“That is a thing of beauty.”

No referees, no throw-ins, no goal kicks, no corners, no field. Instead: trick moves, vicious slide tackles, an emcee commentator, and a makeshift pitch. The allure of FIFA Street is obvious, and all tied up in its atmosphere. Whittling down an eleven man team to a trio of world class players plus a keeper, the gamer finds himself doing all the fun stuff without the lulls in between. Nutmegs and rainbows are commonplace. Goals pile up quickly. (My quickest time to three goals to start a match was 28 seconds.)

But while the game’s freestyle swagger and world-flavored soundtrack prove a sufficient draw, its lack of depth and shallow learning curve sap any potential staying power. Indeed, after a match or two the player has a solid enough grasp of the mechanics to absolutely destroy the competition. Trick moves are pass/fail, meaning they’re incredibly easy to pull off flawlessly and essentially impossible to defend against. The AI on both sides is quite dumb, causing a herky-jerky movement pattern that’s a far cry from the freeflowing style of the game’s elevator pitch. It also tries to force a north-south playstyle on the player, more or less preventing them from continuously toying with the same player. Smooth three-dimensional movement would have been a true game changer here, in my opinion.

Playing through Rule the Street mode then becomes an exercise driven purely by the desire to assemble a legendary team, which occurs as the player conquers various locals and challenges the pro players stationed there one at a time. In mainline FIFA terms, it’s more like Ultimate Team than Manager Mode.

Set against the other “Street” games in the EA Sports Big lineup—especially the superlative NBA Street Vol. 2—FIFA Street feels like an inferior effort, a serviceable core game dressed up with the FIFA license to cash in.