NFL Street 2

By: Briton Heitt
Xbox Advanced would like to thank GCA Editor Briton Heitt for his time, energy and support.

Does this year’s addition of street football make the kickoff? Or does it fall short of a touchdown?

One thing that must be said is that EA’s last effort in the NFL Street series left many people thoroughly surprised. NFL Street brought back memories of Blitz on the Nintendo 64 by delivering the same hard-hitting gameplay and action that football fans have come to love from the Blitz series of football games. But with NFL Street came a whole new way to experience the sport of football. Not only did it take football to the streets. NFL Street mixed the same features of NBA Street and urban art together to create a unique and ingenious experience. Loaded to the brim with features, NFL Street was highly successful in sales. It topped 2004’s Q1 sales charts, and in light of this NFL Street was warranted a sequel in the form of NFL Street 2.

After the roughly eleven and a half month wait we are treated to NFL street 2. Adding more content, features, and amazingly artistic style to the overall design that is NFL Street, there is no doubt that NFL Street 2 will be as successful as the original NFL Street, if not more so. The overall feel of the series is still intact, and also feels fresher considering that online has been implemented into the XBox version. That doesn’t mean that Cube owners aren’t getting a wealth of content as it is. NFL Street 2 expands upon its predecessor in several ways. All new modes such as ‘Own the City’ make NFL Street 2 a more enjoyable and lengthier game than the original while still capturing the essence of urban street football. A lot of things have been refined such as the graphics, gameplay, and overall effort that Tiburon has put into NFL Street 2. If you loved NFL Street, then you are in for a fun and lengthy ride with NFL Street 2.

Features

• The sequel to the highly successful NFL Street.
  
• Experience hard hitting and over-the-top urban football action as it was meant to
  be played.
  
• All new game modes including ‘Own the City’, ‘NFL Gauntlet’, and new ‘Street Events’.
  
• Includes the original game modes from NFL Street such as ‘Pickup game’, ‘NFL Challenge’, and an all new tutorial to get you started.
  
• Create a player and bring together a team from your hometown. Then make your way through dominating all opponents in your way until you rule the hood in the all new ‘Own the City’ game mode.
  
• Play against the entire NFL in the all new ‘NFL Gauntlet’ game mode.
  
• Challenge teams in 4-on-4 games or play every man for himself in the new ‘Crush the Carrier’ street event.
  
• EA brings the NFL Street series online for the XBox version of NFL Street 2 while also supporting 4 player offline play for both the XBox and GameCube.
  
• Songs from hit artists like “The Used” and “Sum 41” accommodate the soundtrack nicely.
  
• NFL Street 2 supports custom soundtracks and runs in Dolby Digital sound for the XBox version.
  
• NFL Street 2 runs in HDTV 480p for the XBox version.

The City is Yours for the Taking
If you have played NBA Street Vol. 2 you have most likely experienced its incredibly deep ‘Be a Legend’ mode. NFL Street 2 takes the same aspect from NBA Street Vol. 2’s ‘Be a Legend’ mode and tweaks it. NFL Street was based on the same arcade type gameplay that is offered up in all of the EA BIG sports titles. It comes as no surprise that the same can be said for NFL Street 2.

‘Own the City’ is mainly the real meat of the package for this year’s installment into the NFL Street series. In the ‘Own the City’ mode your main goal is to defeat all opponents that rise up against you on the streets, taking them on field by field. First you create a player, and after winning more and more pickup games you will pull together a team. You will gain new team members from the opposing team once you have beat them in a pickup game. As you beat your opponents you will build a reputation on the streets, and eventually make it to the ultimate showdown in the City against Xzibit and his team of NFL players.

The fields you need to play at and defeat are shown on the ‘Own the City’ map. Once you select a field to conquer, you will begin to work your way through the list of games and challenges, ranging from street events, pickup games, and team games that let you duke it out against the teams that are in control of the area. With each victory you will earn more and more reputation along with credits to buy new gear for your created player. New gear that you can buy ranges from tattoos to clothing. This aspect lets the player broaden and personalize their overall experience with the game. ‘Own the City’ is a welcomed addition to the NFL Street series and lengthens the urban football experience exponentially.

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Gameplay
The gameplay in NFL Street 2 is frantic and fast. But what makes the games so fast and fun is its arcade style gameplay. Relying on ‘gamebreakers’ and ‘style moves’, NFL Street 2 never seems mundane or boring. There is always a unique action for every style move, and all of the actions are very animated and cool. Most style moves are pulled off by holding down the left trigger and using a single or numerous button sequences to make them work. One such style move lets you run up onto the wall to avoid being crushed against the wall by an opponent. Others will have you throwing or catching a football behind your back or over your head. It all seems very unrealistic, but they are all animated very fluidly and when the ‘style moves’ are activated successfully you will be able to give the opposing team a run for their money. The plays at your disposal are numerous and many to choose from. You have your basic pass plays like ‘shotgun’ and your basic running plays like ‘left collateral’. But in NFL Street 2 these plays are given whacky names that compliment the overall feel of the game nicely. Also new to NFL Street 2 are the trick plays, which are over-the-top visualized plays at your disposal.

