IGN: NFL Tour Preview

NFL Street 1, 2, and 3 were very dear games in our hearts. But after so many jumps, gravity defying tricks, wall runs, and flying touchdowns, the series begins to get a little old. So now, EA Sports is reinventing the series with their upcoming game, NFL Tour. The IGN preview:

Forget street cred and stealing players with this game -- the concept behind NFL Tour is more about going through a NFL branded entertainment experience. The league sets up a traveling roadshow (akin to a summer league), and plays in 15 separate locations around the country, with spotlights, fireworks, concert stages and other amusements for fans. The main attraction, of course, is the seven on seven football game between squads. Similar to previous NFL Street games, the field is shorter than regulation sized fields and features arena football style walls to run along, although for only short distances. However, there are some variations to the formula in NFL Tour: the field doesn't have barrels, boxes or other items that you can use to hop onto, or powerups to collect. Games will take about 15 minutes of real time to play, as NFL Tour's field action is divided into 2 minute halves with automatic clock stoppage at the end of every play. You also won't have to field the same players on both sides of the ball; this time around, you'll be able to control the offensive and defensive squads of a team as you try to outscore your opponents.

You'll have a number of running and passing plays available to you on offense, but there's a new one button passing mechanic that will definitely appeal to old school football game fans. Similar to Tecmo Bowl and other football classics, players automatically know who their primary receiver is, and can toss the ball to them at any time. By hitting a button, they can run their checks and switch to another receiver that's open and pass the ball to them. It's incredibly simple and intuitive, and adds a dimension of speed to the passing game. Madden fans need not fear, because there will be an option to set your passing game up with a Madden pass scheme if you don't like this new format.

This isn't the only feature that's been remade -- onfield gameplay now revolves around the new Total Collision Control System, which determines whether or not a player is tackled during a play. Any player, whether they're on offense or defense, can initiate contact and perform a button timed mini-game to "reverse" the effects of the collision: on offense, this means eluding the tackle, while on defense it means adding a little additional power behind a hit. However, this isn't a fastest fingers contest; players have to time their buttons with the appearance of the icon on screen or they'll fail. Successful reversals for the collision adds to your Smash Meter (NFL Tour's replacement for the Gamebreaker), which, once filled, allows you to pull off a powerful offensive or defensive play. While the demo build that we saw didn't have this feature implemented, we were told that it won't be as unstoppable or as completely game changing as the Gamebreakers of old.

Apart from the quick games, we found that there will be two mini-games included in the title: Smash and Dash and Red Zone Rush. Smash and Dash is similar to the Crush the Carrier mode from the previous Street games, although the arena that you're playing in will have eighteen separate sides with walls that you can bounce off. Red Zone Rush, on the other hand, is similar to the Madden Open Field Showdown mini-game, where you try to score as many times as possible before time runs out. These join the primary feature, the NFL Tour mode, which focuses around your created player as he joins your favorite squad and tries to perform well, with the hope of eventually making his way into an NFL contract when the Tour is over. We'll have more on the title as soon as it becomes available, but for now, check out the latest screens of the game.

This seems to be shaping up to be a great title, and you can expect a review from us upon the release of this game.

[Via IGN]