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NFL Street 3 Mini Review
Gwynne Dixon
02/02/2007
It's been two years since NFL Street last crossed the Atlantic. With the Super Bowl weekend recently passed, it's back for more...
Anybody who happens to be an American football obsessive, such as myself, will know the importance of the games developer Tiburon. EA's flagship Madden series (a sports game of truly epic proportions) has been developed at Tiburon since the late 90s and in the last few years the Florida based developers have also taken on the NFL Street series. This series has the same gist to it as all the other EA Sports "Street" games such as FIFA Street, NBA Street and the forthcoming NBA Street Homecourt. The difference is that NFL Street focuses on pulverising the opposition with punishing athleticism, rather than humiliating them with skilful twinkle toes moves like in FIFA Street.
It's no coincidence that NFL Street 3's European release date was timed around the Super Bowl (the biggest game on the American football calendar). EA clearly saw the opportunity to take advantage of the fact that European interest in American football suddenly goes through the roof at this time of year. This is no bad thing as American football is a hard game to follow at the best of times and NFLS3, with its vastly simplified version of the sport, is accessible to even the most clueless of newbies to the game who've become swept up in the Super Bowl fever.
EA's opportunistic marketing style isn't the full story here though unfortunately. The American release date of NFLS3 was in November of last year during the first half of the NFL season. The version of NFLS3 that has just been released across Europe is exactly the same game, but a lot of the player line-ups on NFL teams have changed since November. Annoyingly, EA and Tiburon have failed to make these alterations in the team rosters for the PAL release of the game. Granted, they probably thought they could get away with this on a continent where most people think a pancake block is some sort of breakfast utensil, but it does sell the hardcore fan-base a little short and it wouldn't have taken much reprogramming to make the changes to the line-ups.
That aside, there have been some changes to the game in the two years since NFLS2. The new 'Respect the Street' mode sees you traipsing across America. You take on a variety of teams in a number of locations across the map, with differing game types for the various events in each location. Among others, there's a standard points game, time attacks where quicker scoring gives you more points, and some new game types such as playbook elimination (these game types are all available in exhibitions as well). The more of these events you win in 'Respect the Street', the more respect you get and eventually better players will want to join your side. Your initial team is a bit of a bunch of rejects, but you can improve their attributes by putting them through drill exercises as the game opens up.
In reality, the supposedly "New" Respect the Street mode is very similar to the main single player game from NFLS2 called 'Own the City Mode'. The difference between the two is basically that 'Own the City' was in one city, rather than the whole of the USA. So, 'Respect the Street' mode is hardly new at all - in fact, it leaves out some of the better elements of NFLS2 because you used to be able to import the players you had developed in Own the City mode to Madden 2006. There is no such feature in NFLS3 which is mind numbingly frustrating for fans of both titles.
It's not all bad though because the general gameplay of NFLS3 is fairly good. It's very different from Madden because, while Madden stresses depth and realism, NFLS3 stresses simplicity and replaces complexity with flashy moves and arcade like features. Examples of this are game breaker moves, which tend to let you a) floor anybody in a 10-metre radius b) jump 15 feet in the air or c) inflict severely punishing tackles on the opposition.
You can also run along walls and bust acrobatic aerial moves (new for NFLS3) off pretty much anything solid. Another new feature is the various bits of debris, such as boxes and barrels, which allow you to jump to greater heights and bust even more amazing aerobatics. These new objects in the arenas definitely spice up the place - adding a touch of variety to the game - and there's nothing quite like pulling a backwards double pike somersault off an oil barrel to evade a defender.
Another big part of the NFL Street series is style moves and these are still present in this third installment. Taunting opponents, throwing behind your back and catching with one hand are all part of the fun. Pulling of these moves brings you style points, which raise your Game Breaker meter, and help you pulverise the opposition. The trickiness of the control commands, coupled with the speed of the game, ensures that style moves are tricky to pull off and risky as well. This makes for a pretty good risk-reward system and means that the gameplay is that little bit more addictive.
NFLS3 is flawlessly converted onto the PSP from the PS2. The graphics on the handheld version are not that far short of the PS2 game in all honesty and the control system is faithfully recreated, if a little bit simpler. EA and Tiburon have even gone to the lengths of providing a wireless multiplayer facility for the PSP version and, because the multiplayer game is where most of the fun can be found in NFLS3, this is a very wise move.
NFLS3 is decent for a laugh or two with a mate and it can provide a brief few hours of single player gaming fun for the less discerning American football fan. Anyone who requires a little depth in their single player gaming should purchase a copy of Madden 07 though. Yes, Madden is a bit more complicated, but their simply isn't the depth in NFLS3 to keep you interested. Also, anybody who already has NFLS2 should avoid NFLS3. The game simply hasn't moved on enough in two years and if you're thinking it's worth it for the seasonal update then think again. The team rosters are already five months old due to EA's lacklustre European release date.
Anonymous
Date Added:Sun 27th May 2007 07:24
Anonymous
Date Added:Fri 13th Apr 2007 14:35
Anonymous
Date Added:Mon 9th Apr 2007 22:45
*viking legends- krause, page, marshall, tarkenton, foreman
*strip the ball
*less wussy tackles
*smarter computers
*have more and better gear and appearances on your created team/ you should be able to do the same things to your own guys t... [ Read full comment... ]