You’ll run into some trouble at first trying to find a team to play with - you can always go 1-on-1, but the real fun’s in 3-on-3 - and the gameplay cements itself after some initial losses. To the delight of southpaws everywhere, movement’s controlled with the arrow keys while shooting/passing/freestyle moves use WASD. It’s pretty awkward at first but becomes comfortable after a while. After some forum scouring it seemed like nobody can get any USB controllers to work, which is a damn shame if you’re used to playing on a console.

The courts have an urban cel-shaded look, almost like that Dreamcast game everyone should have played, but didn't,  Jet Grind Radio, and the licensed hip-hop soundtrack - while repetitive - is never irritating. It’s breezy, laid-back and not as in-yo-face as you’d expect. And though often repeated, the voice samples are more charming than anything. We found ourselves screaming along with the characters as we juked across the court. “3PT!”

But after some initial games, you’ll find that playing as a Center is almost useless. You’ll remember why you don’t usually play games online - people are selfish. They’ll steal dropped treasure, camp for that perfect headshot and in the case of this game, will never ever pass the ball. We decided that the Forward was a better choice, so we wiped our character clean to begin anew. Only, once we did that, we didn’t regain the Points and Bills we used on that other character. Keep in mind that we didn’t add a new character slot - we just wanted to start over.

And that’s when the realization sets in that FreeStyle Street Basketball disappoints on most levels. Every mundane task; customizing the controls, creating a character, finding a team to play on and paying to screen an opponent feels like a let-down.