FIFA goes to the streets!

Flicks, jumping over people, putting the ball through the legs of your opponent, jumping on the wall and doing a sommersault. Those are the things you cannot do in FIFA08, the other soccer game by EA Sports.

So, knowing that players like to do fancy tricks, FIFA Street 3 is exactly the game that you may want to play. Or do you really?

FIFA Street 3 is as the title suggest, soccer on the street. It is a 3-on-3 (excluding the goalie) match played in various locations that resembles a mini football pitch. Except that that these locations can be on the rooftop, beside the sea and many other interesting places where EA can design a pitch.

It is fast, it is all about pulling off fancy tricks and it is basically just that. That is the problem with FIFA Street 3. The lack of depth in the game is surprisingly disturbing even for a soccer fan like me.

Graphically, I love FIFA Street 3. The new art direction means the players will feel right at home in Valve's Team Fotress 2. The colours are bright, the characters are brilliantly done and everything feels good in the graphics department.

For me, it is quite a visual treat. The audio department get its fair share in treatment with pumping music playing in the background adding to the whole street affair. The only problem is that the gameplay does not match up to either of these departments.

Tricks are performed by dragging or tapping the right analog stick and after a while, it seems like you've seen them all. FIFA Street 3 has the "gamebreaker" element where tricks feel up a gauge and when it is full, you get a "gamebreaker" mode by pressing R1. This way, shots that are on target is a guaranteed goal.

The AI is left wanting most of the time with some frustrating moments between you and your AI-controlled goalie. One wonders why he has to keep passing the ball to the opponent. It is worse for the AI-controlled team. Their keeper actually passed the ball back to my player 5 times in a row while I was in "gamebreaker" mode. Needless to say, I won that match comfortably.

The game unlock teams and venues and different challenges and after a while, it feels like you are just repeating the same trick over and over again. I've never felt so bored playing a soccer match that is only 5 minutes in length.

The Good

• Fantastic visuals, love the new look and feel
• Tricks galore - it is fun for the first half hour probably

The Bad

• Gameplay is surprisingly weak
• Lack of depth means you will be bored with this title within the day

Verdict: Rent this if you really want to give it ago. Otherwise, you are better off playing FIFA08 and trying to pull off tricks there.

As usual, if you are still interested in getting it, you can get it here. Remember, there are free shipping for certain countries so save some money while you can.