Review: 3431 Streetball 2 vs 2

[Inconspicuous]

Welcome to my special 2nd Reviewers Academy Anniversary review! I've decided to put a rather uncommon set in the spotlight to see if maybe it deserves more attention: 3431 Streetball 2 vs 2. This obscure and small Sports set was the smallest court-game set of the Basketball subtheme yet the most unique in location. The set uses some rare sand-green basplates to create a Street Court with some fantastic details. Let's take a look at this long-forgotten set!

BASIC INFORMATION:

Set Name: Streetball 2 vs 2

Set Number: 3431

Number of Pieces: 182

Minifigs: 4

Price: $20.00 USD

Theme: Sports / Basketball

Year Released: 2003

RESOURCES:

Brickset

Peeron

Bricklink

Flickr

THE REVIEW:

INSTRUCTIONS:

Front:

First up is the instruction booklet that features a large, strange grid pattern partially covering the set. It features a city skyline in the background, emphasizing the 'Street' part of the set name. I've never seen instruction art quite like it before, so it has a sort of special feeling to it.

Random Page:

The instructions on the inside are very straightforward and feature boxes for small submodels. The background blue seems simple at first, but if you look closely, you can see that there are faded images of NBA players hiding! A subtle yet fantastic touch.

Crazy Set-up:

One of my favorite parts is the pages of wacky Sport set combinations. Here we see a six-player setup, with four rotating hoops in the center. You gotta love their creativity.

Back:

The back of the cover features another interesting design, again with the grid. Here you'll find an ugly hockey figure ( ), a basketball player going for a slam dunk, and a soccer (football) player. There are a few real-life images of the sports, and some words to go with them.

Instructions:: Thoughts: They have pretty cool designs all throughout which was one of the great things about the Sports line.

PIECES:

Lighter Pieces:

Next we'll examine the pieces. Here are the lighter pieces, including the players' stand, the hoops and nets, and the rest of the sand green. All are fairly interesting pieces.

Dark Pieces:

And the rest of the regular pieces. They're not as interesting as the contents of the last picture, but the fence pieces are always useful, as are gray and black plates.

Baseplates:

The most noticeable parts of the set are sand-green basketball plates, which are exclusive to this set. I'm not sure why exactly you'd need them, unless you were building a playable tennis court, but they're still cool.

Pieces of interest:

Here are the more interesting pieces of the set, several of which I've briefly touched upon. The printed backboard is pretty neat, as is the basketball and the hoop. The sand green slopes are delicious as well.

Hoop:

The net isn't flexible at all, so there goes the minifigs' chance at swishing. The internal molding is pretty cool though, so I thought I'd give you a closer look.

Pieces:: Thoughts: A very satisfactory selection with useful parts from all colors.

MINIFIGS:

Front:

The set features four minifigs, all in the typical Basketball style. For those of you not familiar with the theme, they feature spring-legs (that allow shooting and passing) and have special arms that lock in place at a 90 degree angle to hold the ball (special hands make this easier). More on that later. Two of them have red NBA torsos with numbers 4 and 10 and the other two have t-shirts. I like the torso designs on all of them, but it's a shame they're stuck with basketball arms. I'm pretty sure you can rip them off, but I'm not sure if regular arms will fit back in! Also note the smug facial expressions and hairstyles- all pretty unique!

Back:

The backs are relatively uninteresting except for the back print on two of them. I don't think back-printing was all that common back then so having the numbers is really nice.

Minifigs:: Thoughts: Their printing is pretty sweet but since they're specialized for gameplay, they don't fit in with regular minifigs that well.

THE BUILD:

Build:

Here are in-build shots at Steps 3, 6, 9, and 14 respectively. The only interesting parts about the build are the techniques behind incorporating the large basketball bases and the snap-in hoops. The technique to hold the bases in place is quite effective and sturdy and was quite enjoyable to build.

Build:: Thoughts: Fairly simple but much different than the builds of other Lego sets. I enjoyed it considerably.

