FIFA Street

Remember Nike's Secret Tournament ad with the soccer players on the ship? With the legendary Eric Cantona refereeing, and guys like Ronaldo, David Beckham, and Thierry Henry going crazy with off the wall kicks, headers, and trick moves?

It's football meets madness.

It's the beautiful game on speed.

That's FIFA Street right there.

Following on from its basketball and gridiron incarnations, EA have now brought their Street series to the world's most popular sport. FIFA Street is 4 on 4 soccer, played on over 30 back-alley courts with teams from Australia to Uruguay.

All your football heroes are in there, and they'd better be lacing up their showoff shoes: like the other EA Sports Big titles, FS is all about the style points.

Full career mode begins with you making a custom character, who's really crap at soccer to start off, then adding in team members. There's a wide range of hairstyles, body types, clothes, and tattoos available, and if you take long enough you can probably get a pretty good likeness. After assigning skill points to categories like tricks, tackling, speed, and accuracy, you're off to face the world.

Each international region has three game types available. Kick About is a one-off match-up for skill and reputation points, Upgrade Squad lets you expand your roster, and Rule the Street is a full-on tournament. Mastering the Rule the Street sections will unlock new locations, most of which are variations on back-alley playgrounds.

Multiplayer offers most of the same game types, letting you set your custom players alongside superstars. The usual all-purpose friendly option lets you jump straight into matches, while more sophisticated tournament setups allow long-term rivalries to play out.

The games themselves are all about showing off. There are button combos ahoy, a huge number of taunts, and more moves than, well, a Nike ad. Put it this way: actually kicking the ball into the net for a goal is about the most boring thing you can do on the Street...
So it's Game On, eh, Colin?

Ron:Street is a great change of pace from regular FIFA, which really hasn't evolved since 2002. The style of play is total playground, matching teams like Portugal and Brazil rather than, say, England or Italy. Kicks off walls, Nutmeg, Rainbow kicks, and the glorious Panna KO: the whole thing is completely over the top, and Christian Ronaldo and Ronaldinho should be the FS poster boys. Wayne 'stiff upper lip' Rooney probably shouldn't apply.

You don't even need to have goals as the goal style points alone can determine the outcome, or you can spot your opponent odds if they're a little challenged (like Colin). The Ali G-style drum'n'bass going on in the background only adds to the cheesy fun factor.

And the cheesy fun is really where it's at. Though there is an underlying strategy if you look hard enough, FS is entertainment through and through. The graphics are solid (though not as hilariously cartoony as NFL Street 2), and there's a huge trick library on offer. Like Colin, I don't see the point as just being to score: this isn't really about board totals, and I'd much rather have a styley move and bum someone out than just thump in goals.

Colin:Which is why I've beaten you
so many times.

Ron: Shut up. I'm coming for you soon. And at least I'm using a real team like France. Your Brazilian boys are ridiculously overpowered.

Colin: Not even.

Ron: Even.


Whinges? Yeah, the defence is rubbish. But that just means you have to switch properly. The make-a-player could be much better - when creating someone you can't pivot them easily, so if you're altering the jawline for example you can't check that you aren't creating a gorilla.

After that, though, building up your career is great - joining a team, trying to recruit players, winning them through Upgrade Squad or buying international stars. The real story's in the multiplayer - nothing like the couch wars - but there's definitely enough to keep you going by yourself as well.

For me, FIFA Street sits nicely at the intersection of two sports game types. If you're a full FIFA fan, or just someone who likes to muck around in the Street titles, this is worth a look.

Over to you, Brazil Boy...

Colin: This one's got me good. Unlike Ron, I'm not a soccer fan. Me watching Premier League on tv is like an American watching rugby � I've got no idea what's going on. Games like FIFA or even Pro Evolution Soccer have never held my interest, and I went into FIFA Street thinking twenty minutes max. Ron was going to beat me, I figured [Ron: damn straight], beat me about six times in a row and then laugh about it, at which point I'd throw a tantrum and insist on Madden. It's not that I hate the 'beautiful game', or think soccer players are girlie-men - though they are - I just don't get it.

But I get FIFA Street.

It's easy, very easy to pick up and play. The basic dribble-pass-shoot stuff's much simpler on a smaller court than a full field, and the game lets you get away with murder on offense. Hammer the X button a few times, mash around a bit, and you'll be unleashing triple-header bounce combos of the walls that somehow end up in the goal. Then, as you get used to things, you gain enough control so that you can string together moves and aim for the gamebreaker shots that pretty much determine who wins. The look and feel of the whole thing is great, and the commentary (fast-rapping Londonite over beats instead of the usual boring talk) works the style points hard.

It really is all about the moves, and that's the upside and the downside of the whole Street series. FS is not a game of defensive tactics or strategy, it's a game of who can hit button combos faster. The one thing that stands out on the AI is just how crap your guys are at marking (and I'm cheap, I play with Brazil, they should know SOMETHING). Put it this way: after eight games, me and Aaron are locked at 4 apiece. Given how disgustingly good Aaron is at regular FIFA, that's just wrong: he should be up 8 nil.

Ron: I'm carrying you. Carrying you all the way....

Or maybe it's right. And maybe that's the point. FIFA Street will probably drive football purists mad with its arcade style and non defence. And I doubt we'll be playing it in 2 months' time. But for now it's like a passport to a Nike ad: noisy, stylish, shallow, and enjoyable for anyone.

This girlie-man stuff's fun after all. For a while. And now the Brazilian Legends are off to thump pouty, whining France for a glorious 5-4 triumph and a full month's worth of bragging rights and shaming...