Fifa Street 3 Review

You can find an Achievement Guide for this game Here

Info on the game and screenshots are located Here





Fifa Street was born in the olden days and was made as an alternative to the hoop and stick game that was all the rage at the time.(Yes it was even more popular than marbles)Bursting onto the scene as a school yard/Back street football simulator of sorts,adding fun elements like no refs,no offside,and non stop play,with Football Superstars being there in place of Fatty Fairclough,Goggles and Smelly Tramp.
There was a few things missing though,llike your mum calling you in for you Dinner,jumpers for goal posts,the retriveal of the ball from your neighbours garden and smashing windows by accident and running off.
(The last one i still enjoy doing today)

Fifa Street was quite a fun game to play and sold so well that they made a sequel,imaginatively titled as Fifa Street 2.
This game however was a pile of cack released with akward arenas to play in which resulted in less fun being had.It felt like some of the things that made the 1st game fun was lost,it was the Matrix Reloaded all over again,which was pretty strange as the film wasnt even out then and has nothing to do with the game.


(if the last statement about the Matrix Reloaded not being released is untrue,then whoops i told a fib)

So after the poor display by Fifa Street 2 they decided the series was done with, and would never release another game in the series unless it was Fifa Street 3,4,5,6,7,8,9 and 10.
So it came as a big shock when EA announced that Fifa Street 3 would be released.
So lets talk about Fifa Street 3 and everything involved with the game.

From the title screen you have the usual play now mode,where you get to play the game straight away where you can jump straight in and play with the street teams you have unlocked in challenge mode or national teams.
You can choose a number of match types in this mode like Score difference where you have to lead by a set number of goals to win,Score which is a first to so many goals,Timed where you play for a set period of time,Game Breaker where only gamebreaker goals count,Five a side where its timed but without Gamebreakers and my favourite of all and a game most people in the UK have played at one time in their youth,yes people its Headers and Volleys.
(There is always some sod that used to hoof the ball onto a neighbours roof or through a window while playing Headers and Volleys in the real world)

As per normal you probably wont bother much with the exhibition mode,Sorry i forgot its Play Now so its more hip.

So what else do we have in here,well next up is the Fifa Challenge mode.

In this mode you select from the unlocked challenges for which team you will play against in a few games where you have to meet certain conditions to win,such as win by 5 goals,Headers and Volleys and other such games.

After you have picked which team to play you then pick from one of the Two teams available at the start.
Stocky which is a team of larger players featuring Gattuso,Rooney and Viduka,
or the Urchins which features a team of unknown players like the Canadian player Wu Hong and Chinese super star Zhang Hui.

Each time you beat all of a teams challenges you unlock them to play as in any of the game modes.
There are also side challenges involved called Challenge Targets where you have to win a set number of games,score so many goals and game breaker goals and headers and volleys.


You proceed through the challenge mode until you reach the end,which should take you around a few hours depending on your skill at the game,although you shouldnt really have any trouble with the default difficulty level.If you are stuggling though you can always adjust it to easy or cheeky.
(Yes i said cheeky,its EA and there child hood humour,i guess they are down with the kids of the 80`s........The 1880`s that is,i mean come on ive not heard that term in ages and when i have it normally has a word similar to Barsteward on the end)

So thats challenge mode done and dusted so with the main part of the game out of the way whats left?
Well we have the Head To Head mode.
(No not the GamerScore League a different Head To Head)

Head To Head is just the variations of games that you played in challenge mode,such as Timed,Gamebreakers and Headers and Volleys.
This mode is made for you and a friend to play only,its a shame as this would have been nice to play against the CPU,but you can do all these in Play Now against it.
(I guess there is a use for play now after all,i really feel bad for dismissing it like i did,im sorry play now mode will you please forgive me)

So 3 modes down and still more to choose from,next up is Playground Picks,which is another holla back to school day football.
(Did i say holla back? whats next lady bump?)
Playground Picks is another 2 player only mode,where one player picks a team,which the players then take it in turn to pick team members from,with Goggles being picked last due to him having asthma and passing to the other team as he cant see 2 feet in front of his face.
Again you can flick between the various game modes mentioned earlier on including Headers and Volleys.
(I friggin love Headers and Volleys can you tell or as we used to call it 60 seconds,You had to score a header or volley in that time,if you did it then changed to 50 then 40.After 10 it then goes to 2 goals in 60 Seconds,if you failed last person to touch the ball goes in goal)

After this there is the practice mode,which i dont think anyone will ever need to use and doesnt really need an explanation at all.
(Well if you want one here it is,you practice in this mode,happy you asked for it?)

After all that we then have the Xbox live mode,which is filled with all the variations of the games you have already played earlier if you have worked your way down the modes,if you have not done this however welcome to the world of wonder and mystery.
The games play the same as the other modes, but you also get to play a complete stranger who quits after you have scored 4 goals in the 1st minute of play.

Lastly is the Options mode with the usual tweaks and options,such as having the abilty to turn the Urban music off,a feature i am truly thankfull that they have included in the game as its not my cup of tea.

So whats missing from the game?

Nothing really its a pretty fun game,a few more tricks would have been nice though.
A penalty shoot out mode also would have been pretty cool,but its no biggie that its not included.

The only problem i would say the game has is the tackling,it doesnt seem to want to work some of the time,but its a minor issue at best.




AUDIO – 8
The in game sound effects are pretty good as well with people calling for the ball,not really much they could do with these but they still did a good job on them.

Graphics – 7
The graphics are pretty good for a football game and not as cartoony as some of the screenshots would have you believe,there is 7 arenas that are all the same size and shape with the difference only cosmetic,but still a quite good selection,and the characters look pretty good as well with them all looking similar to the real life counter parts.


Game play – 7
Easy to pick up and play,and enjoyable,the only problem i had was with the tackling occasionaly,but other than that i cant really fault the game,its nice to see its more like the first game than the second.

Lifespan – 6
Once you have finished the offline modes which will only take roughly 5-8 hours depending on your skill,there is only the online and occasional friends dropping by for a game to keep it going.
Personally i cant see much time being spent by me playing this on live,but if you like it you may stick with it online a lot longer.

Bottom Line – 7.5
Overall its an entertaining game and one that is easlily accessible from start to finish.
Probably the most fun Football game on the 360 at the moment and until Fifa Street 4 comes out.
(I would like to say i hate Peter Crouch,so thanks a lot EA for making me have to score 3 goals with the useless sod)