NFL Street

by Electronic Arts

Product Features

• Show your skills on offense and defense with the big jukes -- bone-crushing tackles, pitches and a wealth of showboat moves
• Create a new player or design your whole team -- hundreds of options for clothing, accessories and logos
• Multiple gameplay modes - Bulldoze through 31 teams while building the ultimate team
• Go online and play coast-to-coast -- try to rule the streets of America
• Multiplayer Competition - Cooperative gameplay or head-to-head action with up to four friends

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B0000VSH3Q
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.2 x 0.5 inches ; 3.2 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: January 15, 2004
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,150 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Platform: Xbox

Amazon.com Review

Given the success of NBA Street it was only a matter of time before EA Sports took the street concept to its flagship sport, football. And even though there really is no such thing as street football, the concept is a winner. Straight up smash mouth football with no penalties and no clock--just the ball, the field, seven vs. seven playing offense and defense, all for the glory of the game? Boom! Wap!

The game licenses all the NFL teams and some 100 big-league players. The characters models are exaggerated, so don't expect likenesses to be exact, but it's fun taking a bunch of current Packer greats and stuffing the rock down the throats of seven Rams. Game modes let you choose players from single teams or create your own pro bowl, and there is a nice assortment of QBs, RBs, corners, WRs, tight ends, and O and D-linemen. There's a lot of strategy in picking your team. Sure, running backs and quarterbacks are givens, but a corner can intercept better than a wide receiver though he won't catch as well. A big offensive lineman can be useful, but he doesn't tackle well when forced to play defense. When playing two-player, you can really stack your line and shut down the enemy passing or running attack, or go for a balanced corp.

You can play a ladder or league by creating your own team, which is annoyingly time consuming. An option to draft your own NFL stars and go through would be nice, instead you have to pick a cadre of nobodies and fill out their stats. Pick a name, a logo, and try to beat the pros with your average Joes. Winning gives you points and you can upgrade from there. It's a nice option but only for the hardcore players; casual players are effectively shut out from continuing play because of it.

EA hired "street" artists to design wonderful load screens, but this makes the player models look dull by comparison. One wishes they had used cel shading and that street look to the characters, but instead we get freakish players that generally look the same. Uninspired, un-intimidating, and, frankly, boring.

The gameplay works. There's a nice assortment of offensive, defensive, and trick plays. There are no special teams, no punting, and extra points are two points for a pass, one for a run. Mastering the buttons is key because the game rewards style, impressive plays, and more. Gathering these points opens new playing fields and, if you like, can be a victory option. The computer is programmed to catch up when behind, annoyingly so, so this is more of a blast against a human opponent. The fast action and brutal hits are reminiscent of NFL Blitz (which is a better game) but EA Big has started something here. Next year this could be really big. --Andrew S. Bub --this text refers to the PlayStation2 version of the game

Product Description

NFL Street has the hard-hitting football action that true fans of the game want. Play in the park, backyards and sandlots of America with legendary NFL players!

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good game but not for everyone., January 17, 2004

By 

Ash1138 "www.myspace.com/ash1138" (Centennial, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: NFL Street (Video Game)

NFL Street is EA Big's newest alternative sports title. In the vein of NBA Street, it takes the game of football and removes it from the big stadiums and places it in parks and beaches where playground style football belongs. Like other Street titles, NFL Street spices up the idea by allowing you to play with real NFL stars in this setting.

EA is famous for sports titles, their biggest being of course Madden Football. Unlike EA's other sports titles which focus heavily on realism and simulation of the professional game, NFL Street takes a more arcade like approach.

The rules are simplified. In order to get a first down, simply get past the fixed marker on the field within four downs. There is absolutely no kicking. That means no punting and field goals. Extra points are determined by running the ball in (1 point) or passing it in (2 points). Even the playbook is rudimentary with very few options. This may sound like a bad thing, but it actually works. The idea is to make plays in the field not work with complicated playbooks.

