NFL Street 3 Review

While the NFL Street series has rushed its way well passed mediocrity twice now, it’s never been able garner the same following as the stellar SSX games or equally entertaining NBA Street series. And unlike those games, NFL Street is clearly starting to show its age.If EA has any interest in keeping the franchise from becoming another GameDay, it might want to head back to the drawing board for another go. That’s not to say NFL Street isn’t without its merits, it’s still an enjoyable, over-the-top foot ball experience, it’s just not an entirely original one.

Like the previous two outings, NFL Street 3 is all about style on the football field. Showing up your opponents with twenty-yard behind the back passes and performing gravity defying leaps over piles of players into the end zone is the name of the game here. And over the course of the game’s Respect the Street mode, you’ll have to do just that if you want to earn enough street cred to play against the best. Win enough games, spot enough points to the opposing team – a risky, but rewarding handicap before the snap – and you’ll quickly move up the NFL ladder, and eventually recruit some of the sport’s best players.

But street cred isn’t just about game progression; it’s about scoring new gear and team formations, as well as the all-important team drills that boost your stats. And frankly, there’s nothing better early on than snagging a few stat points to turbo charge your game on the field, because the first time you play NFL Street you’re going to suck big time. It’s not until you’ve tackled a few games and turned your team into a decent powerhouse that Street really gets interesting.

On the field, NFL Street 3 offers a few changes over its predecessors, namely in the gamebreaker department. Gone are the scripted cutscenes and easy points, instead, gamebreakers take place in real-time, giving players full control over where and when they want to turn the tide of the game. Offensively, triggering a gamebreaker gives all of your moves, whether it’s a juke or stiff arm, a serious boost in power. Of course, you can also trigger a gamebreaker during a pass, netting by far the best results as your QB sends an explosive pass straight to one of the receivers for an easy catch. Defensively, your options are a bit more limited as you can only pull off massive play ending tackles and high flying interceptions. But whether you’re on the offensive or defensive side, gamebreakers remain one of the most rewarding aspects of the game.

What’s interesting, though, is that for the first time ever in the series gamebreakers aren’t a guaranteed success. You might have thrown the pass, but that doesn’t mean the AI can’t snag the ball in the air. You might have the ball carrier in your sights, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to trigger a successful gamebreaker tackle. Then again, the risk of using a gamebreaker is far less than the reward, and after a few rounds of play, you’ll be able to queue up multiple gamebreakers and use them back-to-back to really take an advantage over your opponent. And while there are many gamebreakers to choose from, you’ll ultimately rely on one or two for the course of the game and completely forget about the rest by the time you’ve won your first few games.

The other addition, though subtle and quite honestly barely worth mentioning, is the ability to perform moves in the air after leaping off a wall to gain some extra yardage. NFL Street 2 introduced this mechanic, allowing players to jump off walls to avoid tackles. NFL Street 3 takes this one step further by giving players the opportunity to perform one of four aerial moves. It’s simple enough: jump on the wall, jump off it and quickly hit the right analogue stick in any single direction to initiate a special move and earn three-to-six extra yards. Whether or not this move is successful really depends on the player and his stats, and is rarely worth the extra effort.

Other than those two mechanics, the game’s pretty much a re-packaged version of NFL Street 2, though in the game’s defence, it does at least feature a few new and unique play modes. While classics such as Open Field Showdown make a return, NFL Street 3 is blessed with a handful of new gems worth your time. Play elimination is easily the most unique of the bunch. Teams must successfully gain yardage in order to keep a play in their playback. Lose some yards and that play is removed from the game. Whoever removes all of the opponent’s plays first is the victor. Then there’s bank mode, which rewards the team that can accumulate the most style points. Those points are kept in a bank and every time a team scores it’s given the amassed points, with the purpose being to accumulate enough points until the required point total is reached. Finally, Yards For Points is, well, as it sounds. The more yards you gain, the more points you earn. The team with the most points takes the game.

As fun as the new modes are, and I’m a huge fan of user-controlled gamebreakers, I do have a few caveats I have to get off my chest. One: Why can’t you play in a tournament against the legends like in NFL Street 2? Two: What’s with the lame voice-overs? Three: Why on earth is only one created team allowed per user? And finally: Where the heck is Dan Marino? Barry Sanders? Or any of the dozens of great legends missing from the game? We at least deserve a decent roster.

The visuals are a bit of a let down and seem completely re-hashed from the last two games. In fact, if you play the two back-to-back as I did, because I have way too much free time on my hands, you’ll see nary a difference, except maybe a blur effect here and there and a few flashy effects when you trigger a gamebreaker. Player models also rarely look like their real-life counterparts and the generic players, well… let’s just say they’re not all that pretty either.

With NFL Street 2 available for half the price of 3 and offering pretty much the same experience, it’s hard to justify forking out the extra just for some new box art and Chad Johnson’s unenthusiastic narrative. And as fun as the game can be from time-to-time, after a few hours with Street 3, it’s impossible to shake that feeling that you’ve played this one before. Still, if you must get a new Street title, this does its job.