FIFA Street: The Audacity of OneEffortless magic.Some people find FIFA forbidding. I've played games with them. I've patiently expounded on the relative benefits of a lobbed pass with backspin, and gazed upon their bemused faces. They want to dribble with the ball at speed, ghosting past defenders with dextrous footwork, but in FIFA such tricks are a dangerous luxury. Attempt them in a match and it's more likely that you will embarrass yourself, not your opponent.
FIFA Street reverses that dynamic. It's all about humiliating your opponent – well, some of the time. Previous games in the series have had a much lighter tone. FIFA Street has markedly moved away from that style, seeking a much more authentic feeling.
Street's creative director Gary Paterson is the right man to bring that fidelity to the series, having held the same position on both FIFA 10 and FIFA 11. The continuity is not just limited to the team behind it; it's detectable in the game's DNA. The goal was simple: create an authentic street football experience. And what better way to achieve that ambition than by having the widely-lauded engine that powers FIFA 12 as your foundation.
"If you look on Youtube," says Paterson, "there are so many crazy things that people can do – we didn't feel the need to exaggerate that. It's already crazy enough. The fact you keep it in a realistic setting makes it even more incredible." But it also ties in with the escapist, fantasy-fulfilment aspect of FIFA Street. Street is all about "fulfilling your footballing dreams, being something you can't be in real life," and Paterson and his team have recognised that "authenticity is the way to bring that feeling home in a way that resonates most strongly with people."
So if you're familiar with FIFA expect the same quality animations and player interactions here, and you won't have relearn how to pass or shoot from scratch. As you can imagine, though, this is something of a dubious inheritance. There are certain aspects of FIFA's game engine which have been changed to allow for a much more fast-paced experience.
One aspect that has been radically overhauled is the way in which you dribble with the ball. In FIFA 12, you can turn in any direction, letting you shield the ball or pass backwards in an effort to mount a new attack. But in Street, you're always facing forwards, always on the attack. It's less about the effort of a team and more about the audacity of one. This feeling is created about staging one-on-one encounters across the field, wherein you're required to outsmart your opponent.
Indolently importing the precision dribbling controls from FIFA 12 just wouldn't work, so instead you can hold down the left trigger to root your player to the spot. While in this position you can use the left analogue to manipulate the ball; the idea is to tease and taunt your opponent in committing a challenge, at which you point release the left trigger and sprint forward, nutmegging him on the way.
As in FIFA, tricks are performed by tapping, sliding, flicking, and rotating the right analogue in a variety of combinations. Unlike FIFA, however, you don't have to hold down any other button to access them – in Street, extravagant skills are the norm, not a reckless indulgence.
Of course you can waggle blindly to perform some impressive feats, but patiently learning the moves lets you turn any situation to your advantage.
Tricks are also context sensitive. The top shoulder buttons function as 'modifiers': the left adds additional flair to your moves, while the right button raises the ball into the air.
Yes, tricks are obviously a core element of the game, but they don't make you invincible. Having the FIFA 12 engine serving as a foundation makes Street into much more of skill based game, rather than a casual game in which you perform outrageous 'skills'.
But tricks don't make you invincible. FIFA 12's defending system has been tweaked to shift the balance of play in favour of the attacking team. While tricks are easy to perform, in terms of the input gesture, the real skill comes in the timing.
Other aspects of the game, in particular the main season mode, known as World Tour, are all in keeping with the street football experience. This isn't just FIFA re-skinned. Street football is the international variety of the game. Few get to play on the biggest of stages, but everyone's kicked a ball about on the street or on a beach. It's simultaneously both parochial and global.
To engender this feeling in FIFA Street you create your own team to take online, where you'll initially play against other teams from your region. So for instance, you might start off playing against teams in England, populated with people from that region, before working your way up to European and eventually fully international matches. Presumably, the idea is that the transition from local to international environments will showcase the distinctive playing styles you observe in actual street football.
Multiplayer offers a range of different modes to play and customise. There's straight-up five-a-side, which really needs no explanation. But there are also more exotic modes to test out, such as Panna and Futsal. The former is a game type which emphasises the style of play over the end result. Perform tricks and you'll quickly rack up point in the 'Bank'. More sublime skills, as you'd expect, net you more points. Score after racking up, say, four points, and the overall scoreboard will read 6-0. If your opponent scores before you, all those points will be lost. So it's entirely possible to overturn a nine goal deficit by scoring one perfect goal.
Futsal, on the other hand, is a little more serious. It's the variant of street football officially recognised by FIFA. Pitches are a little larger and there are no walls. There's also a referee, with free kicks and penalties being imposed for foul play. It's probably the most tactical of FIFA Street's modes, but that certainly doesn't mean it's strait-laced. Skills are still integral for creating and scoring goals; they just aren't incentivised to the same degree.
Perhaps the most striking of the competitive modes, however, is Last Man Standing. It's five-a-side but if you score a goal, your team is stripped of a player. So say you're much better than your opponent, you could end up facing a full-strength team with just one player, needing a single goal to secure victory. It's tense stuff and if both players are of comparable ability, it seems to go right down to the wire.
The big question is, with FIFA 12 recently becoming the best-selling sports game of all time, is there really room for another football game out there? Of course EA thinks there is, and you can't fault the thinking. "Our main target were those people on the verge of being FIFA players, but they think FIFA's a little bit too involved for them," says Paterson. But it's also based on the diversity within other genres. "We do feel there are people out there who just love football games, as there are people out there who just love first-person shooters, and of course it's up to them to decide if FIFA Street is right for them. But we're hopeful that they'll like the experience we've created."
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