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FIFA Street 3 Review (X360)

About.com Rating 3

By , About.com Guide

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I was not a fan of the original FIFA Street. It was all style and no substance and just drove me crazy because it focused too much on individuals rather than on the team, which is what real soccer is about. FIFA Street 3 has toned down the “me first” attitude and put a bit more attention on the fundamentals of soccer, but it is still a very flawed game. When it all works, Street 3 can be a lot of fun, but the huge list of flaws will sour you on the game very quickly.
Quick Hits

  • Title: FIFA Street 3
  • Platform:Xbox 360
  • Publisher: EA Sports
  • Developer: EA Canada
  • ESRB Rating: “E” for Everyone
  • Genre: Arcade soccer
  • Pros: Fast and fun when everything gels
  • Cons: Limited gameplay; rubber band AI; limited modes; Gamebreaker matches SUCK; playing defense is awful
  • Achievements: Quick and easy for the most part.

Features

The limited list of modes is FIFA Street 3’s first failing. Unlike the other street games, there isn’t any sort of “street” mode where you work your way up through the ranks. Instead, there is a challenge mode where you play through some set challenges in order to unlock new teams and players. You can also play head to head with players locally, or you can play against others on Xbox Live. And that is pretty much it as far as modes go. You can play a single match, do a challenge, or do multiplayer and that is it.

There is some variety in the match types, but the basics are the same. You can play matches with Gamebreaker goals only, Gamebreakers turned off, header & volley goals only, as well as timed or score (first to 5, for example) matches. Some match types are better than others, but more on that below.

Gameplay

EA
The gameplay in FIFA Street 3 can be very enjoyable at times, and it can also be completely awful at others. When you can actually make your way up the field and make a nice cross and score pretty goals, the game is pretty darn satisfying. This doesn’t happen all that often, however, because of some core flaws in the game.

First off, the Gamebreaker mechanic adds more frustration than fun. The idea is that you flick the right stick to do tricks or juggle the ball with the Y button to build up your Gamebreaker meter so you can power up your team for a short time. This is a problem because playing defense is completely awful, and when the AI has a GB or is doing tricks to build up a GB, you are basically powerless. Your defensive abilities include a weak and generally useless sweep (not a real slide tackle) and you can square your shoulders to the goal and hope to block a shot. And that is it. Even when you are hammering on the sweep button and your opponent is right in front of you, 90% of the time you can’t get the ball. Gamebreaker only matches, where you have to have a GB for goals to count, are some of the most criminally unfun games of soccer I have ever played. It isn’t so bad against human opponents, but playing against the AI can be very frustrating even on Easy difficulty.

The AI is a problem in another way. In a racing game, it would be known as “rubber band AI”, except in this game it is more like “brick wall AI”. Towards the end of close games, and occasionally all the way through games no matter how close, the AI will seemingly decide to not let you do anything. They will steal every ball from you. They will make every pass and score on every shot. And they just generally shut you down in every way. This is a huge problem because you only have a handful of things you can possibly do anyway (tricks with the stick, juggle, lob, pass, shoot) and when you aren’t allowed to do any of that by the AI, the limitations and weaknesses of the core game shine through even brighter.

Normal matches can be fun. But there is no denying that playing defense is awful, and the Gamebreakers hurt the game more than help. Can’t we just play real soccer instead?

Graphics

The graphics are okay, but nothing special. The animation is nice and smooth and everything flows fairly well. The players are stylized versions of their real life counterparts, and you can usually identify them fairly easily. One thing I noticed that makes me laugh is that Ronaldo is really big and fat in Street 3. Just like in real life!

Sound

The sound is pretty good. Nothing really noteworthy, though. The music, as has been the case in all of EA’s recent soccer games, has a nice international flavor that works very well.

Bottom Line

EA
FIFA Street 3 is a step in the right direction compared to the atrocities that are the first two FIFA Street games, but it still isn’t very good. I still have issues with the core concept of doing stupid little juggles and fakes and tricks with individuals rather than focusing on teamwork, but the fundamentals of passing and shooting and setting up plays are quite a bit better here than they have been in past games so I’m softening on that position somewhat. The real problems come from the absolutely horrible defense, rubber band AI, limited moveset, limited modes, and an outdated Gamebreaker system that needs to go away forever. I will say that the game will surprise you at first because it can be quite fun, but as you spend more time with the game and realize its limitations and flaws, the love affair ends pretty quickly. There is certainly some fun to be had with FIFA Street 3, and I’d definitely say it is worth a rental, but there just isn’t enough meat here to warrant a full price purchase.
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