Anyone who knows me will tell you that NFL Street is one of my all-time favorite sports games. It captured the essence of fun, not realism, creating a game that you could play whether you were a serious fan of the sport or not.

Having had lots of success with five different Street games (three NBA Streets and two NFL Streets), it was about time EA branched off into other sports. Hockey seemed like the obvious choice, but they went for a different sport instead: soccer. Thus, FIFA Street was born.

FIFA Street includes all the basic Street elements: Gamebreakers, style moves (called beat moves in this game), fantasy playing fields, and a create-a-player mode. The differences within these elements are minimal. FIFA's Gamebreakers generate a stronger, more powerful shot. It has the potential to fly through the net, ripping it apart, or if an opponent is standing in its way, the force of the ball will surely knock him down.

 
Just kickin' it.

Beat moves are performed with the C-stick, which means you have a fairly large array to choose from (just press the stick in a different direction to trigger a different move). Block, evade, steal - whatever your flavor, the beat moves have got you covered.

The camera perspective is pre-set on the side of the action, giving you the same view as other soccer games, which is also the same view you have when watching a real game on TV. All of the teams have been scaled down to just three players each plus one goalie. Although the beat moves and Gamebreakers are important (and add more fun and variety to heated battles), they're not all that necessary at first.

Without any prior experience with FIFA Street, I won the first game by constantly stealing the ball from my opponent. I probably had about 20 shots on goal, maybe more. They got very few chances to score, either due to my superior game skills, or due to the computer's inferior AI. In the end it was I who was victorious, winning the game 5-2.

It wasn't clear at first, but this gameplay style reminded me of another extreme sports game. Then, without even thinking, I passed the ball to my teammate and pressed B (shoot) button. My teammate shot the ball immediately after receiving it, a move known to many of you as a one-timer.

This is much different from the NBA. In basketball, they'd be behind the bars.

This got me thinking: what other extreme sports game has three players, is big on stealing, and accentuates the power of a one-timer? There's only one other game that fits that bill: NHL Hitz.

FIFA Street may be soccer, but it plays awfully close to the game that saved the extreme sports genre. (People lost interest in Blitz and Jam. Hitz gave us something to get excited about it, leading the way for the Street series.)

Mechanically, FIFA Street is a really good game. It's polished. The controls are pretty close to what they should be. The visuals are decent (though not as spectacular as NBA Street V3). The music is different but catchy. And the fact that it plays like NHL Hitz - I won't cheer about it, but since I'm a huge fan of that series, it made it easy to become a fan of this series as well.

There's only one thing that holds this game back: it's a no-frills, no-thrills experience. Even if the other Street games didn't exist, it would be difficult not to look at this as something other than a watered-down version of a FIFA Soccer 2004. The goaltending is too perfect for a game that's supposed to be about extreme action. The players aren't all that stylish either, and they don't move as fast as their NFL and NBA counterparts. I can't say I'm too impressed with the special moves either.

 
"We like yellow 'cuz it's bright."
"Datz right."

Conceptually this was a great idea – they could've taken the easy route and purchased a cheap license from the currently nonexistent NHL. (I'd love to see NHL Street, but now isn't the time.) Great ideas don't always translate to great games. With a little more style, a lot more action, and additional gameplay features that set it apart from other soccer games, FIFA Street could've been the next evolution in Street gaming.

Gameplay: 7.0
Street-style soccer…without the extreme, over-the-top, can't-stop-playing-it Street qualities. It's like NHL Hitz but with soccer players and weaker gameplay. It's like the traditional FIFA games but with fewer players, invincible (nearly) goaltending and zero penalties for breaking the rules. This worked for the NFL and the NBA because there was more to the games than that. They each had something that the competition didn't offer, in arcade or simulation form. FIFA Street does not, unfortunately. It's repetitive from the start, putting a bad taste in players' mouths before they get a chance to swallow.

Graphics: 7.0
Cool arenas, average animations. Average character models, average textures ... this is one average-looking game.

Sound: 7.0
Catchy sounds from a number of European artists.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
Even a newbie could master this one.

Concept: 8.0

Multiplayer: 6.0
This is where the game fails to live up to the Street legacy. For reasons I don't fully understand, this game is less tolerable with a group of friends than it is when you're playing by yourself. I'm guessing that it has to do with the fact that when you're playing with others, everyone has high expectations. That's one of the reasons why we play a multiplayer game - to end the boredom. After a while, FIFA Street doesn't have the ability to do that.

Overall: 6.5
Fun for a rental's worth of time. After that it's pretty boring. Compare it to the hours of replay value that NFL Street and NBA Street provide and you'll see that there is no comparison. FIFA Street is worth renting for all who love the Street games, regardless of the genre. You're going to walk away a little disappointed though, but extremely glad that you decided not to shell out the full amount to own it.