Since the surprise package that was NBA Homecourt, long have I searched for another arcade sporting title to lift the bar in entertainment and just plain tomfoolery. Beause let's face it, in Homecourt there was nothing quite like making the leap from the arched back of a teammate to send the ball crashing through the hoop. Sadly in my search, a score of mediocre soccer titles is all that's come to pass, and it's a little underwhelming.

So understandably, a look of glee overcame me as I heard news of the Ballers series making its next-gen debut. Ballers is a series that has a short history of quality decline, and I regretfully inform that fans of continuity will love the news that Chosen One takes yet another nosedive to the blacktop as poor gameplay and flawed design choices offer up the most bitter of rejections.

To say that Chosen One has a plot would be sugar-coating the 'treat' a little bit. There isn't any real sense of a story mode being presented, only more of a challenge mode being masked by what bares vague resemblance to a narrative. As the subtitle suggests, the point of this Ballers episode is to shovel into the depths of the baller underground to find the chosen one; the next big thing in basketball. To do this, a cast of the world's best play host to many unknown ballers in a series of assorted matches gradually escalating to grandiose levels.

While this is a premise for a story, there is no execution at all, as in-game episodes are introduced and mostly narrated by Chuck D, of Public Enemy fame. His relevance to basketball is unknown to me, but what I do know is his presence unfortunately fails to evoke any interest in the path your created baller takes on his journey.

On that note, the create-a-baller feature doesn't exactly allow you to create a spitting image of your stunning self, as it's quite shallow. Though, for those in need of a quick fix of things of customized qualities, it does the trick alright. There's all of fifteen, or so, faces to choose from, but you can adjust intricate features such as chin structure, nose size and so forth. Once you've completed the aesthetic overhaul of your creation, you throw together an arrangement of attribute points (either manually or through automated sets) and you're ready to hit the blacktop. Player upgrades usually come by way of success in boss encounters within the game's narrative, your reward usually consists of fresh digs to style your player in so, uh, you know, he looks 'dope'.

The story mode in Chosen One consists of six episodes, each of which are made up of disjointed and seemingly pointless matches of varied stipulations. I say disjointed because whatever fabric of considered logic there is pasting all of these random matches together, it's so poorly presented, I just can't see it. Throughout these episodes, you'll encounter one-on-one matches, triple threat matches, team matches and even three-point shootouts. Any reason why a triple threat may follow a one-on-one is undefined, so expect anything to just jump out to surprise you at any moment. There must also be an unspoken law about Chosen One club, which states; 'come conclusion, you must never speak of your court affairs', because more often than not, post-match you'll never hear anything of an aftermath, or any kind of consequence! It's all very scattered.

As far as the mechanics go, Chosen One certainly plays like your standard arcade sporting affair. It's simplistic button layout is extremely accessible, even to newcomers of the series, or genre. However, this isn't exactly the best thing, as it tends to render the game boring. However, it'd be unfair to say that Midway rested entirely on the standards of arcade, as they did dare to go outside the box by adding a God of War-like quicktime event combo system that not only is misplaced in a sporting title, it's downright unnecessary. Once a player has accumulated so much juice in his meter through pulling off 'act a fool' moves and spectacular dunks, they have the power to instigate these aforementioned quicktime events where it boils down to 'whomever can mash that button quickest gets the ball'; it's unimaginative and it, in no way, makes Chosen One any more enjoyable. It's poor design like this that really has sent the Ballers series on this spiral of mediocrity the last two games have served up.

If the story isn't everything you looked for in Ballers, you can always look to the online mode. There isn't anything different about it, except for the simple fact you're against live opponents. Playing against your mates, alone, tends to extend the fun factor a little bit, and the same applies here. While it doesn't make up for the technical flaws already highlighted, it keeps me from completely writing off Chosen One. Problem is, nobody plays it online. Let's face it; this is no surprise with online titans like Call of Duty still running the show. However, if you manage to find a game, you'll find an average enough time to extract some amusement.

On the surface, Chosen One doesn't look half bad; menus glow like white gold and player likeness is almost second-to-none. However, once you take away the freeze frame and glance at the game in motion, it all begins to make sense. Player animation is quite stuttered and never really manages to look fluid at any moment. As you come to expect in arcade titles, there are some spectacular shows to be seen once you pull them off, as you can send your baller hurtling off another's back in a display of aerial acrobatics! It's in these over-the-top dunks that there is a fleeting glimpse of something special, but the novelty soon wears away as you're left with a shell long abandoned by quality. Not only that, but any sign of a story-driven cut scene is long gone, as recorded footage of Chuck D is an underwhelming replacement.

Chosen One has auditory support from Just Blaze, who unusually provides the entire soundtrack for the game. This is a departure from the norm in video game soundtracks, although it still manages to do the job as the tracks on offer suit the theme to a tee. The in-game play-by-play, provided by Chuck D, is also spot on and accurate, although it can sometimes fall behind as the pace of the game becomes too much; this isn't exactly troublesome however, as it all tends to blend together anyway.