David Beckham's Football Challenge 3D

Love him or loath him, you can't deny that David Beckham is without doubt the most famous footballer currently playing in the world today. Indeed, rumour has it that his image rights played as an important a role in his recent move to Real Madrid as did his footballing skills. This isn't to say that Beckham isn't brilliant on the pitch but rather that he's equally valuable off it, with the mere addition of his name, shirt-number or face sufficient to shift thousands more units of shirts, towels, sunglasses, phones and, well, just about anything really.

We can only hope however that the Beckham brand fails in this instance, because he�s put his name to what is a deeply flawed and disappointing game, one which has 'rushed out cash-in' written all over it. Whilst regular readers will know of our savage approach to titles that rely on the appeal of their movie or sports-star tie-in alone, often to the extent that they forget about providing a decent game, the real disappointment comes from the fact that the basic premise is actually quite promising. Rather than simply bolting a famous name onto a sub-standard soccer simulation, the developers have focused the challenge around one of the strongest elements of Beckham's game, namely free kicks. So, although you can participate in exhibition matches and tournaments, the matches actually play out on a table-football style set-up over which you have no control, until a free-kick or penalty is awarded at which point you step up and the game proper begins.

Presented with a 3D version of a set-piece situation, you are challenged to bend, blast or bungle the ball past the wall and goalkeeper and into the back of the net. Each kick is set in a slightly different position on the pitch and the obstacles in your way differ every time. There's even wind and 'pressure' to be taken into consideration as you set the direction, height and striking point on the ball (which enables you to bend, or curve the flight of the ball once kicked) using a series of successive gauges. Once you've made your selections the digital David will stride forward, give it his best and see whether the keeper has thwarted his and your efforts or you've put it away like a sock in a drawer. Manage the latter and you'll be rewarded with a series of replays, a snapshot of Becks celebrating and your team notching up a score.

Whilst we admire the tactics and can appreciate how great it looked on the developer's chalkboard, when it comes out to execution on the pitch DB's Football Challenge falls down faster than a Premier League player angling for a penalty. For starters, the teams used in the game make no sense at all. Presumably having spent all their cash on Mr B's license, they couldn't shell out for the rights to international sides so you're left playing for Europe, Asia and Africa, etc. More problematic still are the goalkeepers, who are frankly so rubbish and so limited in their jerky dives that most free kicks that clear the wall will sneak in. However, whilst these two defects are both worthy of cautions in their own right, it's the 3D visuals that condemn the game to an early bath. The graphics are grainy, jerky and on the whole look plain ugly. Viewing replays which should have been a gloating pleasure is reduced to a chore and the ball movement is so jerky that it's difficult to see whether it's gone in or not. All of which reluctantly leaves us with no option but to kick this one firmly into touch and advise you to do the same!