FIFA Street 3 Preview

Those who have played indoor soccer know how fast paced the game can be, and they also know that it is a game where foot skills quickly become apparent. Those who have skills survive; those who have marginal or no foot skills, are usually left wondering where the ball and opposing player went.

Enter EA Sports next iteration in the FIFA Street series. FIFA Street 3 is like the indoor game on steroids. The skills are over the top, the action moves from one end to the other quickly and everyone feels the need to mix a bit of gymnastic skill in with the art of playing soccer. Even the goalkeepers will throw in a jump flip when tossing out the ball.

EA Sports sent along PlayStation 3 preview code and the game has certainly styled it up and in the process improved on the fun factor.

The game has taken on a bit of a new look, with the players (more than 250 are represented here playing on 18 of the top international teams) sporting a bit more of a semi-cartoonish look that works very well here. But while the looks of the players have changed, they are still the licensed athletes from the international soccer game. That means you will see Ronaldinho, lean and lanky with ponytail emphasizing his quickness, playing for Brazil.

The game controls extremely well, with the thumbsticks used to not only navigate the direction of the play (left thumbstick), but your ball handler will make some impossible moves (courtesy of the right thumbstick) that would come close to snapping tibia, femurs or blowing out knees if performed in real life.

The new controls scheme is part of the game’s revamp. Sure, this is a debug and there were a few minor flaws, but generally this game controlled very well and pulling off tricks was so simple that any player can have his or her team performing jaw-dropping moves with ease. The AI in the game is smart, and will knock the opposition off the ball, but what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, and banging is part of the game. Players have two tackles to choose from: the standard attack/tackle, and then a spin move that seems like it should be worth a foul since it emulates a leg sweep more than a soccer tackle. 

The Game Breaker is back, along with the meter that fills as you perform tricks. But rather than the Game Breaker being unstoppable, in this iteration it is defensible. A blazing shot can be turned aside by the net minder, or a defensive player can block it down.

The game environments are nicely diverse, ranging from South America to Asia, from alleys to rooftops.

A new game mode has been added to the mix – the Street Challenge mode, which amounts to a head-to-head competition between the player and CPU, with various goals and difficulty levels. The reward is unlocking street teams and players that can be taken online if so desired.

There is a nice graphical fluidity to the game, and the sound is really a tribute to both the international flavor of the game as well as the on-field sounds one would expect. Players will talk to one another, just like in a real game, and the music is drawn from bands throughout the world.

FIFA Street 3 is an entertaining title that certainly has some wonderful acrobatic eye candy that represents the extreme side of soccer. It is clearly one of the better conceived titles in the series and will likely, finally, give the Street brand some of the respect it deserves.

The game is set to release February 18.