NFL Street Takes Football 'Extreme'

Thanks to IGN PS2 for posting their hands-on impressions of EA's newly unveiled NFL Street. This more 'street' alternative to EA's own Madden series, modeled on other EA BIG titles such as the NBA Street series, is described as "..seven-on-seven street ball showcasing the showoff skills and showboat style of the NFL elite. No helmets, no pads, but all the attitude you'd expect from the game's greats like Ray Lewis, Terrell Owens, Michael Vick, and Marshall Faulk." Could this title join Madden in outselling Sega Sports' football titles, despite Sega's attempts to catch up?

Buttons...

[JRootabega]

So we'll have a block button, a pass button, a tackle button, and a stab button?

I see Midway complaining

[M3wThr33]

WHOAH, that ain't right.
Midway was asked by the NFL to tone back the violence in Blitz, so they decided to make all their games more realistic. How can EA get away with this?

Re:I see Midway complaining

[Decaffeinated Jedi]

I'm not sure if a lack of pads or helmets necessarily implies violence (at least not any more violence than American football inherently implies). After all, NBA Street isn't a violent game--certainly not as violent as Midway's NBA Jams series (and its various spin-offs), where defense consisted almost entirely of shoving other players to the ground.

Based on the titles it has released so far, "EA Big" seems to be more about "attitude" (ugh) than violence. Of course, that's far from the norm in an era of C

Football in the street...

[techstar25]

Most players of basketball actually play in the street, but football? Who plays football in the street?
Now we have street football, but we can't get a decent Arena Football videogame. What is this world coming to?

Re:Football in the street...

[leviramsey]

Arena football video game? Jesus H Christ. Play Madden on Easy setting with arenaball rosters (which you can download) and you've basically got arena football.

Marketing Bonanza!

[Acidic_Diarrhea]

I think the NFL will be really pleased with this announcement. One of the problems I've heard cited by marketers with marketing the NFL is that the players wear such an amount of gear and there are so many players on the field at once that it's difficult for some people to become personally involved in the game. What I mean by this is that bringing new fans to the game, specifically ones that didn't grow up watching football, isn't easy because they don't get to know the players.

What this game does is give people a way to really get to know the players. The NBA has always excelled at marketing their players because you see the guys and they're up close and personal on the television. The NFL doesn't have this benefit but this game will help to bridge that gap - especially if it is anywhere near as well done as NBA Street Volume 2.

Another poster mentioned the NFL Blitz series - good games - but they don't offer this marketing benefit to the NFL that this new game by EA will.

This rocks...

[gamgee5273]

Knowing NBA Street and SSX Tricky as well as I do (and chomping at the bit for a good sale on Def Jam Vendetta), if NFL Street is even 2/3 the game that the others are, this'll be a great game...and it's not that far to January...maybe I should go buy NBA Street Volume 2 to tide me over.

By the way - the Street games aren't any more violent than a regular sports game. It's a question of style and tricks - and how smooooooth you can be in the game. ;)

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to practice my "Refridgerator" Shuffle.

Will depend upon audience

[Monty67]

For those looking for the ultimate experience (SIM), Madden will still rule. For those looking for the premise of football but may not want to spend the time and effort on Madden, this could be a gold mine.

BTW, I know this may go against the grain of current game design, but does anyone remember Techmo-Bowl? It was easy, straight forward and fun to play. No where near the realism that Madden now puts forth, but Madden does have alot more of a learning curve. I guess Techmo just allowed us casual gamers to

Re:Will depend upon audience

[Arkaein]

Tecmo Bowl was a lot of fun, but there were a few things that bothered me about it.

The biggest thing was calling defenses. It would have been nice to have a few real defense, rather than just trying to guess what the offense picks, and if successful being able to automatically overwhelm them. Also it would have been nice to have a few more plays to pick from. I can't remember it you got 4 or 8 choices (I think it must have been 8? Up, down, left or right plus A or B on Nintendo?) but it was awfully limited

Re:Will depend upon audience

[Monty67]

Agree with the real defense comment. For the offense, you had 4 passing and 4 running on your screen. But you could swap out every single one of them with a completely different play.

One of the things we used to do is insert a new play, which your opponent could see you do, and then
never use it. Your opponent on the other hand would always think you were going to use it. Great fun.

Hmmm. Souinds vaguely familiar....

[wowbagger]

Computerized ball game with great violence, injuries to players. Hmmm.

Sounds familiar. [bitmap-brothers.co.uk]

Re:Hmmm. Souinds vaguely familiar....

[DNS-and-BIND]

I used to play the fuck out of Speedball 2 on the Sega Genesis with the guy who played the little Amish kid in Harrison Ford's "Witness". I beat the shit out of him and his friends for a while, but then I went away for a while and when I came back they could mop the floor with me.

They still had problems with Super Nashwan, though.

Too many NFL games...

[Rob Parkhill]

I refuse to buy any football game until they support the CFL rules! NFL is so boring...

Next great football game

[moc.tfosorcimgllib]

8 Man football in Rural US.

That's right, soon you will have the exciting opportunity to represent a high school of 30 people who have the nerds on the same team as the jocks (playing far far left wide reciever, and ineffective right tackle).

All the excitement without the hassle of driving 4 hours to the next small-town to play football against.

This game will include such 8-Man football highlight towns as Hartington, NE, Dix, NE, Ffriend, NE, Meade, KS, and Glendo, WY.
Imagine the heart pounding action of this extreme sport as you hope your only decent player (QB, Safety and Field Goal Kicker) makes it through the season without injury.

It's in your face BOREDOM to the EXTREME!!!

(The extra ! is for !!!)!

How about...

[Mysticalfruit]

I just want to be that dude that goes around office buildings tackling people (and I'm not talking about the BSA!) I think it might be Terry Owens.

You could even have some plot stuff built into it. Like you've gotta tackle some exec before he sells the company, etc. Tackle the UPS guy before he can leave the lobby with the receptionists pen. There could be time trials, most injuries incured in 1 minute. Better yet, they could take some pads and make a DDR type game only instead of dancing around like a boy band member on crack, you'd be have this foam covered rubber pole that you'd jump against to simulate knocking co-workers on their asses. They coulc call it "Tackle revolution" or "Insta-lawsuit" ;-)

Re:How about...

[Albert Pussyjuice]

That's actually fictional office linebacker Terry Tate [reebok.com] you're talking about and the commercials are sopme of the funniest I've seen come out of Reebok, Nike, et al ever.

And the Terry Tate game idea sounds great. If anyone hasn't seen the commercials, check out that link. They're all there. There is nothing more satisfying than watching the corporate peon win a game of solitaire, stand up to celebrate, and then getting absolutely housed by a flying Terry tackle - brilliant, truly brilliant.