Maybe I just don’t get it but can someone explain to what the appeal is of the FIFA Street games. The trailers are ok, as we just see Lionel Messi showboating in a basketball court, and through sheer intrigue alone I downloaded the demo. The problem is I just don’t get it! Yeah ok so it’s like street football so the only thing which would encourage me to get this is the Nike advert where they had the three-on-three football tournament with like Figo, Roberto Carlos, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho.

It’s marketed as:

Titled ‘Free Your Game’, the latest trailer showcases some of the game’s freestyle football skills, as well as numerous FIFA Street locations.

Games will be played across the globe in areas such as Rio de Janeiro, Amsterdam, London, New York and Tokyo.

The game will feature five-on-five football matches, as well as more than 100 tricks and styles used in street matches from all over the world.

It will also use the new Street Network, which allows players to record their best tricks and share them with friends. Street Network will also track player stats from tournaments, challenges and online seasons through personalized friend leaderboards.

FC Barcelona forward Lionel Messi will make his FIFA cover debut with FIFA Street.

So for me would I then decide to pay about £40 to play virtual keepy-uppy? No thanks. I thought maybe it would be like a rather expensive football juggling game as I wouldn’t even consider buying this second hand. Perhaps maybe it would be like the indoor matches like they had back in the day on FIFA 97 but after playing about five minutes of the game, I got bored and turned it off. I can see the premise of it, as basically it’s a football version of NBA Jam, which I loved on the Mega Drive, but despite me loving football, this just didn’t grab me. I suppose if I saw it for about £5 it would be a giggle, but no way would I fork out full whack for this game. Plus there is so much emphasis on ball tricks, yet I could never pull them off on FIFA 11, perhaps I’m just crap! I can see how it can be fun, but not for me when we have much better games in the pipeline. Perhaps if the people who make FIFA spent less time on this project and more time making the FIFA games less bollocks the perhaps I would be more placated.

So anyways while I see the appeal for some people, I can’t say I’ll be rushing out to get this game, even though it is wonderfully refreshing having Lionel Messi on the cover rather than that ugly oaf Wayne Rooney. Personally I’d prefer Maxim Tsigalko.