What is this, a trick question?

That was my first thought when I was assigned this article. But the more I thought about it, the more interesting the trick question (because it really is one) became. So thankfully I didn’t send a tersely worded email to my dear editors … for this particular reason, anyway.

At first glance, of course it is an arcade game. Just look at the title, it’s FIFA Street-- street football. I mean, how much more arcade can you going to get? It’s 5-on-5, in a cage, with smaller nets, and in some venues, you play balls off the wall. And besides, if EA’s past Street titles were anything to go by, you can bet the farm that it’s going to be an over the top arcade game.

But play a few games and ask the same question, and it’s likely that the answer may change, or at the very least, be less clear cut. Remember, this version of FIFA Street — and EA has made no secret of this — borrows heavily from the highly acclaimed FIFA 12 engine, with its renewed emphasis on passing, and de-emphasis on pure speed. So how did a sim-friendly engine like that carry over into Street? Surprisingly well, actually. Granted, the dev team amped back up a few things when all was said and done — dribbling and trick shots, to name two — to suit the genre, but the game definitely isn’t at the breakneck speed that many expected it to be. Instead, you’re still forced to move the ball around and open up lanes before pulling off a deadly manouever. What you can’t do, consequently, is skill move after skill move after skill move to beat defenders and the keeper and take it to the back of the net.

So is FIFA Street an arcade game? Well, not really then. It’s very much a hybrid in terms of gameplay. If the term arcade, based on the games we’ve played in the past labeled as such, means over the top, almost borderline gravity defying representations of a certain sport — think the ten foot leaps in NBA Jam/Street, or the thunderbolt shots in the past FIFA Streets that leave a fiery trail — this FIFA Street definitely isn’t pure arcade. The only thing that’s arcade about it is in the rules and venues — its framework — where you field six men instead of eleven, play modes where there are no out of bounds, and earn points by doing tricks in addition to scoring goals.

Arcade rules, but simulation engine: is this a good thing? This is probably more divisive than the original question as to what type of game Street is. But yes, like I’ve mentioned in my review of the game, and I’ll make my case again here, it is better than if everything was nerfed to eleven. Ironically, with only World Tour as a long term option in the game (please, don’t get me started with the online stuff again), it may be the actual gameplay that helps the game hold up better against the test of time. If everything was as unrealistic as the old Street series, or how we thought arcade games should’ve been, this new edition would have gotten tired even quicker. But having popped the game back into my console for a spin this past week because of this assignment, it felt almost fresh again. Why? because the game still made me think as I was playing it.

Maybe this is where arcade games should go next. Arcade, for the longest time, carried the connotation that it was more of competition of finger dexterity, what with its emphasis on button mashing and stick twiddling combos and all. But perhaps it doesn’t have to be the case. Just because it’s an arcade game doesn’t mean you don’t have to strategize about how you play it. FIFA Street, for all its flaws, may have carved a way for more respectability for arcade sports games. Essentially, it was arcade only in its structure, but at its core, street football is still football. Its principles —passing, moving, creating space, putting the ball in the net — are the same. No one has ever said that just because it’s an arcade game players need to take shots with a red vapor trace trailing behind the ball, or nutmeg defenders after defenders until you have yourself a clear path to goal. An arcade sports game, as FIFA Street has shown in glimpses, can still be realistic, be smart, and ultimately the genre would be a lot better off if more arcade games aim for that.