Every few years a series takes a tumble,
making the developers question its
direction, that produces a swift return to form in
the follow-up. FIFA Street 3 is one of those games
and, while it has remained unchallenged in the
arcade football stakes for a while now, it appears
that EA Vancouver has reached that impasse
– the very moment a franchise begins to falter.
We’ve seen it this year with PES 2008, and from
all indications FIFA Street 3 should be joining
Konami’s simulation on the subs bench for the
foreseeable future. But how and where did it all
go so badly wrong?
It’s hard to pin it down to one particular
feature because, if you were to lay the game
down in fact sheet form, it ought to be the best
ever Street. Playground Picks, for instance, works
well over Live but with a little foresight could’ve
been so much better. The premise of the game
mode is simple enough: just imagine you’re
in a playground and the captain of each team
picks each player alternately. Unfortunately,
it all becomes redundant when you realise
that whatever position a player takes up,
they’ll always be an attacker. And whilst there
are different stats for each player (which are
influenced by their real-life positions and traits)
these bear no relation to how your player will
perform on the pitch, with defenders pulling off
bicycle kicks just as confidently as a striker.
This third iteration arguably presents the most
accessible game of the series, anyone can jump
in and out of it at a moment’s notice. If you’re like
the majority of the Gamer team, though, you’ll
yearn for something more in-depth than this, a
bigger challenge than the walk in the park on
offer here. The biggest disappointment is the
lack of improvement in graphical and content
terms. Aside from a few extra game modes,
everything looks distinctly average, rating
favourably with the PS2 version – and that’s not
overstating the graphical disappointment at all.
While the last version on the previous generation of consoles
played pretty well (for a kick-about, at least),
this shiny new version sports a control
system that anyone can master, setting you up
for a fall before you’ve even finished your first
game. After all, even if the animations are good
on skill moves, wouldn’t you want to feel more
in control? Ultimately, it’s the sum of its parts
that really lets Street down and, despite some
remarkably easy achievements for the aspiring
score whores out there, there isn’t much to grab
you by the short and curlies and demand that
you play on.
Despite the undeniable popularity of the
series, this third game would do well to take
time off to reinvent itself for the inevitable
sequel next year. While it doesn’t shirk on
the number of game modes available, the
actual substance of these offerings doesn’t
add up to much. Consider carefully at your
local game emporium, and steer
clear unless you’re dangerously
addicted to FIFA Street 2. Which seems unlikely.
