It’s a testament to the power of today’s portable systems that the PSP version of NFL Street 3 is virtually identical to that of the PS2 version. You may not get all of the cutscenes that you do on the home version and the graphics are not as sharp, but overall you’ll be hard-pressed to find many differences between the games. So it may at first sound strange when I say that NFL Street 3 is a better game on the PSP than on the PS2. I’ll let you know why, but first let’s take a look at the game itself.

Extreme football.

NFL Street 3 takes to the streets firmly focused on the new centerpiece Respect the Street mode. You’ll need to take your team of creampuffs and fight your way to the top by taking on teams in various cities and earning the right to eventually play against NFL teams. Winning games earns you respect which lets you buy new gear, unlock new plays, and even to add some pro players to your roster. Starting out can be difficult, even more so if you’ve never played an NFL Street game before, because your starting team will be on the short end of the stick when it comes to player attributes. Once you do eventually make your way through the first several games, you’ll unlock training challenges that will finally allow you to start improving your players’ stats and make your team more competitive. Outside of Respect the Street the game can be played in various quick game modes which is the fastest way to set up NFL match-ups.

The games in NFL Street 3 take on several different forms beyond your standard “be the first to score X points” gameplay. Timed games have the added time pressure of forcing you to score within a minute or turn the ball over. Elimination removes a play from your playbook if you fail to gain yardage with that play, with the loser being the player who runs out of plays first. Banked games save gamebreaker points earned by both teams into a “banked” account with the next player to score earning all the points in the bank. Games are played to a set number of points.

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