The Street games have been very, very good to EA's Big label. The phenomenon began with NBA Street, which allowed players to live out their playground hoop dreams, and later continued with NFL Street, the game that brought the sandlot into your home. While there's no denying that basketball and football are at home on the streets, one sport might be an even better fit than either of those: soccer. Sure, a pristine, green pitch might be the first thing you think of when someone asks you about futbol, but the roots of the game (and the up-and-coming young players) can be found in the slums of Rio and the tight, dingy alleyways criss-crossing London and Manchester.

Always observant, EA recognized that soccer might be the most "street" game of them all, so they went to work on creating FIFA Street. While the game carries the FIFA (soccer's governing body) label, you won't see obscure club teams doing battle on a wide field. Instead, small, 3 person squads will play on a shorter, narrower field. This is pure, unadulterated arcade-style action, so you don't have to worry about being offsides or getting a yellow card for committing a foul. Like the rest of the Street games, looking good is often more important than playing well, so you'll have a variety of stylish tricks at your disposal.

Performing tricks is pretty easy, thanks to the Trick Stick feature that is gradually making its way into all of the games. Utilizing the right analog stick, you can kick the ball through a defender's legs, perform a stop-and-go move, or generally fake him out of his cleats. Successfully pulling off these moves will throw off your opponent's timing, allowing you to get around him and head toward the goal. Of course, it works both ways, and there are many occasions that you'll be picking yourself up off the ground while the man you were covering is blasting a shot on goal. While it seemed quite awkward at first, I gradually got the hang of things, realizing that the moves were largely dependant on timing. If you pull the move off too early, there's a good chance that you'll get stripped.


There are also a few different types of passes you can attempt, from the straight-forward ground pass to a lob pass. You can also kick the ball in the air to a teammate, and hitting the same button again will cause him to head the ball to the next man. This can be done over and over, and there were a few times when I found myself heading the ball from one man to the next, before finally attempting a bicycle kick right in front of the goal. It got a bit easy at times, so hopefully the developers will ramp up the difficulty a little bit before the game ships. The players also have the ability to kick the ball off of walls, either to themselves or to a streaking teammate.

When you're ready to shoot, entering the offensive area in front of the goal will bring up a small graphic that allows you to direct your shot using the left analog stick. Like most sports games, holding down the shoot button will produce a harder shot, while tapping it will cause your player to quickly put the ball on net. Of course, this wouldn't be a Street game without GameBreakers, and performing enough tricks will allow you to blast the ball at the goal. In an interesting twist, not all of your shots will be unstoppable. If you shoot the ball directly into another player, it'll be blocked, although it will take that defender out of the action for a few moments.

Although FIFA Street seems like it would be a guaranteed gooooooooooaaaaaal, there are a few things that are troubling. For some reason, the players' momentum carries them far away from the action, and it's very difficult to make precise moves, especially when you're being guarded by a defender. My biggest qualm, however, is something that's a big more intangible. The game just doesn't feel right for some reason, and I kept getting the feeling that it was rushed to capitalize on the popular Street movement. I still have high hopes for FIFA Street, but I'm wondering if I'd be better off simply honing my skills in simulation-style game like FIFA Soccer 2005 or Winning Eleven 8.