FIFA Street 3 demo impressions and video

Going in to playing the demo, which came out for the 360 and PS3 earlier today, I didn’t really know what I would think of it. I’ve taken a liking to the games on the “arcade” side more over the past few years enjoying those such as NBA Street, The BIGS, and NFL Tour. However I’m not a soccer fan and don’t relate to or recognize the majority of the players so would that make the game less enjoyable?

I really like the visual style of the game. From the players (which come off as caricatures of their real life selves) to the environments, to the gamebreaker special effects. FIFA Street just looks really pleasing. The sound effects really stood out to me as being well done also.

When it comes to FIFA Street though I’m still not sure how much if any value it will hold for me. Since I don’t have an attachment to a particular team or players it probably won’t have the same replayability. The back and forth action was already getting a little frustrating. That comes with the territory of the sport and the pace of the game but after playing through the demo just a couple times it was already bothering me. I had grown frustrated of the trick point system in NBA Street for similar reasons to what I figured would happen here, which is chasing people around as they do tricks or trying to do them myself for too long and getting the ball stolen. I’d rather just concentrate on playing the actual game.

The animations seemed to be a big positive as they were fluid and many of them really cool to see, but I didn’t like feeling out of being out of control for a second after a defender knocked into me. Switching between players didn’t feel natural or go to the one I would have expected occasionally, attempting tackles didn’t feel right to me, and it was difficult to know where your teammates were as they were off screen often. It seemed like the PS3 version of the demo was slightly sluggish in comparison to the 360 demo but I’m not aware of any specific advantages that have been stated about one over another. All those things aside I was still learning as I played and even now don’t know what everything does so give the demo a shot and feel free to post your thoughts on it in the comments. Overall it was better than I expected but from a personal standpoint I just can’t see myself getting hooked into it like I have with the other arcade style titles.

The video below is of a full play through which features Brazil vs England in a five minute match at Samba arena from the PS3 version of the demo.

FIFA Street 3 Demo from pastapadre on Vimeo.