The action is intense. The hits are bigger. Even with no pads or helmets you never have to worry about an injury. This is a video game with artificial characters who can do anything. How could they possibly be hurt? That's the point of this game; it's a video game. It isn't Madden.

Madden fans should find lots to like about this game. Firstly, EA made the controls very similar so the learning curve is shorter for Madden players. Second, those looking for a real football simulation already have Madden (or ESPN NFL Football or NFL Fever). Those players shouldn't be looking for another Madden clone. This game is about fun; big plays and big hits. The ability to pull off style maneuvers and taunt your opponents only adds to that.

Now the bad. This game is hard. At least for me it is. I'm not that great at Madden but at least I can play competently. With this game, even on the easiest setting I'm having a rough time. "Easy" should be easy. Hardcore sports gamers probably won't mind (those that play Madden on All-Madden difficutly) but those of us (like me) that aren't hardcore gamers who'd like to pick this game up for the fun of it will be frustrated by the difficulty level. It's hard to have fun making trick plays when you can't do them.

The other miss on this game is the play modes. NFL Street's primary play mode is Challenge Mode where you take a team of seven user-created characters (very cool BTW) and play games that have a certain challenge that must be met such as getting to 14 pts first without a turnover or performing certain style moves. Completing challenges earns you points to upgrade your players stats. Once you've upgrade your stats enough you can try the ladder portion of the mode where you play teams in a tournament format. The challenge mode is interesting, but in any other game it would be an additional mode, not the primary.

Another mode are Pick-Up Game where 40 players are randomly generated and each person takes turns picking players to fill a seven man team for the true playground experience. This would be a lot cooler if you could play a tournament like this. Finally, there is the option to pick any team in the NFL and play them against other teams.

What would have been nice is some sort of season type play, maybe not like the NFL exactly, but something. Winning seasons is more fun than winning games. Along with this would of course be stat tracking for your players. Right now there is none.

Overall, NFL Street is a decent game worth buying if you are into the genre. The graphics suffer from that all-too-typical problem of having to be able to run on a PS2 which keeps many XBox games from looking as good as they should. Also, because this is EA, online multiplayer is only available for PS2 (no Live!). You can also play with up to 4-players on one system. I haven't tried this, but a couple of buddies who are competative would make this game a blast.

The game is far from perfect, but far from poor as well. It mostly suffers from not enough polish and not going far enough with some of the ideas it proposes. NFL Street 2 will most likely address all this. I just hope it's not so difficult.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This Game is extremley hard. But somehow I keep playing, May 17, 2004

By 

Kevin G. Pitchford (Augusta,Ga) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: NFL Street (Video Game)

This game is extremley hard. Even on the easiest levels.
Having a street school like NBA Street would have been
extremley helpful.But through my frustration and controller
slamming I keep playing. There is so much to unlock.
And with as hard as this game is, it will take a while to unlock it.

One reason I think this game is so hard is there is nothing like it. You have to learn the system and logic that EA has built in this game.

But on to the good, this is backyard football with showboating
balls thrown under the leg, or off a wall. What's really fun
about this game is lining Warren Sapp or Ray Lewis
up at reciever and sticking Randy Moss Or Terrell Owens at running back. It is a trip. There are few games that frustrate
me so much, but for me to keep playing shows there is something
special there.

Overall it is a great game.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Love it but my hair almost all pulled out., April 6, 2004

By 

"knucklzz" (Bonita, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: NFL Street (Video Game)

Man, what a fun game. That is until the computer decides that
you will lose no matter what. Case in point I made it through three complete divisions with a mediocre team. I found a defense for each opponent and coupled with a strong run game and a dink and dunk pass strategy was able to win.
Until that is I met the Denver Broncos. I cannot win no matter what I do. No defense works, I'm up 20 - 0 they win anyway.
To echo the other comments, when the CPU needs a turnover, your great running back turns into fumblina. All passes get intercepted, you can't stop their run attack and they pitch four times to win games. This one is going back unfortunately, It is just too frustrating to be fun anymore.

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