Football the way it was back on the playground.

GAMEPLAY:

This is a completely different football game than you are used to. Don’t be fooled by the fact that it is made by the same people who made Madden. Forget all of the complicated franchise modes, take off the helmets and most of the pads, and many of the rules of the No Fun League. This is a new brand of football.

EA Big attempted to do to football the same thing that they did to basketball with the NBA Street series. In many places they have succeeded. But in a few places they fell short.

First, the good. This is football the way it is almost never played in the NFL. I say almost because of that one play by the Saints where they lateraled the ball several times at the end of the game to score a touchdown to pull within one. And for all of the Saints fans out there, you will be happy to know that there are no kickers, so you wont be able to push the extra point wide right to lose the game. For those of you who did not see that play, basically this is a football game where the ball can easily be pitched to a different player when you are being tackled. This is good to keep the play alive and completely fool your friends. They might send three people over to tackle T.O. and leave Hearst wide open to receive the pitch and run down the field.

Before the game, you get to choose seven players. These seven players will play both offence and defense. So chose your team wisely. Also, you are able to put whomever you want in whichever position. The computer will put your people where they will probably be most effective, but sometimes you may want to change where the players are. For example, say you are going to run wide left. Instead of using a wide receiver to block their cornerback, you can put an offensive linemen wide left and your receiver on the line. This will provide better blocking down the field, given your wide receiver does not get destroyed and your running back tackled in the backfield.

The field that you play on will also create some interesting factors. In the beach level, the sand will slow down your speedy runners. So, I decided to put a player like Simeon Rice in the backfield and let him do my running. It was kind of fun, watching my huge defensive lineman running and breaking tackles… and fumbling every three plays. But at least he got out of the backfield. Occasionally your quarterback will throw a pass that is too lofty and it will hit the ceiling or fence (if there is one on the stage), creating an interesting ricochet, which may result in an incomplete pass, turnover, or a completed pass to a completely different person.

That brings up my next point on the gameplay. Turnovers. There are many turnovers in this game. Sometimes you will pitch to a person who is getting tackled, make a bad pitch, get the pitch stolen, get hit while showing off, get a pass batted and intercepted… turnovers come very easily in this game. And I think that is a good thing. Instead of a game like Madden where turnovers don’t happen too often, this game is full of them. If you throw a ball into double coverage, there is a good chance that it will be picked, or at least batted away. If you throw a pass over the middle and there is a linebacker spying on the quarterback, expect him to jump and try to intercept the pass. The passing in this game really challenges you to find the open man or be prepared to play defense.

The games are not played for time, but rather to a set number of points, usually 36. After scoring a touchdown you have the option of either running to the end zone again for 1 point or passing for 2.

Because this is an EA Big title, there is a reward for showing off. This reward is (like its NBA counterpart) the Gamebreaker meter. The more you show off/do well, the more it fills. When it is completely filled, you will be able to choose when to use your Gamebreaker. The Gamebreaker last the entire series (until there is a touchdown or the ball is turned over, for the non-football fans out there) and it supercharges your players. Your players will tear through the line to get to the quarterback, intercept the ball with relative ease, or break tackles like a madman. Many times while on defense, the Gamebreaker will cause the other team to fumble, almost guaranteeing a turnover. On offense, it is very difficult to bring down the person who has the ball, usually resulting in a touchdown. Occasionally you will be able to score against a Gamebreaker, but that is very hard to do.

You have a few different options on how to play the game. There is the quick game. This is simple, pick a team, pick an opponent, pick your 7, choose a field, and play. Simple. Then there is the pickup game. Here, 40 players are in a draft. One of the players either chooses to pick first or have the ball first. Each has its advantages. If you choose to have the ball first, you have the advantage of having a bit of an easier time achieving 36 points. But, you will be kicking yourself if you find a player like Walter Payton, Barry Sanders, Simeon Rice, Michael Vick, T.O., or Barry Sanders in the draft that your opponent gets to choose first.

Where you will spend most of your time, however, is in the NFL Challenge mode. Here you start with seven no-name players for a no-name team. You then play through a series of challenges to earn development points, new plays, special gear, or a NFL player. When you are satisfied with how your team looks (or, most likely, run out of tokens to allow yourself to improve your team) you can go enter the ladder. This is where you have to play and beat each team in the division, then play against the all-star team with the best players from the division. This allows you to have more tokens to try to improve your team more.

There are some problems with the gameplay. It seems that it is too easy for the computer to break free and run the length of the field. It would be alright if that was possible for the user to do it, too. But that does not happen nearly as often as the computer does. Also, the computer seems to have an easier time lateraling the ball. The computer overall seems to be able to just pull off more things than the player can.

