his series’ mixture of showboating flash and primetime play is an intoxicating combo that hides its simple premise as a pick-up-and play, multiplayer-on-the-couch game. This brand of football was defined in the original NFL Street perhaps a little too well. I say that because it’s sequel time and all NFL Street 2 can come up with on the field is one new move.

The game has expanded in other ways, but this was mainly to diversify and get away from the grinding, boring structure of the first title. You can play through challenges with your created team (NFL Challenge), take your favorite team against all the other NFL franchises (NFL Gauntlet), or cruise the city picking up players and playing Street Event minigames (Own the City mode). When you step back and think about it, NFL Street 2 has diversified to essentially offer three different ways to play the game. I’m torn as to which way I like to play best, and it’s almost a shame there isn’t one ultimate way to experience the entire title. For instance, I like the feeling of building up the skills of each team member in NFL Challenge, but this is absent in Own the City. For its part, however, this mode changes things up with Street Event minigames – some of which are better than others (all are online, however).

Despite the myriad ways to experience the game, at its heart, this sequel is virtually unchanged in the gameplay department. I loved the wall jump, which works really well as an evasive manuever, but the GameBreaker 2 (see below) is a big, fat egg. Apart from the lack of additions, there are problems that aren’t cleaned up as well. Players’ response to your commands can be sluggish, there are no hot routes, and defenses lack any kind of ball swat move. I also don’t like how the impact gear isn’t prevalent.

This series is one that posits itself as of the pick-up-and-play variety, which is certainly true. But that doesn’t leave it long enough legs to help it run away from the moniker of "mediocre."