The game does a great job of getting you into the game with a fantastic tutorial hosted by “Pimp My Ride” host Xzibit (is this guy everywhere or what?). It's pretty good at walking you through the ins and outs of the running and passing game as well as showing you how to use all of the new moves. A nice feature of the tutorials is that you don’t have to complete them to move on. After a few times through one of the tutorials the game gives you the option to continue. This helps as I ran into a few interesting quirks with some of the tutorials which prevented me from successfully completing them. Well they were more bugs than quirks but it’s nice to be able to skip some of the items none-the-less.
The two new modes also complement a host of new mini-games such as the open field game where you can go one on one or two on two with another team. The two on two variant is especially nice since you can lateral the back and forth. Another cool mini-game has you fighting against several other players for control of one football. Players score points while they hold or when they tackle the player with the ball. Bonus points can be earned by pulling off style moves while you have the ball and for getting a turbo tackle on the ball carrier. This can be a little frantic but it’s a nice little party game.
In addition to the new mini-games and modes EA has added a ton of cool new moves for players to pull off during the game. While the wall walking moves are a little derivative (*cough*Prince of Persia*cough) they do add a lot to the game. Besides walking on the walls you can also use the walls to hurdle over tackles, jump off them to make catches and even use them as a way to jump into the end zone. I was a little skeptical of these at first but after pulling in an a catch while airborne over a defender I was hooked. The moves actually make sense within the context of the game and add a lot of fun and excitement. The controls are setup so that it’s just hard enough to pull off to not completely ruin the flow of the game.
NFL Street Vol 2 also updates the Game breaker system. For those who didn’t play the original, you earn points by pulling off style moves and for certain defensive actions (such as sacking the QB or intercepting a pass). These points fill up your Game breaker meter which when full allows you to unleash a Game breaker. Game breakers are near impossible to stop on offense and nearly impossible to score on when they are playing defense. This year EA has added a second Game breaker bar so that if you want to unleash an uber move on offense or defense you can save up for a completely unstoppable play. It’s a nice incentive to save up but unfortunately you’re stuck with the same play and cut-scene every time you reach the double Game breaker.
Another adjustment to the Game breaker system is that meter goes down while the gamebreaker is being used, this means that skilled players may actually be able to play around the Game breaker and drain it away rather than just waiting for the ball to change hands. It’s a nice tweak and helps balance out the game a bit.
EA also added hotspots to the field, when you hit one of the hot spots you earn Gamebreaker points or unlock new players depending on the mode. It’s a nice touch and since they are all on the walls of the stadiums you’ll be forced to use your new moves to hit them.
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