Freestyle Street Soccer

"An arcade game that's fun, and that's what counts in today's PC game industry."

Test Machine:

P4 1.3ghz
512mb RAM
GeForce 2 MX 200 32mb (crap)
40gb HD
Some crap soundcard (this is my Uncle's comp)
15'' LCD monitor (yay! beautiful colors but fast constant motions slightly blurry)

Games today have way too many bells and whistles, and it has gotten worse recently. PC Games have skyrocketed their minimum requirements due to excessive eye-candy graphics, huge hard drive space requirements, and whooping 3 CDs or more. Worse, it's NOT FUN. What good is a $50 game if it's only fun for a few weeks then gets shelved? This gives people a poor reason to pirate. Obviously, I do NOT condone piracy, and I urge you to buy this game. Why? Two reasons: One, it's only a 150mb install, and Two, there is no ''full'' installation, which means you MUST play with the CD in the drive. And the game doesn't lag either, so no more excuses! GO BUY THE GAME!

Phew that was a long intro. Sorry guys. Anyway here goes with the review. Urban Freestyle Soccer (in North America it may be called Urban Street Soccer) is not for everyone, namely football sim freaks. If you're tired or just generally dislike the current football games, like PES3 and FIFA2004, then Urban may be for you. Ask yourself, when you're flipping through the channels on TV, and sometimes you land on one of those ''extreme freestyle sports'' channels like Extreme BMX or Extreme Skateboarding doing their tricks, do you sometimes find yourself amused, or just downright annoyed? If you're the former, then Urban is for you! Basically, in Urban, you pick a team (English call it ''crew'') of four, three players and a goalie, and you head to the concrete courts and kickoff with another team. Might sound boring, but read on!

Graphics - 9

Graphics are reasonably detailed if you crank the settings, and unless you have a Pentium 2 or nVidia TNT video card, you shouldn't have problems running with high settings. Resolution is a huge factor and you really shouldn't run it over 800x600, otherwise you might experience slow-motion, but graphics are still awesome. The characters look like a cross between American comics and Japanese anime. Hair actually moves when running around, and the environment is not only colorful and comfortable to look at, it is actually interactive! I fell out of my chair laughing when I sprinted away from an opponent only to trip over a chair (and lose the ball). You can also pick up objects and heave it at opponents, although the gameplay is usually so fast you don't have time to do so. While not the edge-of-the-generation cutting-edge graphics, still very good and nothing to cringe at.

Sound/Music - 10

I'm a sucker for cool soundtracks. The soundtrack in Urban is not bad at all, sort of different to FIFA2004 because the songs are not popular, more like underground. Each team have their own style of music. Sound effects are quite good. The crowd sounds may not be recorded live at a football stadium, but they may as well be recorded live on the basketball courts! They cheer when the home team scores, and jeer when you make a bad tackle and bring down the man and not the ball. Kicking the ball sounds and feels great. And another neat feature that gave this score a solid 10, are the captains that speak throughout the match. Sort of like a mentor voice, the captain of both teams may scream ''strike it mate!'' when you receive a beautiful pass near the goal, or ''get it back!'' when you get tackled and lose the ball. Each team have their own voices, and I felt that the English teams have cool accents. On the other hand I felt that the Japanese team, the Soccer Kai, have poor accents, they sound like Japanese Americans who have no accents but forcefully add one, and in turn does not sound very clear and I need to pay attention to figure out what they're saying. But still, Soccer Kai is my favorite team, those dudes look like straight from Japan, punkish Final Fantasy-style hair and arrogant smirks on their faces.

Gameplay - 10

This is where the game really shines. The moves in Urban can easily put a grin on Pele's face. Gameplay is excellent and fluid, if you are fortunate enough to fine-tine it to perfection. Fear not, however, it is not as much as a pain-in-the-bottom as PES3 (to this date I still could not run PES3 properly). Once you have the settings configured, hop into the game and you will find yourself captivated by the ''scene''. Two teams exchanging trash talk, maybe a bit of pushing and shoving too. Quite a fresh change from the ordinary pre-game ceremonies of FIFA! In addition to running, passing and lobbing, you can perform slick skill moves that deke out the opponent. I'm not going to details but I can tell you there are lots of them, over 8 solo skill moves that need to be timed correctly or you'll get tackled or trip on yourself. The shooting system is excellent. Instead of holding shoot to control the power bar, there is no power bar in Urban. Instead you hit shoot at the right moment as a cross is coming near you to perform some wild moves. The Japanese team Soccer Kai have this wicked cartwheel shot as the ball is flying towards him. The English team Skater Boys jumps up and does a karate kick shot. Different shots for different situations. There is this netbuster meter, that increases as you pull off combos (plays) and skill moves. Once it is full you have to run to a certain area on the field, press the button combo and you perform a sort of ''finisher'' shot that almost always scores. Neat to watch, and neat to defend against. When you see your opponent's meter flashing, you need to tackle him ASAP before he reaches that area of the field to perform netbuster. Once I pushed some guy over to prevent him from running to the netbuster shot, LOL. Tackling is dirty and aggressive. If you were like me, and constantly used the ''evil tackle'' button in FIFA2002 and before, you will love this game! To tackle you need to sprint to catch up to the opponent, aim for his legs and rip away. There are no injuries in Urban so just kick some ass. Even if you miss the ball completely and bring down the man, you won't be penalized, just jeered by the crowd. And then there are around 8 moves (same button as the skill moves but performed when you don't have the ball) that does some very dirty things like kick your opponent or pull him down. Again no penalties, but be prepared for retribution. It's hilarious to kick some guy in the hip, he turns around and gives you a dirty look, you steal the ball and he sprints at you (you actually feel adrenaline when this happens LOL).

Replayability - 9

This is what brings down the score, because other than the cool gameplay, there are not enough modes, not enough bells and whistles. There are about 6 modes but basically they are just automatic match picking for you. The Training Mode is what ticks me off about this game, the bottom half of the screen are instructions that teach you the controls, but you don't get to freestyle practice. The mode ends when the instructions end. This game desperately needs a practice mode and maybe some freestyle moves competition where you have to pull off very hard moves to get points and win. But if you just play a few hours a day for some arcade fun then Urban is still a great game to own.

Final Thoughts

Although this is an arcadish type of game, I actually felt some serious pressure last night. I faced the Skater Boys, a fast team with amazing skills, for the third time as I had lost the previous two. In the first half I stumped again to almost half their score, but the second half I made an amazing comeback. It was the final minute that felt awesome, I was down by one and I was wasting time like in basketball before I try for the equalizer. Miss it, and I'm screwed as the AI will do the same. Finally I scored 2 thanks to great defending and I actually had to use tactics and strategy to defend that lead. Urban Freestyle Soccer is definitely a great game and a refreshing change from the traditional football game, I recommend it for anyone who enjoys freestyle extreme sports, or even breakdancing.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/18/04