NFL Street 2 XBox Review

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Arcade sport games have been going around for quite some time - atleast ever since graphics in the gaming world could separate realism from surrealism. More recently however, EA have been targeting this genre in an all out assault with such series as NBA Street, FIFA Street and NFL Street (although funnily enough baseball is probably just as popular on the 'street' as any one of those). In today's review, we check out NFL Street 2, the latest addition to the series, promising to deliver the same high octanegameplay of the original with some fresh new features. As it turns out though, these new features may not have been enough to keep the series off the streets, so to speak.

NFL Street 2, right off the bat, impresses with its compilation of game modes. These include Own the City, Street Events, NFL Challenge, NFL Gauntlet, Pickup Game and a tutorial. Each are quite unique, and offer a load of gameplay. Own the City allows you to begin with a created player, whom you build a street team around as the game progresses. This is sort of the standard career mode without the story, withXzibit as your guide. NFL Challenge and NFL Gauntlet are similar; in Challenge you build a team to take on other NFL teams, and in Gauntlet you choose an existing NFL team and do the same. Pickup Game is a fantasy draft mode where you pick a team from the included players, some of which are unlocked in key milestones within the game (usually legends). Tutorial is of course self explanatory, and covers pretty much everything in the game bar a few minor special functions.

And then you have Street Events, which is a collection of the modes you'll find elsewhere in the game plus a few more, playable in an 'exhibition' style. These include Crush the Carrier, Jump Ball Battle, Open Field Showdown, 2 minute challenge, 4 on 4 and Quick Strike. All are, again, very unique and quite impressive. The most notable is Crush the Carrier, which is an extremely fun version of "Kill the Dill with the Pill" - a bunch of players are put on the field with one ball and no teams, who ever racks up the most points wins, were as holding the ball gains points, and so does tackling. Fumbles are very common as to mix up the game, and the result is nothing short of an absolute blast of a game mode. Another worthy mention is 4 on 4, which is, funnily enough 4 vs 4 football with a few rules changes - no QB scrambling, and a 5 second count down to throw the ball. As you can imagine, it is intensely action packed.

New to Street 2 is the ability to utilise wallson the field, that is, you can launch off them to pass the ball, catch the ball, or just to jump over defenders when you have the ball. At first I was predicting this may have been somewhat of a useless feature with limited functionality but in all honesty, I couldn't imagine the game without it - similar to the way I anticipatedMadden's 'Hit Stick'. Not only is using the wall an effective way of moving the ball down field, it is almost essential to utilise in the tougher games. At times it does feel as if the wall moves are scripted as they can be too effective, but a painful showcase of your tiny Wide Receiver being slammed into the wall like it was an Ice Hockey gameby a 260lb Linebacker quickly dispels that feeling - it is definitely a do or die maneuver.