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NFL Street 2
- December 22, 2004 17:51 PM PST
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Can NFL Street's outrageous football action get any more off the wall? You bet! Take a few snaps with NFL Street 2.
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Off the Wall
One of Street 2's key improvements is also the most noticeable: this season Street hits the wall. As if the crazy passes and maniac catches weren't enough, now you can launch yourself off a wall and into the air to make them. This technique takes a little getting used to since you have to fight your way through traffic towards a wall to use it, but once you master it it's a formidable weapon. Of course, on defense you can use a wall move to stop another wall move, in an aerial confrontation not unlike a scene from some kung fu movie, but that takes even more timing, skill, and practice.
Aside from the airborne antics, dedicated Street players will appreciate improvements to the GameBreaker system. The GB's are still formidable but they aren't completely cheap as in the first NFL Street. You can use a GameBreaker to stop a GameBreaker and you build up a GameBreaker meter that can carry over from offense to defense and vice versa.
Street 2 also extends the gameplay and adds more long-term strategy to the game. The new Own the City mode is a sort of turf war where you try to win games and take over fields in 10 environments. Here you can create a player and recruit teammates as you pummel other teams into submission. Moreover, with four-person multiplayer gameplay available both off- and online, Street 2 remains one of the best part games around.
Overall, the controls do a workmanlike job of manhandling all this gridiron madness into a controllable package. The button scheme is pretty simple with the more complex moves like juking and jumping reliant on button-press timing and the wall moves all based on proximity to said surface structure.
Street Style
Street 2's looking good, too. The graphics received a paintjob that make the generally harsh urban environments look much more lush and expansive. You can also see much more detail in the player models, whether in over-sized brutes or more streamlined dudes. You can add your talents to the visuals, too, with the aforementioned create-a-player feature that submits an impressive list of facial characteristics, hairstyles, body types, and gear for your creative expression.
The sounds continue to be dominated by a cool, diverse soundtrack with showcased tunes featuring such performers such as Green Day, P. Diddy, Nas, Sum 41, DMX, and Xzibit (who also stars in the game with Jeremy Shockey of the New York Giants). The character voice plays a lot of attitude, but noticeably looping dialogue detracts from the entertainment value.
This Is Football?
NFL Street 2 remains a ton of fun. It lays out more features, more gameplay, and more outrageousness than any other freaky football variation ever, and if it's not careful it might become as complex as a real football game.
