FIFA Street reboots EA's street soccer franchise, jettisoning the fantastical in favor of a more grounded look at street soccer. If you're a fan of
FIFA and all of its features, you can apply most of that treatment to this street-based alternative and still know what you're expecting. Of course, that's assuming you know what's what in street football. But in the end, you could approach
FIFA Street thinking "smaller scale, faster pace, more tricky" and not come away terribly surprised by it.
Admittedly, there isn't as much content in FIFA Street as there is in the always-stuffed core sim game. But if you've played a FIFA game and ignored all the hardcore dressings, you won't mind at all. World Tour Mode offers more or less exactly what you'd expect, complete with a decidedly more friendly and personal setup (friendly matches are set up via text messages, and so on). Once you start World Tour, you can create, customize, and manage your team in the My Squad menu. It's a well-designed system, but if all you really want to do is get to the action, most of the extra stuff is only optional. But there are a ton of unlockables for players who really dig in.
Number of general gameplay modes aside, event types are wonderfully varied. You've got your standard 5-A-Side rules (standard soccer), but other events put unique spins on the game. Panna rules require you to perform successful pannas, air beats, and regular beats. Each of these maneuvers nets you a set number of points, but the points are banked until you actually score a goal. If you bank a ton of points only to have your opponent score a goal first, you lose your bank. Futsal is 5-A-Side played on a street pitch without walls. Last Man Standing forces you to drop a player each time you score a goal. Finally, you can create a Custom Match and/or take your game online with Street Seasons.