COMPLETED PRODUCT:

The Whole Set:

And we have our completed set! Let's take a look at some of the details.

Bench:

On one side of the court, there's a bench. A simple but effective detail. It's good for holding extra players and balls.

Gate:

On the other side is an entrance. Again, a simple touch that makes this set great for Town layouts.

Connection:

The hoops are attached to the main base with Technic pins. I believe they did this because it would be too expensive to make the court longer and this way (in theory) it's just as sturdy. In reality, the hoop is a little shaky.

Hoop:

The hoop looks really cool and official. The net is a little big in comparison to the backboard, but this is to accommodate playability, since if the net was smaller it would be too hard to score.

Back:

The back is a little ugly because it's two studs thick, but otherwise the hoop and Technic angle couldn't both attach at the same time.

Side:

From the side, you can catch a glimpse of the inner connecting mechanisms. They look pretty neat from this angle.

Demo 1:

As I promised earlier, here's a demo of how the game actually works. First, the player must be rotated so that the ball is caught directly in front of him (sometimes the ball rolls around him anyways).

Demo 2:

Second, you push down and he grabs the ball.

Demo 3:

Thanks to the springs in his legs, he rises automatically. Thanks to his special hands, he's holding the ball is a grip that makes shooting easy.

Demo 4:

Last, aim at your target, bend him back, and release!

Game Time:

Now that you've gotten a little tour, it's game time! Since the players don't have particular jerseys, it's up to you what the teams are.

Video:

Of course, no set with playability functions would be complete without a video! Here, I've demonstrated passing and shooting between players, which is basically all there is to it.

_______________________________________________

Totals:

Design: 9/10 The designers managed to create a good-looking and functional model but keep it at a smaller size. It's very pleasing to the eye and is fairly sturdy. It loses a point for the slightly-shaky hoops.

Parts: 10/10 A nice selection centering around the exclusive bases. However, there's a good amount of other parts, like the fence pieces and basketball accessories which are useful and exciting.

Build:9/10 The build was a little tedious due to a little repetition, but otherwise it was something completely different than other themes and felt special.

Minifigs: 7/10 The torsos and heads are nice, but none are that rare. More importantly, the figures can't be mixed with regular minifigs that successfully.

Playability: 10/10 For a set of its size, it has great playability, since it is after all a game! Combining a couple of them would make an even cooler streetball game.

Price: 8/10 The piece/price ratio isn't perfect, but it's pretty good considering the larger bases, specialized minifigs, and licensing fees.

Total: 53/60 Overall a rather splendid set. I'd recommend this to Town collectors looking to spice up their layouts and Basketball fans who want something unique. It's a little simple but it's very satisfying too, and I find it to be a unique idea crossed with impeccable execution.

Thanks for reading! I'd love to hear what you think of this set.

Inconspicuous

[prateek]

Great review. As for the set, it's a great game, and it'll be nice in a Town layout

BTW, how many takes did you do before you finally got an accurate pass and shot?

Edited August 24, 2010 by prateek

[lightningtiger]

COOL review 'Inconspicuous' - I always wanted to see one of these basketball games assembled !

How do you score points.....like is there the usual 1-2-3 pointer or not ?

I wonder if Lego might bring something like this one day in the lego Games arena ?

I'm a conformist! !

[XimenaPaulina]

Thanks for the great review Inky! As a baller myself who knows the ins and outs of the real basketball game, I'd say this is a pretty decent attempt to create a functional playable basketball set. The concept of the 'game' itself is rather interesting and unique unseen in most lego sets. But there are a lot of 'expected' issues, like the size of the hoop (I'd be MVP of our league if that's the size of our hoops ), dimensions of the court and backboard, etc.

But the great thing about seeing this set is I now found another challenge - creating a brickbuilt basketball court (in the famous words of Michael Jordan: "For the Love of Game (and Lego)".

[dindon]

Great Review, i never thought you could pass and shoot this way ! Nice !

[L@go]

Thank you for an interesting review - never really knew how these sets looked!

