soccaprodi reviewed FIFA Street 2 for the GameCube...

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 13:42:55 -0700

...and gave it a 9.8!

Introduction:
Finally, FIFA Street 2 hits the shelves and I could not be happier with the outcome. EA addressed all the problems in the original and added a bunch of other stuff. Whether you want a nice little game to pep you up for the World Cup this year or just want to see some insane football mayhem, then you will love FIFA Street 2.

Gameplay: 10/10
No matter how many bells and whistles a game has, all that it really comes down to is the gameplay. Fifa Street 2 has that in spades. The game plays with the controls like its predecessor, including the use of the very intriguing trick stick (C-Stick). Fifa Street is standard 4vs.4 soccer. Usually, the goal of each game is to score more goals in the time limit or to score a certain amount of goals before the opponent does. There are more methods of play now however, including trick points, back to basics (no Gamebreaker meter or combos. Good to start off with), score and panna (like a regular score game, except putting it between their legs counts for a goal as well), getting ahead by a certain amount of goals, and Gamebreaker goals.

Tricking is easy in FIFA Street 2 but hard to master. Beginners should press the Y button to perform a random beat move. Once you get a little better you can use the C-stick for much more specific tricks. Pressing left or right on the C-stick makes you slip to the side while pressing up and down puts the ball over the defenders head and through his legs respectively. To pull of the most advanced of the trick stick beats, you can hold down L or L+R while inputting a direction. You can also press the C-stick in diagonals for other beats as well.

The new way to pull off humiliating trick moves is by juggling (L+Y). You can walk around juggling the ball on your feet, thigh, shoulder, or head. By juggling, you open up a whole new set of trick moves, passes, and shots that can greatly confuse the keeper. By pressing Y while on defense, you can take control of your keeper. This is quite risky and you have to be sure to hold the Y button until you have the ball. You can also take the keeper out of the box for a drive. Most of the famous players (and some over-hyped ones) have signature moves that can be pulled off by pressing the R+Y buttons. Some of these moves can be executed by any player during a juggle but the owners of the move have it easier to pull off and get more points for performing it.

Like in all the other Street games, FIFA Street 2 has the awe-inspiring Gamebreaker. Once you build up your Gamebreaker bar by doing tricks and combos dribble to the center of the pitch to activate it. You then have a short amount of time to beat all the opponents. Depending on how many you beat, the better the Gamebreaker is. Of course you need to put the ball in the net as well for the GB to do anything. If you manage to beat all three defenders and grace the net, you get the KO, making you win regardless of how much you are losing or what the goal of the game is.

Music/Sound: 10/10
FIFA Street 2 has the best soundtrack of any Street game in my most humble opinion. The soundtrack has a whole bunch of songs that are broken down into 3 radio stations you can listen to. There is also the International Roaming button. When this is turned on music will play according to what country you are playing in. It has rock, alternative, dance, rap, reggae, samba, and lots of other ethnic music. The first thing a person should do once they turn this game on for the first time is to go to the Radio Station option, hear out all the songs, and put their favorite songs into the Custom Playlist; complete with your selection of a DJ.

Speaking of DJs, the ones in this game do not blab on like the previous one. Sure they will talk about the artist or themselves in between songs but then it is only for a few seconds before the song takes center stage again. The voices of all the spectators, the traffic bustling, and the birdies singing remind you that you are playing right in the street, not some big World Cup match.

Graphics: 9/10
The graphics are on par with NBA Street Vol. 3 and the character build is similar. The movement of the players is pretty realistic and nice looking, especially if they are pulling off some big moves. The pitches are more detailed than in FIFA Street but it looks like EA wanted to go with more of a Poor Street element so you will find yourself in the back alleys of Berlin instead of the golden rays of Rome.

New Features: 10/10
FIFA Street 2 definitely spent more time in R&D than FIFA Street did. It comes at you with lots of new features like a revamped Rule the Street, a mini-game in Skills Challenge, Legends of Football, and Create a Pitch.

In Rule the Street, you create a player and play through a bunch of pickup games. You gain recognition as well as Skill Bills used to upgrade your player and buy various things. Once your name gets spread around you get your own team to play with in order to get to the Underground Tournament. Occasionally players on your team will have a row with each other or demand more money and you will have to cut them. Sometimes players that you drop come back and challenge you to a Rival Challenge. You can pay him to go away or beat him to put him back on your roster. Lastly, when your player’s Skills get to be 85 or higher he can play in the International Cup. Just choose your favorite team and help lead them to the World Cup.

Skills Challenge sort of reminds me of Dance Dance Revolution. You have to juggle the ball and input motions on the C-stick with timing and accuracy to win this mini game. While it is definitely a pretty fun diversion of a game to play every now and again it is not really awe-inspiring like the rest of Fifa Street 2.

Finally following suit with the rest of the Street games, there are a dozen or so legends to unlock including Franz Beckenbauer, Eric Cantona, Zico, Thomas Ravelli, and Paul Gascoigne. In order to unlock these walking role models, you have to spend Skill Bills earned from playing Friendly Matches and Skill Challenge.

Lastly, you can also create your very own soccer pitch. You get to choose its location, then dabble with the ground, background, fence, and goalposts. It is not extremely detailed but it offers enough for you to build some really cool pitches. Once you get to a certain point in Rule the Street you need to build your team’s home Pitch.

Replay ability: 9/10
Rule the Street should take you a while as it gets pretty hard towards the end. After you complete Rule the Street all there really is do to are Friendly matches and Skills Challenges. That does not sound so good but I believe Friendlies are the most fun thing to do in the game. Being a sports game it is kind of hard to give it a replay value as all you do is play the sport.
You can always redo Rule the Street with another character as well.

Buy or Rent:
If you played the first FIFA Street and enjoyed it even with its many shortcomings, you should get out and buy this baby now. If you are a fan of the whole Street series I would recommend buying it. If you are a serious football fan but think you might not like this type of football game, my advice would be to rent it or play it at a friend’s house. FIFA Street 2 was $30 at Electronics Boutique the day it came out so it should not be a money waster in any way. I know a few people who have never played soccer or any soccer games and they still love the game.

The Outcome: 10/10
The game just continues to amaze me. It has more than 320 players to play as and you can be 20 National Teams. FIFA Street 2 is a great game to play by yourself but it really shines in multi-player so get a few friends together and hit the pitch!

Get the full article at GameSpot

"soccaprodi reviewed FIFA Street 2 for the GameCube..." was posted by soccaprodi on Mon, 10 Apr 2006 13:42:55 -0700

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soccaprodi reviewed FIFA Street 2 for the GameCube...