FIFA STREET – XB – Review

In the now
classic Sylvester Stallone movie, Victory, real-life soccer legend Pele
said that real soccer is played not in a stadium but on the streets. On
the streets there are no clashes of big egos or endorsement deals – there’s just
participants playing for the pure love of the game itself. Forget the rules and
the referee blowing the whistle every minute, this is soccer at its rawest form
… or at least this is the feel EASports Big is going for with FIFA Street.
Does is succeed in bringing us stylish street soccer, though? Let’s find out,
shall we?

EASports isn’t a
stranger when it comes to regulation sports games but its EASports Big franchise
is known for taking our favorite sport and pushing it to extreme yet exciting
levels. Take the NBA Street franchise for instance: it’s basketball but
without the restrictions or rules, and pits just a few players on the outdoors
court. FIFA Street offers up a four-on-four match-up without a ref
stopping the match to whip out a yellow card and out on the streets it;s all
about the trick shots and rough play.

The street
venues in this game all seem to take places in an area enclosed by a fence with
makeshift goalposts at both ends. Whether you’re playing in Lagos, Nigeria or
Rome, Italy you’re restricted only to the fenced-in area where the action takes
place. Here’s the interesting part, though. While you can use created players of
your own design, you’ll be matched up against some known players from around the
world. Play against the French and you’ll have to deal with the lightning fast
Zidane while if you play against Brazil you’ll have to be on your toes against
the powerhouse that is Ronaldinho.

You can play a
friendly match in Friendly Mode or play the game’s career mode called Rule the
Street mode. Rule the Street isn’t incredibly deep nor will you feel as though
you’re playing for something truly worthy of the global tournament. You simply
take your created team composed of a goalkeeper, a center and two defensive
players and go up against each team in a given location. It is here where you
earn a reputation and earn Skill Bills used to upgrade your created players’
skills in areas such as speed, shot accuracy or even tackling.  Earn a
reputation and you can even get to recruit the big boys like England’s Beckham.
And trust me when I say that winning each venue is just too easy.

This takes us to
what’s wrong with this game. For starters, the computer-controlled opponents
aren’t as smart as they first seem to be. You’ll easily figure out the chink in
their defensive armor and spot their weak spots to use to your advantage. Why
they always fall for the step-in tackle or passes back to center are beyond me.
It’s the little things like this that make the game feel less challenging and,
thusly, not so much fun once you figure out their weaknesses. Secondly, the game
allows you to easily perform some really complex tricks that are otherwise
somewhat difficult to perform in strict soccer simulators. With the Trick Stick
you can perform a number of stylized tricks like bicycle kicks and even wall
tricks. All of these things result in some truly wild and spectacular goals you
wouldn’t see anywhere else. Why is this a bad thing, you might ask? Well, all
these things are cool to perform but when funny shots and tackling tricks are
all the other team or you will be doing throughout the game then it gets
tiresome really fast.

Speaking of
tiresome, the opposing team’s best weapon comes in the form of the combos. Yes,
you can use the combos yourself but the computer-controlled team just pulls it
off a lot faster than you can and uses it often. When a combo meter is filled up
– done by performing a string of trick moves – the action will slow down and you
or the other team gets to perform a shot no goalkeeper can stop. The same can be
said about the Gamebreaker meter that, when full, simply allows a player to
launch a pile driver into anyone that gets in his way. Yet the worse of all is
the controls that often have you running towards the fence and forget about
stopping on a dime to make a quick pass. To make matters worse you have no real
control over your shots while running, often kicking the ball well beyond the
other team’s goalpost. This is the reason the game doesn’t feel like soccer.

Graphically
speaking, FIFA Street doesn’t look as impressive as it could have and
this is too bad since the environments do look pretty good. While the matches
take place in fenced-in areas, you’ll find some very interesting international
locales that range from a park in New York City to the wonderfully authentic
neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro. The environments aren’t filled to the brim with
detail, but it’s still great to look at when the camera pans back. The player
models are also pretty good although it’s really nothing to write home about,
but at least they have their own distinct look.

Unfortunately,
the sound doesn’t fair any better than the visuals. The play-by-play and color
commentary are handled by one man who just drones on and on with very little
insight on the game in progress. It’s not his Jamaican accent; it’s his lines
and annoying delivery that will get on your nerves until you finally mute him
out completely. As for the music, it’s world music goodness from bands like
Ozomatli or Fat Boy Slim. There’s some reggae tossed in as well as some okay
hip-hop.

Sadly, FIFA
Street puts you on the streets to play fast-paced soccer, but it really
doesn’t rise about its numerous flaws. The game’s controls aren’t responsive
enough to flow with the game’s speed, and you can run circles around the
opponent AI without breaking a sweat. In short, if you’re looking for good
soccer, this isn’t the place to look.

Review Scoring Details for FIFA STREET

Gameplay: 6.0
Remember how
tough it was to perform a bicycle kick in FIFA Soccer 2005? Well now you
can do it all you want, so go ahead and go nuts. As for dribbling towards the
goal, you’ll find yourself heading for the fence or awkwardly jostling for the
ball with little success.

Graphics: 7.5
Not the
prettiest soccer game available, FIFA Street has some really great
backgrounds and the “streets” do have that perfect international feel to them.
The player models are okay and you can really identify star players but there
aren’t many player animations.

Sound: 7.5
I like the
world music vibe and a few of the Latin tunes go well with the game. What I
don’t like is the reggae-infused commentator that becomes way too annoying to
the point that you want to mute him out completely in the options menu.

Difficulty:
Easy
The game’s
biggest weakness comes in the form of an AI team that’s not incredibly smart
enough to come up with better defensive plays. You’ll be slipping past their
defense with ease and scoring often. The only reason they can get the upper hand
is the weak controls.

Concept: 6.5
The street
soccer attitude is present and its great to see some familiar faces out of their
usual element (like the ever-so dreamy Beckham). You can create your own players
and match them up against superstars of the sport?

Multiplayer:
5.0
No online
multiplayer mode means that you can just play this one with up to four players
using a single Xbox, but then again the game’s limited fun might not appeal to
everyone.

Overall: 6.0
FIFA Street
doesn’t lack
that street feel but thanks to its poor controls and uninteresting game modes
the soccer falls pretty flat. If you love soccer I suggest you stick with
FIFA Soccer 2005 or World Soccer Winning Eleven 8: International for
the Xbox and stay away from this one.