Also, NFL Street does not exactly do to football what NBA Street did to basketball. Sure, it has some legends from our parents’ generation, but I do not think there are nearly enough. Nor do I like the way all of them were unlocked easily. I think they should have been unlocked more like how they were with NBA Street, giving more purpose to modes other than the Be A Legend/NFL Challenge modes.

Also, it is way too easy to run out of tokens. This really forces you to play the ladder modes, even if your team is not too good. I like the way that the NFL Challenge mode is set up, but the Be A Legend mode from NBA Street just made a lot more sense and worked a lot better.

Also, when you have a player like Ricky Williams, Walter Payton, or Marshall Faulk, it is way, WAY too easy to just run to the outside every play. It makes passing an unnecessary risk. At least against the computer. A human would notice the running pattern and probably shut it down.

GAMEPLAY: 8.5/10

GRAPHICS:

The graphics in this game really work well alongside the gameplay. The people are not exactly proportioned as their real life counterparts, but with the exaggerated tackles, insane jumps and overall unreal movements of the players, the graphics seem right at home.

There are many different types of clothes that the players are able to wear, so you are able to customize them any way you want. You can choose what they wear on their clothes, a variety of different headbands, armbands, gloves, shoes, pants, hairstyles… the list goes on. Unfortunately, the list is not nearly as long as the list for SSX 3, where you could get necklaces, chains, and many different accessories. But, there are some advantages to the accessories. Some of the accessories are called “impact” gear, which will make the players perform better. Think Brett Favre is too slow? Put on some impact shoes that increase speed. Want T.O. to cover better? Put on an impact headband. The impact gear is a nice way to blend the style with the gameplay. I just wish that there was more variety to the gear.

The fields that you play on are very nice. They are not too detailed, but they serve their purpose. Footprints are left in the soft mud, debris flies, garbage cans get knocked over with trash flying out… a lot of these little extras make the game feel more like it was played on the street.

One of my favorite parts of the game is how fluid everything moves. The players move very nicely, occasionally slipping in wet mud while trying to spin, getting hit hard while trying to run past a few defenders, reaching to try to make a one-handed catch on an overthrown ball, showing off, and just playing the game. Probably the best animations are the wall tackles. These are tackles that are made while near a wall, post, or something hard. These have people being run into, thrown into, or pinned against the walls. They really look realistic and add to the street atmosphere. And it is always nice to break a tackle while being slammed against the wall and watch the defender crumble to the ground.

The animations are fluid with the pitches, too. A person can be halfway through being flipped and pass the ball to a teammate. The animations are quick and fluid, and with the frantic pace of this game, it needs to be this fast.

The game does seem to lack overall polish. There is some clipping and occasionally the ball will just move to the players “magnetic hands”. The game could have looked a bit nicer, but it still looks good.

GRAPHICS: 8.5/10

SOUND:

There are licensed tracks in the game. They are not used too well, though. My favorite track is “Long Train Home” by the Lost Prophets (remember that song “Shinobi vs. Dragon Ninja”? Yeah, those guys). But these tracks are really only used during the menus of the game. The actual game itself has mostly beats and that’s it. I would rather have real songs played during the game. This is the only EA Big title that I have played that the music has disappointed me.

There are many taunts and good tackling noises, as well as other random sounds, such as cans rattling and people chattering on the sidelines. There is no announcer, which allows you to focus on the banter between the players. The banter more than makes up for an announcer, because the banter allows you to realize what just happened. A big gain, an interception and a sack all use different taunts. They are sometimes repetitive, but still good.

SOUND: 7.0/10

REPLAY VALUE:

This game has a rather long NFL Challenge mode that will probably take upwards of 7-10 hours to fully complete. After that there is really nothing more to unlock. But, the saving grace of this game is its multiplayer. While the computer poses a challenge, it is nothing compared to playing against another human. Trick plays work a lot better against a human who doesn’t always know what’s coming. The game supports up to four players. But, if you are home alone or don’t have anyone to play with, and if you have a PS2, you are able to take this game on-line and hit the gridiron against some random person.

REPLAY VALUE: 9.0/10

CLOSING COMMENTS:

This game is a very good start to a hopefully promising series. With many new things added to this football game, it is an experience unlike any other football game before. Unfortunately it does not have the flash that NBA Street had, nor does it give as much of a history lesson on football as NBA Street Volume 2 did for basketball, but this is a good start nonetheless. NFL Street provides a solid football game that is heavy on the arcade aspect and is just a lot of fun. Not perfect, but a game worth at least renting, if not a purchase.

OVERALL: 8.0/10