Silicon Dreams behind Acclaim's urban footy

Silicon Dreams is working on a new footy title for Acclaim, the publisher has announced. Urban Freestyle Soccer joins a long line of badly named footy titles on the CVs of Dreams' employees, but unlike UEFA Champions League, Michael Owen's WLS and various Sega WWS titles, Urban Freestyle Soccer is a four-on-four game which aims to capture the essence of a Sunday afternoon kickabout in the park. Or on a busy road, by the sound of it.

Due out this autumn on PS2, Xbox and Cube, it's a "football feast", "taking it back to the streets and combining silky skills with hard-edged extreme rules to deliver end-to-end, arcade-style action". It's a grass roots game in other words, with (literally) jumpers and in some case oil drums (not cones?) for goal posts. There's no offside rule and the boundaries are enforced by, well, big advertising hoardings, bits of rope and angry spectators, we should think.

Silicon Dreams is hoping to create a control system suited to show-off tricks, flicks and so on - recognising that the style of street football requires a different approach than the Pro Evos and FIFAs of this world. A combo system will allow back-heels, juggling and scissor kicks amongst other things - think of it as Sega Soccer Slam with its feet planted firmly in reality and you get the idea.

There will of course be multiple teams (16), various game modes (Turf Wars, Home Turf, Street Challenge Cup) and a skill point system driving the improvement of your squad. Although we're a bit cynical about these "street soccer" type experiences, if the brief is within the Dreams' grasp then Acclaim really could be onto a winner.