When EA BIG first announced they were working on a football equivalent to their successful NBA Street franchise, my breast fluttered with excitement. Or at least I think it did. Never mind that everyone and their grandma were sick of NFL Blitz (and Midway’s constant efforts to bring that dead story back to life), because EA BIG has created a niche for themselves in the realm of arcade sports games. Their key to success is creating creative games that are fast-paced and wild without being simple. In this manner they are able to defeat the beast that plagued Midway back in the day: the burden of interesting sequels.

To get everyone on the same page, here’s a little background on NFL Street. The first game came out last year, featuring the same mix of fast pace and surprisingly complex, tight control. The series is somewhat simple, but not to the level where it can be easily picked up and played by newcomers. At least 15 minutes or so of tutorials or mentoring is necessary to get everyone near the same skill level; this is because both the original game and the sequel feature nuances tucked in every corner of the gameplay. Playing defense can be very frustrating at first, since it seems utterly out-gunned by an over-compensated rush offense. But after a while, the two sides begin to balance and everything becomes very satisfying and enjoyable. NFL Street 2 keeps the tradition of fast speed and a quicker, more pared-down football experience. Players are encouraged to show off their moves for style points, which eventually earn two levels of Gamebreakers—a feature borrowed from past EA BIG games. Activating these super moves help practically assure a touchdown (if on offense) or a turnover (if on defense), although every once in a while a skilled opponent can slip through the cracks.

Now with that out of the way, there’s the crucial question: what’s new? Besides the necessary roster update, a new Own the City mode has been added along with gameplay additions like more intense second level Gamebreakers and the ability to run, pass and catch off the wall, leading to visual insanity on the field. This new emphasis on walls also plays into another feature of the game, in that billboards on the walls can be ‘activated’ by tagging them with a run or tackle up against the designated wall spots. Activating these billboards gets loads of style points, which is why it’s good to look out for them, and they also occasionally unlocks secrets.

After hours of running and passing off walls (which isn’t nearly as cheap as it sounds), I can’t imagine not having that option before. Unfortunately, the supposedly explosive second tier Gamebreakers really leave a lot to be desired, especially when compared to the insane rim-shattering animations of the NBA counterpart. Activating an upgraded Gamebreaker leads to a short movie showing how the runner will get past the defense and into the open, leading to an easy run for a touchdown, or how they will get the ball on defense. In either case, there are too few animations and most of them are pretty uninspired. Too bad.

The newly added Own the City mode is a nice idea, wherein you create a custom player and can only modify his attributes while adding and subtracting players from your squad through pickup games and random challenges, gradually moving through the new areas until the whole city is conquered. I like this mode the best, and it’s my preferred spot to throw time away. More familiar to fans of the original will be the NFL Challenge mode in which you travel around the city completing skill-based challenges to earn more points to upgrade your players until your team is good enough to compete at higher skill levels and earn more points. This time, however, a time element has been thrown in: you only get 150 fake days of touring around the city, and every challenge takes a certain amount of days. This sounds horrible and unfathomable, but you have to remember that the first game had certain point levels you had to ‘buy in’ to afford the new challenge, and you couldn’t end up affording them all. Same concept here, they’ve just given the formerly abstract point system a real-world interpretation (i.e. days) that we can understand. Don’t freak out about it.

Overall, the gameplay comes together very nicely, although individual reactions may differ simply due to the variety or genre of NFL Street 2. Some people just don’t like high-flying, high-scoring football with a strong emphasis on tricks and fun. I do. And one reason I do is that EA BIG has done a marvelous job getting the control and moves so tight and responsive that you actually get a giddy little thrill every time you run the ball and hop, dodge and stiff-arm opponents with precision. While the same detractions still exist as the first game—the defense has a large learning curve and the running game is disproportionably easier than passing—these are all manageable and perhaps even expected flaws in an otherwise pleasing sequel.

