Play By Play Studios / NBA The Run
What if Arch Rivals, NBA Jam, and NBA Street all came together to make one game? That’s pretty much the gist of NBA The Run. I had the opportunity to get hands-on with what is being dubbed as the spiritual successor to the beloved NBA Street franchise, and we have some thoughts.
For YEARS, gamers, including myself, have been screaming for a revival of the long-shuttered EA Sports BIG arcade basketball franchise, NBA Street, which reached its height of popularity with the release of NBA Street Vol. 2 before its demise following the release of NBA Street Vol. 3.
Enter Play By Play Studios, a small crew of seasoned sports game developers led by Mike Young, who cut his teeth working on franchises like the NBA Street, FIFA Street, and the SSX series, before becoming the creative director of the Madden franchise for close to a decade, got the opportunity of a lifetime to fill a huge void when it comes to sports video games.
NBA The Run Wasn’t The Original Plan
Play By Play Studios
Truth be told, NBA The Run wasn’t Play By Play’s original idea; they began working on a game in 2021 called The Run: Got Next, which consisted of fictional streetballers. The NBA became interested in the game in 2024 and spoke with them about licensing its teams and players.
Play By Play now had a game with the league’s 32 teams and its biggest superstars to fill its rosters of playable characters, along with those the team created, while keeping all the core ideas they initially came up with.
The Run: Got Next became NBA The Run, and it was still a fast-paced, online-focused 3v3 game that aims to please not just longtime fans of the NBA Street/NBA Jam games, but newcomers as well, offering an experience that is as approachable as it is fun.
The On-Court Action Feels Good
NBA The Run does deliver the fun for the most part. During the playtest, which allowed me to team up and go up against other journalists in the game’s Knockout Tournament style mode, I got to see what Play By Play was cooking up with this game.
The on-court action felt smooth, with rim-shaking dunks and the sound of the nets swooshing, delivering a sense of satisfaction I have long been missing since NBA Street.
The camera angle can also be changed without pausing the game, giving you three options to take in the gameplay action.
I loved the attention to detail in the hand-crafted player designs, and I must applaud the studio for delivering a more accurate version of Anthony Edwards that would make the folks at 2K jealous.
Play By Play Studios
Also appreciated is that no player feels the same: well-rounded superstars like LeBron James (whom I chose to run with for most of my playthrough) and Edwards handle completely differently than players like Steph Curry, LaMelo Ball, and Giannis Antetokounmpo, who are considered specialists.
Source: Play By Play Studios / NBA The Run
But don’t get it twisted, this is not a basketball simulation game, and players whose stats are out of this world in certain areas, like blocks for example, will definitely play that way. During one of my runs, one journalist was playing as Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama was literally snatching shots out of the air, quite difficult to dunk on, and could knock down three-pointers and dominate the paint.
I appreciate that no NBA stars, including the original streetballers from the first iteration of the game, feel the same, offering a different experience when you build your squads of 3 to run with.
This Game Has The Soul of NBA Street Vol. 2
Play By Play Studios
As far as the feel, Play By Play did their best to recapture the heart and soul of NBA Street Vol.2, mainly by securing Bobbito Garcia, who provided the play-by-play in Vol.2, to be the same for NBA The Run. He will also be a playable character in the game.
The court designs are pretty spectacular, too. I was blown away by the real-world streetball locations in the game; one in particular, The Tenement in Taguig, looked amazing, as Play By Play went to great lengths to capture all the details of one of the world’s best-looking basketball courts.
Play By Play Studios
Also, like NBA Street, everything in NBA The Run will be earned by unlocking them through gameplay, nothing will be locked behind microtransactions.
As far as the gameplay, I LOVED the knockout tournament style and the fact that different stipulations are added to games, which adds variety to each match. For example, dunks are worth three points while every other basket is worth one, which requires you to put some thought into the squad you run with.
It can also add a challenge to your runs so that you won’t steamroll through the competition.
Will This Game Stay On The Court?
Play By Play Studios
While I was for the most part impressed with what Play By Play was able to accomplish with such a small team, there are still some things that have me somewhat worried about this game’s success.
NBA The Run’s success will hinge on having a strong online player base, because that’s where the focus has gone, and in today’s climate, that’s a hard sell.
Play By Play is definitely banking on the nostalgia and thirst for an heir apparent to NBA Street to help this game be a layup, but I’m not so sure it’s going to be a slam dunk.
There are also some other technical problems that I can see players not quite feeling like the dribbling/tricks mechanic, which don’t feel as good as NBA Street’s, and the window to pull off dunks. In The Run, you have a much tighter window to execute dunks, meaning you have to be closer to the rim, whereas in the other games, you were taking to the skies from the top of the key.
According to DualShockers, the devs have addressed that issue.
Still, this game has all the potential in the world to be a contender when it launches in June 2026 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam.
If you want to get hands-on with the game yourself, you can sign up to partake in the beta that is going on right now.
