NFL Street 2

« One of the most magnificently surprising titles of recent years. You don't need to know the ins and outs of American Football to enjoy it, it's infinitely more accessible than others in the genre and it manages to keep the whole 'Urban-Extreme' aspect to a tolerable level. »

« At first glance, NFL Street 2 seems simple to master. However, after you scratch the surface, this is one of the deepest games available for the Xbox. »

« There's plenty of quick payoff, but there are many levels to master to that an expert player on the sticks will looking nothing like a rookie who picks it up and has a blast the first time. »

« Though there are only scant few improvements, the gameplay is still solid and a blast! »

« An incredible arcade sports game that goes far beyond what NFL Blitz offered. »

« The audio in NFL Street 2 is an integral part of the game. The trash talking helps add to the over the top flair of the game, and the sounds effects are done well. »

« Although NFL Street 2 has managed to double the number of playable modes available for gamers, the large amount of recycled material and somewhat imbalanced or unnecessary tweaks make Street fail to live up to expectations. »

« The sound track for the game is excellent and EA has done a great job of putting together a very listenable collection of music. »

« NFL Street 2 is imo a masterpiece of the Sports game industry because of the gameplay & the career mode called Own the City. Even though it's a controversial decision to release a sequel of any game less than a year after the original, IMO EA knocked it out of the park with adding new gameplay features like the wall moves & Gamebreaker 2 & adding new game modes like Street Events & playable tutorials & not just simply releasing it with a roster update like what they do with Madden over the past years. The biggest changes in gameplay are the Wall moves & Gamebreaker 2. The wall moves are done by holding down the Style button & then pressing the Hurdle/Dive Button or the Juke/Spin Button & if you do these wall moves on signs called Hotspots you get to unlock awesome gallery art & members of the new NFL Legends team. Gamebreaker 2 makes Gamebreaker 1 even more powerful because during your games you get the decision to optionally fill up a 2nd Gamebreaker meter to truly dominate your opponent on specific drive to either take the lead on offense or end the game on defense. All of the aspects from Street 1's gameplay carries over like you have to strategically pick which players you need the most because your players have to play on both sides of the ball. For example, you can have a terrible defense if you only draft offensive players. Let's move on to game modes starting with the All-new Career mode called Own the City where you build your custom character by strategically giving him attribute points to his ratings, full designing his genetic appearances from his face, hair, skin, & body, & putting on any equipment you desire from a Gold chain, a simple T-shirt, a Modern or Retro NFL Jersey, & so much more! After you create your Own the City player you're thrown into 1 on 1 match which is completely unique for a Football Game! After you finish the 1 on 1 you progress through the city by playing in Street Events to add attribute points to your players & then eventually you play against the local teams of that region. After you have defeated all of the local teams across the city you finally get to play against Xzibit's team & after beating him your team truly does Own the City. After beating Xzibit's team, your player is then selected as a team captain for an NFL Tournament when you play in a 8-Team tournament. When you win the NFL Tournament, you have officially completed Own the City & Randy Moss says to you after you win "See you in the Pros, dog!" after you beat Own the City you get to import your player into Madden NFL 06's Superstar mode & to your NFL Challenge Team. NFL Challenge has been completely rebuild & overhauled from Street 1 a lot. In Street 1, you start building your team from scratch & then play against teams in individual divisions & then play the All-stars of those divisions. This time in Street 2 you have 150 days to build all of your players & after the 150 days are over, you play in an NFL Tournament with all 32 teams & if you win the Tournament you get to play against the NFL Legends. NFL Gauntlet lets you play with any team in the game even your created team & then you play against all 32 NFL Teams individually in order from their last season's record starting with the 2-14 Chargers to the Super Bowl Champion Patriots & then the NFL Legends after beating the Legends you unlock the Gridiron Park venue. Street Events are a fun new take on the game of Football. Ranging from Jump Ball Battle, 2 Min Challenge, Open Field Showdown, Quick Strike, 4 on 4, & Crush the Carrier. Jump Ball Battle is all about catching as many balls as possible before time runs out. 2 Min Challenge, you score as many points as possible on offense & not allowing points on defense for 2 minutes on either side. Open Field Showdown is the event you play to start Own the City, you have a set number of attempts to score more touchdowns than your opponent & stopping your opponent on defense. Quick Strike is where both teams have a possession to score & the game doesn't end until a tie is broken. 4 on 4 is like an ordinary game with a few differences like the QB can't scramble & when running a pass play the QB has to get rid of the ball in 5 seconds. Lastly, Crush the Carrier is a Free-for-All where all of the players try to keep the football as long as possible, you also earn extra points by styling, doing wall moves, & causing fumbles which happens every time the ball carrier gets tackled. Like other EA Sports BIG Games, the main highlight is the soundtrack ranging from hip-hop/rap & some occasional rock songs to keep everyone happy like me. After NFL Street 2 came out, it gave EA confidence to bring the Street license to other franchises like FIFA. NFL Street 3 isn't bad, but it's not as iconic or memorable like Street 1 or 2. Since EA is a completely different company today, we're probably not getting another NFL Street again. But, we can always come back to this masterpiece to escape from life. »