Along with the new moves and arenas, the graphics have taken a small step up in detail. Some of the new urban environments that serve as arenas look absolutely stunning in their interactivity, while others are just simple football fields with some new buildings around them. I am actually disappointed in the creative aspect of these new spaces, which don’t pack the same level of shocking creativity as NFL Street, where every new arena was eagerly anticipated to see what craziness was next. Here, it just feels very passé. At least the animations are smooth and so is the framerate, even with burly players flying in every direction at lightning speeds. And of those players, each can be outfitted with a wide variety of custom options to get that perfect marketing crossover look, especially when your player gets some snazzy new Reeboks. NFL Street 2 is pleasing to the eyes for sure, I just feel it could have been so much more, and EA BIG stopped at what they knew would work without going for the extra points.

This carries over to the soundtrack, which doesn’t search quite as hard for quality tracks that represent both famous and up and coming talent. One of the most memorable moments of the first Street was discovering Lil’ Jon several months before he exploded on MTV. That was fun. Here we get some Ying Yang Twins to make up for the absence of crunk, and a playful song from Sum 41 that I’m ashamed to admit I really enjoy. Sorry. Most of the rap and rock-heavy soundtrack aims right for the middle and sticks there. The attitude is appropriate, to be fair, but not electrifying. Some of the artists are great, but weird tracks were chosen to represent them. For example: Nas is good. “Street’s Disciple”, though, is not his best work off the new CD, and I’m curious as to how that selection was made. Also, since NFL Street 2 plays it safe with an “E” rating for the parents, much of the music in this game is edited. At least the banter between players during the game still retains some of that trademark attitude and humor. Oh! Speaking of banter, the way Xzibit repeats everything during tutorials every time you retry a lesson will have most gamers reaching for the mute button in under 30 seconds.

There is one area that NFL Street 2 absolutely nails, and that’s the replay value. I sort of talked about the breadth of options available when discussing the intricacies of the gameplay, but I feel this doesn’t accurately convey all there is to do. The NFL Challenge mode alone could very well steal 40 hours of your time alone, if you let it, and that’s even taken a side seat to the new Own the City mode. There are a few other options, such as NFL Gauntlet (a rather boring jaunt of the face-every-team variety) and playing individual Street Challenges, but the first two will be the primary modes of single player action. Throw in infinitely replayable multiplayer options (including broadband support for up to four players!), and you’ve got a game that keeps on giving.

Theoretically, NFL Street 2 has it all. Everything I loved about the first game returns with new arenas, moves and modes. That can only be a good thing, right? Well… sort of. After throwing countless lonely Friday nights and hundreds of hours away with the original, perfecting my Army of Darkness team (including star running back Bruce Campbell) and conquering the league, the sequel just doesn’t grab me again in the same way. I’m sure there’s a snooty French phrase to describe this phenomenon, but since I don’t speak the language I’ll spare us all on the complexities of this game’s mise-en-scene. The sequel isn’t quite as good as the sum of its parts would suggest, because it lacks the fresh urgency of the first game. I wouldn’t say novelty, per se, but there’s certainly a feeling of “Why should I throw a chunk of my life away again?” I can actually put the controller down easily this time, instead of rearranging my schedule around an evening of Street. This has happened before, especially for things like GTA: San Andreas, where the gameplay is still brilliant, but I get a certain degree of boredom that sets in when nothing shattering is attempted on top of a formula we’ve already seen and already loved once in its previous incarnation.

Now, if you never owned the first, you will fall in love with this sequel. It’s got more modes, including an intriguing online option, and the gameplay tweaks add a bit more complexity to the already solid formula. Oh, and this continues to be one of the finest multiplayer games available for the PlayStation 2. I’d say everyone should own a game like Street in addition to Madden or whatever simulation option you go for. So go buy it. But if you have the first NFL Street and don’t immediately froth at the mouth over the new changes, you could rent this to see if a new bond forms, but my guess is you’re better off just dusting off the year-old classic and continuing on. That sounds like a weird thing to say for a game I am ultimately giving a high score—which NFL Street 2 definitely deserves—but this is due to a complex battle of emotions over the whole politics of what a sequel should or shouldn’t be. Who wants to hear all that when you could be playing some arcade-style amped up football?