EA Sports' "FIFA Street" was recently released on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, promising to mold itself in the image of other fantastic "street" games - including classics like "NBA Street" (2001) and "NFL Street" (2004). But the game falls short of expectations, leaving many to bemoan the end of such a strong series.
"FIFA Street's" plot is practically non?existent. Any remnants of one that do exist are extremely overdone. In the World Tour mode, you make a character, form a team and try to defeat the world with soccer as a medium. This just so happens to be a larger scale of the exact same premise of, well, "NBA Street" and "NFL Street." Plot is not necessarily important in a sports game, but it is something to recognize.
The gameplay is what makes the "Street" series unique. In each edition, the developers try to incorporate a system for tricks, which often requires a combination of buttons and the right analog stick. The tricks allow players to be quite flashy as they maneuver around their opponents, earning points which translate later into - at least in "FIFA Street" - experience, which then can be used to upgrade players and unlock tricks for them. Game challenges are also based on this point system, with tasks such as "first to 2,500 points."
Unfortunately, the trick system is rather clunky. It can be difficult to perform the exact moves that are necessary when you need to perform them. The best moves turn out to be the most complicated series of button presses and flicks, and while you're trying to input the exact combination, the opponent steals the ball and scores a goal. It also doesn't help that the timing of each move is very sensitive. For instance, some moves require a holding of the right analog stick in a certain direction, but often the player can't sit for a decent period of time in one place, due to the nature of soccer. This makes pulling off the move just as difficult as the series of button presses and flicks.
Ultimately, for a longtime fan of the series, the gameplay is frustrating. It is easy to recall the days of "NBA Street Vol. 2" (2003), when players could simply twiddle the right stick around while holding buttons and manage to juke their way all the way to the basket for an epic dunk. Now, each move has an "effect" period, meaning that each move takes a certain amount of in?game time to perform. The combos are still there, but they are much more reliant on finesse. This makes sense since soccer is a finesse sport, but it doesn't fit in a video game, especially one in this series.
The difficulty levels of the game also do not help matters, as they are extremely unbalanced. The "hard" difficulty for a street pickup game is the equivalent of the "easy" mode in a tournament game. Furthermore, the difficulties within a mode have giant gaps. The easy mode is about at my level and is perfect for a person semi?comfortable with the controls of the street system but with no experience playing soccer video games. The medium level is my hard mode, meaning that I have significant difficulty but can occasionally win, given enough luck. The hard mode is literally impossible. You can't ever steal the ball, the opponents are extremely aggressive, and almost every time they get the ball they score, no matter how good the goalie is. Ridiculous is a mild description.
The graphics are a nice touch, however. In the past, the "Street" series was known for its cartoony, over?the?top graphics. In "FIFA Street," however, the graphics are more realistic and convincingly emulate the "FIFA" series.
Overall, "FIFA Street" fails pretty miserably. EA should immediately start a free, downloadable content variation to change much of what is broken in this game. Until that is released, newcomers to the series should not pick this version up. Hardcore soccer gamers, meanwhile, should rent this game before making the decision to actually buy it.
