NFL Street - Review

Added March 5th, 2004 by Sallizar

Introduction:

So when was the last time you ran a flea-flicker in Madden? Is that play even in Madden? Well, it’s in NFL Street along with all the trick plays you used to run on the playground during recess. EA Big decided to take the successful model they started with NBA Street and NBA Street 2 and apply it to football. The result is NFL Street. Oversized, caricatures of NFL stars or your very own created characters get to battle it out in a no-holds-barred back alley pigskin game. Whether you catch the long bomb and spin the ball on your finger as you high step into the endzone, or you activate a Gamebreaker on defense and force a fumble for a safety, this game is all about being stylish.

Gameplay:

NFL Street gives the player a chance to play in three different modes. Quick game is your standard exhibition match. Pickup games let you pick players one by one just like the old days on the playground. Finally, NFL Challenge lets you build a user created team of players from rookies to stars.

Quick games and pickup games are basically the same, except for the choosing of individual players instead of a team in pickup mode. Both game types are played to either a certain score, by default thirty-six, or to a set amount of style points. Actual play is identical to most football games, but in NFL Street your seven man team plays both sides of the ball, and of course there is the styling. While passing, throwing, pitching, running or just about anything, you can press the left trigger to add some street style to the play. A pass may become a no-look pass or a dive into the end zone will become a cannonball. Be careful though, because when you’re styling your chances of fumbling the ball becomes much higher. The point of all these theatrics, besides annoying your opponent, is to get style points. After you reach a set style point goal your team gets a Gamebreaker. Activating your Gamebreaker on offensive makes defenders miss tackles and your passes virtually impossible to intercept. On defense a Gamebreaker lets you plow through the offense line and practically forces the opposing player to fumble just by bumping into them. A Gamebreaker can also be also be saved and used to cancel your opponent’s Gamebreaker as they activate it. After you get that first TD you find out there are no field goals in NFL Street. After you score you try for a conversion. You’re awarded two points if you score with a pass and one if you run it in. Both game modes can be played with up to four players, but no more than two players on one team.

NFL Challenge mode is the meat of the game and consists of various ladders and challenges that pit your created team against every division in the NFL. Winning a ladder lets you pick a new division to unlock while playing the challenges earns you points to spend on your team’s abilities, clothing, impact gear that boosts your stats, or you might even get to add an NFL star to your created team. Ladders consist of playing each team in the division in a normal game to thirty-six. After beating all four teams in the division you play the all-stars from that division to unlock another division and set of challenges in NFL Challenge. Challenges consist of things as simple as “Beat the 49ers to 20 points in less than 5 minutes” to challenges as difficult as pitching the ball five times and scoring a TD on your first play. To play a challenge you have to spend tokens that you get from defeating ladders. There are not enough tokens to play them all, so make sure you pick your challenges wisely.

Games in NFL Street are almost always close because EA Big decided to add a catch up AI feature. If you start blowing a team out they may suddenly intercept a pass they missed every time earlier or they may break down your offensive line and sack your QB three times in a row. It’s hard to tell if a disastrous play was caused by the catch up AI or not, but I’ve still blamed many a wayward pass on it anyway. Players do have the option to turn the catch up AI off in quick and pickup games but NFL Challenge is locked into the mode. The catch up is subtle, but hurts the game a little bit by not letting the player stomp all over a weak opponent.

Graphics:

NFL Street is all about the little graphical details. The bench you knocked over doesn’t magically get back up between plays. When you break a tackle near a wall the player jumps up and pushes off of it while throwing the defender to the ground. All of these animations are very fluid and incredibly varied with a wide array of signature style moves to taunt your opponent with. The bigger than life character designs fit the street genre well and inject an extra bit of attitude into the game. EA Big did a good job of capturing the individual look of each NFL player while still keeping to the style of the game. Where they dropped the ball is custom player creation. There simply isn’t enough variety in player models and some look terribly deformed. Nevertheless, I was able to complete a team of seven players that all look vaguely like various friends of mine. Overall NFL Street is nothing groundbreaking graphically, but is incredibly solid and has a good bit of street style.

