NFL Street 2 PS2

Electronic Arts have gone and surprised absolutely no-one with this sequel to last year's NFL Street. The urban stylings of American football - featuring genuine NFL stars no less - takes to the concrete game parks and erm, streets with a whole new bag o' tricks and features to exhibit. The sequel puts a whole new emphasis on outrageous tricks, allowing players to execute giant leaps from vertical surfaces, or fleet-footedly traverse them in a Ninja-style. A total of 12 new playing areas are available, and the game's 'Create a Player' system invites you to put a little bit of yourself in the game, as you endeavour to 'Own the City' by taking over one playing area at a time. You're allowed a certain limited amount of development points in your quest to become the ultimate street-baller, and the best way to improve is to play, play and play some more. The ultimate reward is the chance to import your uber-baller into Madden 2006. As well as the aforementioned 'Own the City' mode, other new features include NFL Gauntlet, in which you take on every team one-by-one; Street Events features six new modes, including the intruigingly-named Crush the Carrier; and Hot Spots is where you can make or break a game, as you execute tricks in appropriate areas of play, and unlock bonus features such as NFL Legends. As with other EA offerings in its BIG range, NFL Street 2 is a brash, loud and colourful experience. Certain to be massive stateside, NFL Street 2 won't win many new converts, but those who know what they want from an EA Sports game will fall for this big time.