Console: Game-Cube, X-box, and Playstation 2 Release Date: January 14, 2004 Category: Football > Arcade Developer: Tiburon Publisher: Electronic Arts ESRB Rating: E (Mild Violence My Rating: E (A bit of trash talk, but no foul language, and the violence is just over the top football moves)

Electronic Arts, EA BIG to be specific, give the NBA Street treatment to the NFL, and the resulting game play is awesome.

Graphics:

With less players, and less demands on the system as the big football games (Madden, etc.) Street is able to show off some really impressive visuals both on and off field, every player in the game (7 per team plus 7 legends) has their face and likeness in the game, so Ricky Williams (the cover player) really looks like Ricky Williams. Although not up to par with the higher quality action games, for a sports game, this really looks great. A-

Sounds:

The music is a bunch of B-list (and a few B+) artists and bands, while this is far from bad it\'s not spectacular either, you won\'t be aching to play your own music, fortunately. The in game sounds are alright, the hits and tackles are over the top, but very well done. However, the voices while done well, are a bit repetitive after 20 or 30 games or so, and with only 3 or 4 voice actors all the players seem to sound the same. B+

Story:

Obviously being a sports game, there is no story, but there is a single player mode beyond exhibition games. This mode however is remarkably lacking, you gotta give EA props for trying to go beyond the standard season and franchise modes, but this wasn\'t the answer. You build your own team (so you can\'t play as your favorite team) and the options for designing each player are awesome, and while there are plenty of options, there are astoundingly not to many either, EA could have easily gone to far into micro-management with this. You then proceed to make the team better by taking on one division after the other, you do different tasks (some really easy, and some really hard) against the teams in that division, you choose which ones, ranging from things like score a touchdown on the first play, to get 5 user sacks in a game to 35. This lets you build up your team, you then go play the 4 teams in that division and play a division all-star team to open up the next division. C+

Game Play:

The game play is amazing, you couldn\'t ask for better 7-on-7. The controls are perfect, playing a game is awesome, you can do anything (I think I have a play one time with 17 laterals). The style points really enhance the game, you must decide, risk a bigger chance of fumbling and running slower, or get less style points and therefore not get into gamebreaker as soon. Gamebreaker is just that, it breaks a game WIDE open, you are virtually unstoppable on offense, or a solid brick wall on defense. While the gameplay is awesome, it\'s football, and after enough games you just want something more if you don\'t have anyone to play with. B+

Intangibles:

The AI is not the best, even on hard I had few problems winning on this, and if you like defensive battles, get something else, cause you will score quick (I played a game to 35 in 5:47), but this isn\'t a problem for most of us. And even if the AI is spotty, multiplayer is awesome, both in person, and online with the PS2. The lasting appeal of this game goes way up with multiplayer. And the Pickup Game feature ROCKS, you and your opponent pick out 7 players outta 40 randomly selected players from the league and the legends (and later from ALL the players), then play with these players. The presentation of the game is just right on also, it just feels right, for what it is. B

Appropriateness:

This is football, over the top football at this, so there is a little violence, not quite as rough as wrestling, so this shouldn\'t be a problem for most people, at least not anyone who would like this game. There are no cheerleaders, so there isn\'t even the scantily clad women of most football games, which really rocks in my opinion. There is a bit of trash talk, but there is no foul language, things like \'I\'m gonna take you out like the trash you are,\' is the most you\'ll ever hear, so no problem here. The songs are alright themselves, I didn\'t hear any language that stuck out at me, but hidden in the lyrics, there might be a bit of stuff, but you can turn off any music you want from the options. B+

Overall:

This game is good, real good, but lacking in features to make it last longer. The AI is average, but multiplayer rocks. This game looks and sounds good, and just feels right, the control is great. Anyone can play it. All told this game is good, but not great. B+, 88%