Audio:

“You see that wall over there?” “It’s still in bounds, you hit it, you keep running, understand?” NFL Street has some great voice work and sound effects. The various lines get repetitive, but nothing’s better than getting a bone crunching crucial sack and having your player taunt the opposing team by showing the ball to the camera and saying “You want this ball, uh-uh, it’s MY ball!”. Musically, EA gives us a slew of licensed tracks from their EA Trax library that contains a good mix of hip-hop and rock and fits well with the Street theme. If any of the titles grate on your ears you can always rip some of your own music down and select the custom soundtrack option. The odd thing is that the EA licensed music and the custom soundtracks are only played during menu screens. I understand that decision in a game like Madden, but if I were really playing football in a back alley or under an overpass I’d have an ‘80s style boom box blasting out my favorite tunes while I was hurdling my opponents. In game music consists of blend of techno and hip-hop style that is instantly forgettable but provides a bit of street styling ambience.

Controls:

Overall, NFL Street has smooth, intuitive controls. The only complaint I have is the amount of various moves mapped to each face button. For example, hitting the A button while running the ball will either stiff arm the defense player or shoulder charge them depending on the defenders situation on the field in relation to the ball carrier. Either way, you have a chance of breaking the tackle and styling your way to the end zone in a normal game. It gets a bit trickier in NFL Challenge mode. A friend and I spent two hours trying to “Beat the Vikings to 20 and complete 3 stiff arms”, because every time we would tap the A button just a little early or a tad late and inevitably shoulder charge the defender instead.

Offense:
Left Trigger – Style/Audible
Right Trigger – Turbo
Left Thumbstick/D-pad – Control player
Start – Pause game
A – Snap ball/Stiff arm/Shoulder charge
B – Spin/Juke
X – Hurdle/Dive
Y – Pitch/Catch
White – Pull the camera back
Black – View play diagram

Defense:
Left Trigger – Audible
Right Trigger – Turbo
Left Thumbstick/D-pad – Control player
Start – Pause game
A – Spin/Rip
B – Switch players
X – Dive
Y – Catch/Deflect pass
White – Pull the camera back
Black – View play diagram

Replay:

Pass, run, pass, run, run, score, repeat. Just like any other sports game, fans of football are going to get a bit more bang for their buck than the casual gamer. That’s not saying the casual gamer won’t spend a lot of time with NFL Street. I spent many hours building my teams abilities up, just so I could reach the next division in NFL Challenge and attempt whatever zany challenge the EA Big staff would throw at me next. Throw in unlockable teams, arenas, and clothing styles and you’ll have your hands full for a while. The token system in NFL Challenge also lends a bit of forced replay value by not letting you do every challenge with your created team. I’m sure that will drive the folks that like to 100% games crazy. Along with the various things to do in NFL Challenge, NFL Street also has the various exhibition game style modes. Grab some friends, a few extra controllers, and your beverage of choice and play a pickup game to thirty-six or challenge them to a style point competition. Unfortunately, EA is still not supporting Xbox Live so there is no online support in NFL Street. The ability to trash talk someone across the country as my running back does a Superman dive into the endzone might have kept the disc in my drive for just a bit longer.

Summary:

NFL Street is the perfect game for anyone who loves to trash talk their friends while playing video games. Juking an opponent then showing them the ball in one hand all the way to the end zone will just drive your friends crazy. Single player gamers can look forward to a deep challenge system and a stylish graphical presentation. The catch up AI is annoying but doesn’t hinder the game much and I really hope the sequel (it’s EA, there WILL be a sequel) gets rid of it and has a better character creation system. If you’re an NFL fan or just looking to relive some of those back lot games of yesteryear than give NFL Street a try.