NFL STREET 3 (gamezone)

- gamezone -

I have a confession to make. I am an NFL Street junkie. While others are out soaking up the sun during the summer's warmest days, I'm inside with my PS2 and PSP – playing the best arcade football series on the planet.

I'm not afraid to admit that, over the past three years, I've invested more than 200 hours in the PS2, GameCube, and PSP versions of the game. (That might be a conservative estimate.)

Now that you know how deeply addicted I am to the series, I think you can understand why – upon playing NFL Street 3 for the first time – I walked away in extreme disappointment. "It's a rehash!" I thought. "Two years of waiting...for a rehash!"

My shock was not completely false. NFL Street 3 is, in many ways, a clone of the first two games. But what I could not tell from the first few touchdowns was that the game has been made more intense and more demanding with one small change: real-time Gamebreakers.

If It Ain't Broke... Bah, Screw That!

In the first NFL Street, players used the Gamebreaker - which was and still is acquired by performing style moves – to infuse the team with near invincibility. Similar to the on-fire aspect of Midway's classic, NFL Blitz, Gamebreakers increased the strength, speed, and durability of the player holding the ball. The temporary agility upgrade made it difficult for opponents to keep up. On the off chance that they were able to go for a tackle, the invulnerable player could easily ward off most attackers and continue down the field.

NFL Street 2 doubled the Gamebreaker feature for an added bonus. Earn twice the number of style points and the player could unleash a special Gamebreaker that triggered a non-interactive play. On defense, this allows you to steal the ball automatically and run for a touchdown. If the ball is already in your possession, the quarterback will team with the others to execute a play that's flawless every time. You'll have a big head start to the goal, leaving few opportunities for your opponents to catch up.

NFL Street 3 throws auto-wins and invincibility out the window, replacing those once-interesting ideas with several moves that are much more strategic. Every major action – passing, stealing, jumping, blocking, charging, stiff-arm, and other defense moves – have Gamebreaker potential. Earn points as you normally would. Perform no-look passes, clean evasions, and other moves deemed "stylish." You'll be able to take advantage of the real power of the game as soon as your first Gamebreaker has been acquired.

As the quarterback, players can throw a pass that's too fast to intercept. The ball, now engulfed in flames, whales toward its target like a missile locked-on to an enemy jet. The throw is so powerful that it will briefly halt the movement of its receiver. A small explosion erupts as soon as the ball is caught, giving temporary paralysis to any nearby opponents.

Performing this cool, game-changing move is simple: hold down the L2 button while pressing any other button. For quarterbacks this eliminates the possibility for interceptions. But if you're attempting a run with the QB (a sneaky strategy I like to use) or any other player, it opens the door to explosive stiff-arms that push away anyone who dares to get too close.

While running with the ball, you can jump several feet into the air to avoid getting trampled. Hoping to do a little trampling yourself? That's possible too, and it triggers a fumble almost every time.

Three Gamebreakers can be scored and stored till the end of the game, allowing players to stock up and use their power when they need it most.

This is not innovation, but it is growth. NFL Street 3 controls and moves at the same pace as NFL Street 2. Most gamers won't think too much about it unless they play the PSP version, which actually feels faster.

But you know what? I found fault with the other NFL Street releases and ended up playing both of them more than most sports games combined. So I can't say, "The game is too slow." Sure, I would have liked the player movement to be faster. But the new, fully interactive Gamebreakers add just enough – not any less nor any extra – excitement to keep me from removing the disc from my PS2.

Cocky Street

You disrespect the street, you disrespect yourself. To pay your respects, enter the game's new season mode. Rather than throw together a series of mini-games that most of us will want to skip, and rather than rehashing the past with another straight season, NFL Street 3 opted for "Respect the Street."

With a fictitious team under the player's control, you'll take on a multitude of opponents in unique and challenging scenarios. Goals are far from the only thing you have to worry about. Many of the challenges involve a different objective, such as gaining points for every additional yard, and losing points for every lost yard. In one game type you'll compete for style points that are banked – from either team – until someone scores a touchdown. The team that scores gets the pot.

The time attack mode limits ball control to 60 seconds. Winners are decided by who has the most points when the clock runs out (4+ minutes).

Elimination is by far the most painful. Every fouled play causes you to lose one of the options in your playbook. Lose 'em all and it's game over.

Review Scoring Details for NFL Street 3

Gameplay: 8.2
A very, very entertaining game that, new Gamebreaker features aside, you have played before. EA is known for having brilliant tweaks in their yearly sports updates, which almost makes the lack of a gameplay engine harder to deal with – since NFL Street 3 took 23 months to get here. Yet, in all its familiarity, the series has once again pulled through as the leading arcade sports title.

Graphics: 7.0
NFL Street 3 is not an ugly game, but we’ve seen these graphical goodies before – most of them three years ago in the first NFL Street, the rest in NFL Street 2.

Sound: 5.0
Not worth two seconds of your time. The sound effects are a pain, but that annoyance can hardly compare to the torture that is this game’s soundtrack (comprised of rap and a genre I refer to as “complain metal”).

Difficulty: Medium
Moderately difficult arcade-style sports action.

Concept: 7.2
NFL Street 3 nabs a few points for its Gamebreaker changes, as well as the Respect the Street mode. But it’s still a rehash.

Multiplayer: 8.6
Whether playing online or offline, there is no addiction like NFL Street addiction. This third iteration doesn’t have the freshness of its predecessors, playing more like the Tekken Tag or Ultimate Mortal Kombat of sports games – imperfect but impossible to put down.

Overall: 8.4
The new Gamebreaker moves are out of this world. For the die-hard, obsess-bordering fans like myself, that’s all the series needs (at this point). I’m hooked and will stay hooked for the next several months, and most likely through next summer.

Casual players who own the first two, however, should try NFL Street 3 before making a commitment.