The EA Sports 'Big' brand is like the TV channel 'Fuel' on Foxtel - all about the 'EXTREME!!!' sports like Snow Boarding, NBA Street Basketball, NBL Street Football and now Fifa Street Soccer. So forget everything you know and love about soccer, this game is more akin to NBA Street than Fifa or PES, and whilst it is fun, it suffers from being too cool for school with not enough options to keep you really interested.

The game is played much like indoor soccer with the ball always being in play and being allowed to be reflected off the walls, but only 4 players per team compared to the traditional five-a-side, with 3 being on field plus a goal keeper. There's a goal at each end of the field, and each field is fairly 'urban' in appearance - dark, dingy backyard or alleyway fields, enclosed by graffiti strewn walls and chain link fences.

However, unlike traditional indoor soccer, the aim of the game is often not so much to score goals, but to build points by using the trick stick system. The trick stick system uses the right thumbstick in conjunction with the triggers and Y button. In order to trick the ball to bypass opposing players, you simply tap the stick in the direction you want the ball to go - so for example if you have a player in front of you you nudge the stick forward and the player will trick the ball over his head or through his legs. To juggle the ball, you pull the left trigger and tap the Y button. You can then move around the pitch keeping the ball in the air. To do complicated ball manoeuvres, you start juggling the ball, then hold the right trigger down (whilst still holding the left) and use the rotate the right thumbstick to pull off the really fancy tricks.

The more tricks you pull off, more points are gained. By passing to fellow teammates, or bypassing each of the opposing teams players, you increase your combo multiplier and can score massive points. As the points increase, a meter fills, and once it is full you get the opportunity for a 'Game Breaker'. Those familiar with NBA Street and Jam will be familiar with this concept - move the ball to the middle of the field and then become an almost impossible goal scoring force. If you manage to by pass the opposite teams defense and score a goal in this mode, you'll instantly win. However, you can pretty much shoot the ball from anywhere and score a goal when you've activated a Game Breaker.

The trick stick is also used to tackle your opponents. If they have the ball, moving the trick stick will batter them swiftly out of the way. There are no fouls in Fifa Street 2, so slide tackles and rough hip 'n' shoulders are the order of the day, and there are some bone crunching tackles on display. By timing the trick stick well, you can also gain control of the ball when the opposition is 'tricking' against you, but if you stuff up you'll find yourself flat on your arse and that player out of play for a short while.

The winning conditions differ for each type of match in a series. There's some where you simply have to score, and some where you have to trick a certain number of points, and others you have to get a certain number of Game Breaker goals. Of course, the opposition is also earning tricks and making game breakers, and often it's a battle of attrition. Winning a match gives you skill points, which you can spend on upgrading your players skills, and also unlocks items in the now typical EA store, which includes shirts, jumpers, shorts and soccer balls. You also unlock new tricks to pull off in game. There's also a minigame mode to gain skill points where you've got to juggle the ball and perform the tricks on screen. This game is a little frustrating as it relies on timing of the ball, although sometimes you feel you've moved the joystick on time, because you've got the three previous moves, and then it times you out.

I found the trick controls to be over complicated and awkward to pull off in the main game, and found I'd only win after a hefty battle of attrition in getting the ball, especially when the goal was to gain maximum points. The computer AI is extremely adept at pulling off tricks and stringing together combos, and when it uses the skilled players it can become very difficult to win these games. Conversely, the games where the goal is to simply score can be extremely easy to win because the AI tends to concentrate on tricks, so you can just keep tackling when they get the ball, and go straight for goal.

Team AI is also a little hit and miss, because you've got to press the A button to select the character near the ball - it doesn't seem to do it automatically - which is a real nuisance sometimes. And although teammates will stick to opponent players like glue, they never position themselves in good areas to score goals or make plays. Not that the game is really made for this kind of thing, but sometimes the players are caught in the most ridiculous positions no matter what you're trying to achieve.

Furthermore, the in game action quickly becomes repetitive and dull. Unlike a game of Fifa where I can play for hours, I found myself growing bored of running around just doing tricks game after game. Sure, they looked varied, but essentially all I was doing was holding the trigger and swinging the thumbstick about. When I did get to play a simple game of soccer it was such a breeze that I would have preferred the tricks system.

Being a Fifa game, all of the players in the game are actual real world players, like Beckham, Ronaldinho, Alonso, and even Aussie players like Viduka and Kewell, and each has different skills and tricks they can pull off, plus being an EA game there is a deep player creation and upgrade faculty available. Each player is modelled and animated quite well, and the tricks do seem rather realistic. It's not impossible to imagine Ronaldinho juggling the ball and flicking it through oppositions player's legs, for example. The physics on the ball are spot on, and it will ping about the field in a naturalistic way. As mentioned before, the fields all look rather drab and urban, and it would have been nice to include a grass court or two just for a bit of a change, but on the whole the game looks great.

The best thing about the game is the music. When I fired it up for the first time and the slamming track 'True Skool' by Coldcut and Roots Manuva blared out, I became really excited. The in game music is an excellent selection of drum and bass, hiphop and alternative rock. There's 3 DJs for each station, including the grandfather of dnb Groove Rider, Brazil's king of smooth DJ Marky, and Zane Lowe covers the alternative station. They all provide commentary of the tunes they select, the tunes include music that is still unreleased or brand new, such as Pendulum's 'Hold Your Colour'. The soccer sounds are good too, and there's a satisfying thud as you whack the ball, and bone crunching collisions between players.