NFL Street 2

When a sequel is released within the same calendar year as its predecessor, you shouldn’t expect too much from it. NFL Street 2 is just such a game. Nothing has really changed here. There are a few tweaks, but the graphics, sound, and gameplay are pretty much the same as they were eleven months ago. If you haven’t played NFL Street before, Street 2 might be worth looking at. If you already have Street, there isn’t really anything new for you here.

This Is Football ... Just Faster and With a Hip-Hop Edge, Yo!

If you aren't familiar with the NFL Street style of gameplay, it is similar to how Midway's Blitz series used to be. This means that the playbooks are simplified, there is a ton of scoring, and defense is almost nonexistent. The core gameplay, though, is just like pretty much any other football game. You call plays and then line up and execute them. You play on a shorter field and there are less players on each side, but for the most part this is fairly standard football. This is football skewed towards the arcade style rather than the simulation style, so there is more scoring, the pace of the game is a lot faster, and the whole experience is a lot more wacky and over the top.

One aspect of the game that is a letdown really has to do with EA's interpretation of the "street" concept. The hip-hop style worked in NBA Street because it was actually fairly close to how the NBA and street baskeball culture really is. Trying to inject that same flavor into the NFL and football doesn't work the same way. When I think of street football I see muddy kids playing in a park after school, not rappers with gold chains. I think the NFL Street series would be much more appealing without all of the bling bling and hip-hop stuff.

Style Over Strength

The hook that sets Street 2 apart is playing with style. By playing with style, you accumulate points and eventually earn a gamebreaker. With a gamebreaker, your players are powered up for the duration of one drive and it is pretty much impossible for you not to score. If you save up two gamebreaker bars, you get a gamebreaker 2 where the computer takes control of your team for a few seconds and puts you in a position where you are guaranteed to score a touchdown.

So how do you play with style? The easiest way is to simply press and hold the style button and then juke or stiffarm. You perform more stylish, flashy moves that leave your opponents in the dust. You can also do stylish catches for mad points. The biggest change in Street 2 is that you can now use the walls of the arena to your advantage. Wall moves allow your quarterback to run up the wall and throw the ball or your ball carrier to run along the wall Prince of Persia-style and jump over the defense completely. Other than that, this is fairly standard football.

What all of this style ultimately means, though, is that the gameplay is seriously unbalanced. Defense is a chore because the game is weighted so heavily in favor of the offense ant that ain't fun.

Singleplayer Modes and Online Play

Street 2 has a ton of modes on offer. Challenge mode forces you to win a game by only running the ball or get a certain number of interceptions in a game, among other things. An interesting twist is that the challenge mode is really more of a training mode where your team improves with each challenge and eventually you enter a tournament against the best NFL players. Another mode is called Own the City and in this mode you create a character and then take a team of players through challenges and games to try and be the best team in the city. You play with randomly generated players rather than NFL stars, which is sort of a drag, but it is still fun. Other modes include a gauntlet mode where you take on every team in the game and another mode where you cam play a number of minigames. All in all, there is a lot to do in NFL Street 2.

Of course, Street 2 also has a fully featured online mode. The game is pretty much lag free and is very smooth online. It also has all of the rankings and lobbies and features you expect from an online title.

Bottom Line

Overall the whole experience feels like a scaled down, super simple version of real football. The football fundamentals are all here, but the strategy and skill required in “real� football games is replaced by a brainless score-a-thon. The game is still fun to play, but it starts feeling repetitive rather quickly. You will have seen and done pretty much everything after only a few games and the cool factor of the gimmick wears thin. There isn't really anything wrong with the core gameplay or the execution of the game, it is all fairly solid, but NFL Street 2 won’t grab hold of you and keep you playing because we have seen all of this before.

The most disappointing thing about Street 2 is that it is virtually identical to the original NFL Street. Minimal upgrades were made to the graphics and sound and other than the gamebreaker 2 and wall moves, the gameplay is pretty much the same as well. Adding Xbox Live play isn’t nearly enough to make this worth paying full price for if you already have NFL Street, so I recommend it for a rental. Also, the arcade-style gameplay may or may not appeal to you, so if you are interested and don’t already have the first Street rent it first just to make sure you’ll like it.