victor Wembanyama, who can dominate in the paint on offense or defense, or drain shots from beyond the arc with decent regularity.
Building a well-rounded team is essential, as the ruleset varies from game to game. As you play through the Knockout Tournament structure of NBA The Run, en route to hopefully winning the championship, the rulesets randomize. This means that one game might give extra points for dunks, while another ruleset could incentivize threes. Others, still, could operate on a timer, making it so ball control is crucial if you’re hoping to exert some influence over the clock. If you happen to have an all-bigs team, you’re gambling that paint play will be rewarded, and you’re hoping to the RNG gods that a three-ball ruleset doesn’t come up in the roulette wheel.
I enjoy the unpredictable nature of the rules, which helps keep the experience fresh from game to game. With a push for quick-hit gameplay sessions, you can jump into a tournament, lose your first game in a few minutes, and almost immediately jump back into another tournament. It’s designed with inspiration from games like Fortnite, where once you lose, you can quickly get back into the action with another match. And though it’s all online, you do have the choice to squad up with either match-made teammates or friends, or go into solo play where you control all three players on your team at once.
When I first heard about NBA The Run, I was excited, but skeptical. After all, the single-player career mode of NBA Street Vol. 2 was my go-to experience; would a game, even one that draws heavy inspiration from NBA Street, have the same staying power for me without that long-form destination? While I still miss the Street games, I came away from my hands-on time extremely impressed with not only how well NBA The Run plays, but how the quick-hit structure compelled me to want to keep playing. And with a release coming in June, not to mention a beta starting on May 1, I’m looking forward to the opportunity to get back out on the streets as my favorite NBA stars.