With the leap to the new-generation systems, seems the EA Sports Big people decided that with a change of systems there need be a change in direction with their lauded NFL Street series. Hence, NFL Tour. Hopefully, like the Dallas Cowboys last two playoff runs, this is a "one and done" series.

Gone is everything that made NFL Street great -- the trash talking, the trick plays, the same guys playing offense and defense both, and the unique locales that made Street such a great experience.

In its place is a game football-ish game played in a stadium, but with walls thrown around a shortened playing field -- similar to indoor arena football. Kickers and referees are gone (though no one likes kickers or refs in the first place, so that's maybe not a bad thing), but added are fireworks for when you score -- whoopee!

Another novel little twist thrown into NFL Tour: instead of your standard, modern football videogames where there are icons above eligible receivers matched with buttons on your controller, it goes old school -- fogy school, in fact, with a method reminiscent of 1987's Tecmo Bowl, where you scroll through your receivers to select the one you want to throw the ball to. Of course, the old Tecmo Bowl game played in 2-d, side-scrolling across your TV, left to right, right to left, and football games these days are 3-d where you run up and down from foreground to background, so while scrolling through player feels somewhat retro-charming and freshly novel at first -- novel is cool --, it quickly digresses into lameness, bouncing about with a seemingly arbitrary lack of intuition.

Specific to the PlayStation3 version of NFL Tour, there's a "break tackle" feature that incorporates the six-axis motion sensors in the PS3's SixAxis controller, so instead of simply hitting an all-purpose evade or shake button when buddy is mauling you, you have to physically wank on the controller. Again, novel at first but wearisome after a short while -- to the point that you'll likely give up on the whole Wii-wank-wannabe thing and just accept the fact that you've been tackled. You can't swap out the control configuration for something more conventional (like, say Xbox 360-ish controls); you’re stuck with wank-only.

File NFL Tour under "what the heck where they thinking?" If EA hopes this is the start of a new, loosey-goosey EA Sports Big franchise -- scratch that; this is EA, they'll franchise it as sure as you can say "we've got the NFL license, this is what you'll play," but if EA hopes to make a good, nay respectable new, loosey-goosey EA Sports Big franchise, they'll first need to not fix that which was not broke -- or un-break the fix --, then remorselessly remove all that's done gone and broke in NFL Tour, then keep the price nice and low (like it is, but still...) or lowered further to re-attract the disenfranchised.