‘Gamebreakers’ can build up based on how you ‘style up’ your games. If you use a lot of ‘style moves’, your gamebreaker meter will fill up the more and more. Once the gamebreaker meter is full the opposing team doesn’t have chance. Like in the NBA Street series, the gamebreaker unleashes a devastating attack on your opponents. Your team will become stronger, bulldozing the competition. The only flaw in this design is that it can be a cheap way of scoring and winning. But the gamebreaker doesn’t come naturally. You do have to use ‘style moves’ frequently and gain yards successfully to fill your gamebreaker meter. There is an amount of effort involved in succeeding to fill your gamebreaker, but it doesn’t leave a chance for the other team to defend themselves. That is in fact why they call it ‘gamebreaker’ because it will break your opponent’s game like a twig. Though there is an exception to this. If you are behind the other team by many points, then the gamebreaker will only help you catch up. In other words, the gamebreaker is an invaluable resource to your team if you are losing, and a devastating attack towards your team if you are winning. Either way, it’s a lose-lose situation unless you have the gamebreaker of course.

NFL Street 2 offers a lot of the same features as NFL Street including tutorials, quick games, pickup games, and ‘NFL Challenge’. New game modes to the NFL Street Series are the ‘NFL Gauntlet’ and new ‘Street Events’. The ‘NFL Gauntlet’ pits you and your team against the entire NFL, amounting to hours of play time. Once you pick your team, you are ready to clash against every team in the league. It’s still a fun and highly addictive gameplay mode, and should not be missed by anyone who buys NFL Street 2. The new ‘street events’ are a fresh take on the sport, and consist of 4-on-4 showdowns and ‘every man for himself’ type games like ‘Crush the Carrier’. These games can be played not only for fun, but also as a means of perfecting your skills in tackling or all out blitzing. These new modes really offer a new way to play NFL Street 2, and can amount to hours upon hours of play time, especially if you have XBox Live.

It’s Good to Play Together
My online experience with NFL Street 2 has been great to say the least. NFL Street 2 includes the standard online fare for online games these days. You have your quick games, optimatch, and much more. Though, EA has implemented some unique features into NFL Street 2’s online mode. They have included ‘EA Sport’s Ticker’. This lets you stay up to date on the latest sports scores. It not only shows you the scores of real world games, but also the score’s of any of your friends games that are currently being played. It’s a very unique feature that is great to have and is greatly appreciated. Also, the majority of people that you will play are kind, unlike the immature people that play Halo 2. It’s a nice change of pace. In all the online mode for XBox is great and should serve as yet another reason to pick up NFL Street 2 for XBox owners.

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Visuals
NFL Street 2 boasts an immense amount of artistic design. From the fields to the loading screens, the series seems like a perfect fit for the over-the-top design. Player models look bulky and unorthodox, while also having a polished look about them. The fields that you play on are nicely created and original. EA has implemented art flawlessly into NFL Street 2. The loading screens are gorgeous and fun to look at, and the pictures presented are nicely drawn. Hopefully the NFL Street series will retain its artful approach, as it is a nice change of pace from other sports games to date. All of the players are animated nicely, and many of the actual players in the NFL that are in NFL Street 2 look like their real world counterparts, but in a weird cartoon sort of way. Every action is fluid, and can be noticed fairly well enough. Both the XBox version and GameCube version of NFL Street 2 look nice, with XBox slightly taking the lead with sharper textures. At times the frame rate can slowdown, but ultimately it doesn’t hinder gameplay. Overall the game looks fantastic, and the art design compliments the feel of the game very nicely being that NFL Street 2 is an over-the-top arcade football game.

Sound
The sound in NFL Street 2 is decent. Xzibit lends his voice to the series for the first time, and seems to have created a perfect little niche in the series in the way that he commentates. The overall voice acting is great and never does it sound dumb downed or not in place. The sound effects really lend themselves to how you play the game. There are numerous sound effects for each ‘style move’. The sound effects also let you pin point where an opponent may be coming from, and you will hear the distance they are from you. Different fields will have different landscapes, and all sound according to their area. If you play on a grassy turf, it will sound like many people winning on grass. On other words, every sound plays out according to its environment. For the most part you will hear smart-alack remarks from the players, or the general grunts. The soundtrack is nicely incorporated, and lets the player feel as if they are actually playing in a street setting. Made up of many rock tunes from famous artists like “Sum 41” and “The Used”, it’s hard not to appreciate the effort that went into the soundtrack. The soundtrack feels upbeat and compliments the gameplay on screen in NFL Street nicely. Some songs NFL Street could do without like some rap beats, but it depends on the players liking of music. The XBox version of NFL Street 2 also supports custom soundtracks. Overall, the sound design in NFL Street 2 is refreshingly nice and compliments the game well, and really drives home the feel of urban street football.

Closing Comments
NFL Street 2 is a great sequel to NFL Street, and shouldn’t be missed out by anyone who was a fan of the original NFL Street. Delivering more action then before while still retaining what the series is made popular for, NFL Street 2 looks to be just as successful as NFL Street. Also, the sheer volume of the game is immense in size, adding up to many hours of play time, especially for XBox owners with XBox Live. Even for GameCube owners there is a lot to be had here, and all of it is nicely implemented. EA has done a great job with the series thus far, and we can only hope that the NFL Street series remains strong. Highly recommended.