Maybe street soccer just sucks ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
PlayStation 3
Released in 2012 by EA Sports
Grade: C+
This game seems to be just what it wants to be. But man, I don’t like it.
Where it falls in the series
In one of the more confusing titling conventions, this is actually the fourth FIFA Street game. Here’s the breakdown:
- FIFA Street: Released in 2005 on PS2, Xbox, Gamecube
- FIFA Street 2: Released in 2006 on PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, Nintendo DS, and PSP
- FIFA Street 3: Released in 2008 on PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS
- FIFA Street: Released in 2012 on PS3, Xbox 360
Praises and gripes
This is, theoretically, an “arcade” style soccer game, in the spirit of NBA Jam and NFL Blitz. Like those games, it whittles the rosters down, makes the playing surface small, and makes scoring frequent. But don’t be fooled, because unlike those games, it’s slower, less violent, and more reliant on crafty skills than its “simulation” counterparts.
This game is all about one-on-one soccer. Re-using the FIFA 12 engine, it has a plethora of fancy dribbling moves to help you get by your defender and sneak the ball into the undersized nets. Passing hardly matters, and in fact, the arsenal of pass types from the normal FIFA games is simplified drastically here.
Defensively, you’re limited as well, which becomes extremely frustrating. There’s no slide tackle; instead, there’s just a standing tackle and some jockey-ing for the ball. Usually, arcade sports games boast “no fouls” or “no penalties” by allowing players to get away with whatever dirty play they want; in this game, there are no fouls because the players aren’t physically able to commit one.
Your defensive team tactics are limited as well. In normal FIFA games, for example, you can call for a double team. That option would be pretty useful here, but instead, you’re left to fend for yourself, one on one, constantly. The AI really comes up short when the opponent is clearly ready to score, and your teammates don’t do a damn thing about it.
Offensively, your only tactic is to master the art of keeping the ball away from defenders and getting past them. Good passing can help generate scoring chances, but not nearly as much as you would hope.
What’s crazy about all that is that this game is full of cool options. There are many different fields, which not only look different, but have different dimensions and types of nets. There are fields with and without walls. In the career mode, you start off playing 4-on-4, then switch to 5-on-5. There’s a 2-on-2 game and a game where you lose a player every time you score a goal, until you win the game with just one guy. There are a bunch of pro and international teams, with four different uniforms each. It’s a nicely fleshed out game. The graphics are pretty, and there’s even audible field chatter in different languages. They went all out for this game. But it’s the most repetitive game ever, because all you’re ever doing is trying to get by your defender, or stopping the other guy with just one friggin’ button that you can press to steal the ball.
This should be a mini-game on FIFA 12, if you ask me. But of course, I’m not the one making money off it.