I'm pretty sure you can rip them off, but I'm not sure if regular arms will fit back in!

I've never seen one of these up close, but the different basketball torso designs are quite neat and would look good in a town layout. Does anybody know for a fact that the arms can/can't come off to be replaced with regular minifig arms?

[Still Raindrop]

The arms can be replaced by regular arms--one of the minifigures in my town sports that gray shirt, but I replaced the basketball arms with normal ones. They're not even loose or anything.

Great review, by the way!

Edited August 24, 2010 by Mariko

[The Cobra]

Nice job Inky!

I rated the set "above average" because,as good as it is, it's a bit too specific and I think it wouldn't fit in an "ordinary" bookshelf display as it could in a town layout.

[Rufus]

Stunning review, Inky!

I can't imagine I'd ever have bought this, so it's great to see it up close. Some useful parts in there (sand green tiles, !)

[squiz]

nice review, i didnt have this set but had the bigger basketball court and football pitch. My parents are childminders and they are very popular with the kids, can do 1v1 or 2v2.

Nice selection of parts as well. You mentioned about the baseplates not being too useful, a couple of months ago on here someone posted an amazing moc of a futuristic mining plant that had these baseplates as the facade and they looked great!

Here is the eurobricks topic and here is a closeup. Well worth a look! dont want to know how much they were to bricklink all those!

Edited August 24, 2010 by squiz

[Inconspicuous]

BTW, how many takes did you do before you finally got an accurate pass and shot?

About 15. The pass was the hardest part.

How do you score points.....like is there the usual 1-2-3 pointer or not ?

I wonder if Lego might bring something like this one day in the lego Games arena

There are no specified rules for scoring, but free-throws are kind of out of the question, given that there are only four set spots. However, I could see 2 and 3 pointers, depending on which player you score with, working pretty well.

But there are a lot of 'expected' issues, like the size of the hoop (I'd be MVP of our league if that's the size of our hoops, dimensions of the court and backboard, etc.

Considering these issues, I feel like Lego did a pretty good job. Oh, and how I wish that hoops were really that big.

Great Review, i never thought you could pass and shoot this way ! Nice !

Passing is much more difficult and is virtually impossible to pull off in a game. It took me a while to get that part correct, but I wanted to make it known that it IS possible.

Thank you for an interesting review - never really knew how these sets looked!

That's why I reviewed this set, or write reviews at all for that matter- to bring sets into the spotlight and open people's eyes.

The arms can be replaced by regular arms--one of the minifigures in my town sports that gray shirt, but I replaced the basketball arms with normal ones. They're not even loose or anything.

Interesting, I did not know that. Thanks for bringing it up.

You mentioned about the baseplates not being too useful, a couple of months ago on here someone posted an amazing moc of a futuristic mining plant that had these baseplates as the facade and they looked great!

Another thing I didn't know! That just goes to show how versatile Lego is, even the most specific pieces. Thanks for the link.

And thanks to everyone who commented! I really do appreciate your taking the time to add a reply.

[Legobrandon]

Thanks for the wonderful review! This set looks pretty cool! I love the hand function where you can pic the ball up auomaticly.

[LegoFreak5]

Its a really nice set!

[tazzycorner]

this is really cool

i never expect the passing and shooting could actually work!

[Klaus-Dieter]

Thank you very much for this great review, The Cobra!

I voted for

outstanding

since this set is simply amazing! :wub:

Con:

nothing

Pro:

-four different basketball players

-complete playing field with two basketball baskets

-fence and small bench

An excellent small set with a lot of playability and with a content that arouses not only kids' but even teens' interest in Lego!

I really hope that TLG will come back with some Sports theme or at least a basketball field and a skatepark in the City theme in the near future!

Klaus-Dieter

[Night City Dream]

I am sorry to be a bit off-topic but if this thread is in TOWN forum, may I ask moderators to move my review of the Ultimate NBA Arena, which is here: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=45354

down to TOWN forum as well?

Thank you.