Urban Freestyle Soccer

Urban Freestyle Soccer, as the name suggests, takes football out of the luxuriously realised, glossy, multi-million-pound sports arenas and plunges it into various "urban" locations, like a square in Chinatown with ornate archways for goalposts, a rundown schoolyard, or industrial districts with scaffolding and loading bays at either end, and each small, enclosed pitch blessed with its own individual quirks like skateboarding spectators and team banners rippling and flapping in the breeze. And instead of commentary, here we have the ranks of skater kids, street punks and quite frankly skanky ho's shouting along to the action like a Mikey Streets tribute act. The game is soccer (or FOOTBALL as we like to call it) and the currency is creativity - not yours mind, as all you'll be doing is reeling off trick after trick by holding L1 and stabbing a face button.

Urban Freestyle Soccer

Watching other people playing Urban Freestyle Soccer before we got our turn, the game appeared to be incredibly complex, with a vast array of special moves and tricks that the soccer players can perform. Playing through the training mode, though, we discovered that what the game actually has is a whole load of fancy animations for even the most simple pass, chip, and shoot commands. Legitimate tricks and special moves do feature quite heavily in Urban Freestyle Soccer, but since most of them are performed simply by depressing a shoulder button and then pressing a second button, the game really isn't half as difficult to come to grips with as it appears to be.

As you successfully perform tricks, score goals, or tackle opposing players, a kind of energy bar known as the netbuster meter fills up. When the meter is full, a large glowing red circle appears somewhere on whichever makeshift soccer pitch you're playing on, and, if you're able to get the ball into it and take a shot while holding down two shoulder buttons, you'll unleash a spectacular netbuster shot on the opposing goalkeeper. The netbuster shots are, of course, accompanied by some truly unbelievable animations, but their purpose isn't just to look good, but also to improve the odds of scoring. When the shots are unleashed, all the opposing players fall to the ground so that even if the shot misses the goal, there's a very good chance that you'll be able to pick up the rebound.

In 2004, Acclaim Entertainment, Inc., Russobit-M, Game Factory Interactive Ltd. publishes Freestyle Street Soccer on Windows. This sports game is now abandonware and is set in a soccer / football (european) theme.

Urban Freestyle Soccer is a study in style over substance. A blatant attempt to merge the popularity of soccer with 'hip', 'edgy' content; you know, "the stuff that appeals to kids these days." That marketing and so-called 'mature content' do not a good game make is a lesson Acclaim would have done well to learn after the abject failure of BMX XXX, yet amazingly, here we are. Urban Freestyle Soccer, for lack of a better description, is an arcade-oriented four-on-four soccer title that borrows liberally from EABig's 'Street' series of titles.

While detrimental to the gameplay, the myriad of tricks and animations that players are imbued with make for an intriguing spectacle. And in case you miss any of them, a rudimentary replay function allows players to view the moments leading up to the goal. Player models are functional, though as alluded to above, it is their animation that truly brings them to life. Even the detestable confrontations, it must be said, are technically well done. The urban sprawl in which these competitions take place proffers a sizeable collection of locales; diversity that is most welcome indeed. However, the looped animations that are intended to create an atmosphere around each of these playing fields are laughably poor. Though not an isolated experience, one such instance sees a character riding a yellow motorcycle drive past the field over and over again throughout the match.

The licensed soundtrack, as is usually the case in such situations, is by far and away the best aspect of the aural presentation. Featured on the playlist is an eclectic, yet apt selection that includes the likes of Method Man, TLC, Oxide and Neutrino, Feeder, Suburban, Buju Banton, Silvia, Kid Frost and Queen's of the Stone Age. These tracks aside, the bulk of what players will hear comes from the field itself. Each team is imbued with a handful of phrases that its members will dutifully spout when you perform the requisite actions. This, of course, means that you'll hear the same canned phrases whenever you tackle, shoot, score, miss or pass. In every game. It bares mentioning that this wears thin quickly.

Though many have tried, a truly worthwhile arcade soccer title has yet to see release on any current generation platform (Sega Soccer Slam stands out as the best to date, sadly). Urban Freestyle Soccer is yet another such title whose potential is vastly untapped. It's not entirely worthless, but a number of questionable design choices and Acclaim's unique stamp of approval ensure that UFS never achieves anything more than utter mediocrity.GraphicsSoundGameplayDepthPresentationOVERALL6.57.04.55.55.54.9THE VERDICT: There is some fun to be gleaned from the title, though one could argue that, that's because of the intrinsic enjoyment of the sport it mimics. Even then however, the game fast becomes tedious, so much so that even the added interest that multiplayer brings cannot save it.

Urban Freestyle Street Soccer Developer: Silicon Dreams Publisher: Acclaim Type: Sports MSRP: TBA Players: 1 - 4Available: November 2003 The video game industry has certainly seen its share of soccer games. Sure, any FIFA title is usually decent, and Winning Eleven 6 turned out very well. The developers over at Silicon Dreams, however, are planning to put a bit of a twist on the typical soccer title. Enough with playing soccer on those huge grassy fields. In Urban Freestyle Street Soccer, you'll be playing on - you guessed it - the streets.

For the gamers out there who aren't satisfied with just plain-old soccer, you'll be happy to hear that UFSS will feature a whole bunch of extras. Five gameplay modes will be included, including Turf Wars, Street Challenge Cup, and Home Turf. Several mini games and an advanced play combo system will also be featured. You'll be able to play any of these modes using one of over sixteen teams from all over the world.

With its unique control scheme, fast-paced gameplay, and detailed urban backgrounds, Urban Freestyle Street Soccer is shaping up to be a very impressive-looking title. Be ready for it this November when it hits the GameCube, PS2, Xbox, and PC.

Danny McGhee, founder of GSS and industry leader in street soccer and freestyle football is here to lead you through creative skill sessions to help you feel more confident with the ball at your feet. You will be encouraged to try new things, discover, and make mistakes as you learn to express yourself. Follow along continue to add new skills to your game!

Finally, a place where your kids can be free and love the game of soccer/Futsal! Unlike some other forms of indoor, the Futsal game is played on a hard court surface delimited by lines; walls or boards are not used. Futsal is also played with a smaller ball with less bounce than a regular football due to the surface of the field. The surface, ball and rules create an emphasis on improvisation, creativity and technique as well as ball control and passing in small spaces.The evolution of the sport is amazing to some and maybe discouraging to others not familiar with the game.

Here is another name to pay attention to on the freestyle scene: Kitti Szasz of Hungary. She just won the 2012 Red Bull Street Style World Championship in Lecce, Italy thanks to some pretty sweet ball control. Check out some of her winning moves from KickTV:

Martin also pointed out the history of soccer in the Bay Area, which dates as far back as the early 20th century. The San Francisco Soccer Football League, the oldest continuous American soccer league, began in 1902 as a result of the large immigrant population living in the area. Different immigrant communities formed their own clubs and over the years recreational participation began to grow amongst both the youth and adult population.

Outstanding individual performances were given by Captain Melvin Smith in the distance freestyle, Thomson Pantlind and Stephen Dickson in the sprint freestyle, Richard Hanson in the individual medley, John Sebastian in the butterfly, Arthur Cash in the backstroke, and Robert Schellig in the breaststroke. In the 200-yard breaststroke, Schellig had only one defeat in 19 races over a two-year period.

All seven of these swimmers were invited to participate in the NCAA College Division Swimming Championships, and Paintlind swam to third place in the 50-yard freestyle, setting an Albion record in the process. 041b061a72