FIFA Soccer 06
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8.5
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American culture has had a strong fixation on football for a very long time. Other parts of the world, particularly Europe and South America, are obsessed with football as well, only here, we call their version "soccer". While not an especially popular sport in the United States, millions of gamers across the global delight in the sound sports announcers' unduly long syllables and cringe at the sight of a yellow card. Electronic Arts, always cognizant of the interests of consumers - no matter what currency they spend - has satisfied these desires with FIFA 06.
Like most EA Sports lines, the FIFA games stretch back far - over 10 years in this case - with a new game being released each year. The quality of FIFA games has always been of the highest grade, with only a few exceptions such as this year's ham-fisted FIFA Street. FIFA 06 doesn't stray far from the path of its predecessors, but has a lot of cool and intuitive new features for soccer fans to drool over, as well as a presentation that far exceeds that of any other game in the series.
Casual gamers uninitated to the world of pro soccer will undoubtedly feel alienated by FIFA 06, as the game is clearly designed with worshippers of the sport in mind. When you first start the game, you'll be asked to sift through a list of several hundred different soccer teams and select your "favorite" team, which, to non-soccer fans, will likely be whichever one has the most appealing name. From there, the game unapologetically hurls you into a match against a "classic" team of world-renowned players who you've probably never heard of. What ensues is a very challenging match that will likely overwhelm new players; it is as though the game wishes to separate hardcore fans from everyone else.
The biggest hurdle you'll have to face initially in FIFA 06 is adjusting to the game's control scheme. Fans of the series' strongest competitor, Winning Eleven 7, will be relieved to see that EA Sports, in a wise yet admittedly rare concession, has included a control scheme taken directly from its rival. FIFA 06's controls are relatively easy to learn, yet difficult to master - many gamers prefer such an arrangement, as they feel it is challenging without being frustrating. Unfortunately, since the only way to be prepared for FIFA 06's setup is to be familiar with the rest of the series, you'll either find yourself slipping comfortably into an old routine or mashing buttons furiously in an attempt to keep your opponent from scoring on you.
There's not a huge inventory of actions at your disposal - just like in the real game, the your objective in FIFA 06 is to gain possession of the ball, pass it between your teammates until you make it to the far side of the field and score on the opposing goalkeeper. This may sound simple, but in practice, it is quite difficult. You have a total of 11 players - a single goalkeeper, defensive players, midfielders, and offensive players - the latter three being organized in a manner of your choosing and responding to your commands throughout the game. You can assign different players to different styles of gameplay or tactics, however, you will be in control of the ball at times (assuming your team has it).
Strategy in FIFA 06 really boils down to how well you can keep the ball away from the other team and for how long. It's not hard to gain possession of the ball - you start with it at least once during the game, and whenever one of your players intercepts the ball or steals it from an opponent (which is usually accomplished by walking in front of them), you'll be in a position to start scoring goals. Passing is essentially here, since any player is bound to be overcome by an opponent if he keeps the ball for too long. You can only control one player at a time, so you'll have to be keenly aware of what the rest of your teammates are doing before you pass the ball to them. There are a number of different passes, the most useful which is the "through pass", which is very effective at getting the ball through other players who might in the way and to its intended target.
FIFA 06 is loaded with complicated bonus moves for experienced players to use - fancy footwork will make it easier to keep possession of the ball, certain passes will confuse other teammates, and various strategies will set you up for scoring goals. None of these moves are easily learned, however, and despite the brief video tutorials that are included in the game, you will have a very difficult time using them to your advantage. Your AI opponents, on the other hand, play like professionals. Even on the easiest difficulty setting, you'll find yourself playing a defensive game more often than not - the AI is very good at advancing the ball towards your end of the field and keeping it there. Oftentimes you'll feel panicked as your goal comes under a constant barrage of shots from the opposing team. There's certainly a thrill in watching players fight viciously for points as the ball bounces off the post, but it'd be nice if the game made it a bit more feasible for new players to experience that from the attacker's perspective, too.
If you need a break from the adrenaline rush of ranked matches against world-class teams, there's plenty for you to do in FIFA 06. Aside from standard EA Sports fare such as challenges, which you put you in the middle of a game at a disadvantage and award you bonus points for succeeding, or practice mode, which gives you the chance to play a stress-free, un-timed match in a setting of your choosing, there's a hefty amount of gameplay to be had in the game's Career Mode. Career Mode puts you in the shoes of a manager of a team of your choosing, starting you off with a basic goal of topping the leaderboard and a limited budget. Aside from simply playing matches (most of them ranked or part of a tournament of some kind), you manage every aspect of your team. Team chemistry is crucial here, as it dictates how well your players will work with each other on the field. Removing or adding certain players has a strong influence over this. Player organization is what you'll be doing most often when you aren't playing. When managing your team, you're shown all of your players' relevant information. There are tons of different player statistics that figure into FIFA 06, but generally speaking, you can go by a players' overall rating as a reliable measure of their skill, unless you're assigning them to a specific task such as taking penalty shots, in which case their shot power and shot accuracy ratings become more important.
Aside from player management, there are many other facets to career mode, though none of them are particularly important. You can send out scouts across the globe to find new players, buy and sell new team members or renew contracts for current players, upgrade your coaching staff and negotiate sponsorship deals for some extra cash. Career Mode also presents you with a dilemma from time to time, usually after a game. Most these problems are easily resolved, but you're given a few choices, each with different effects on certain aspects of your team. Choosing to punish a player for being rude to a reporter, for instance, will have a different effect then simply addressing the team as a whole and explaining the importance of public image to them.
Since playing through one or more seasons is not something accomplished in one sitting, FIFA 06's Career Mode mercifully grants you the option of automatically resolving matches or watching them play out and intervening if necessary. Both of these abilities are extremely valuable, since playing matches against superior teams can be very frustrating, and playing teams that are overmatched isn't a lot of fun either. Automatic resolutions are really more useful for the latter situation, though, since it gives you a good indication of the other teams' strength, and, if necessary, allows you to come up with a new plan for defeating or at least tying them to avoid losing your position in the rankings.
It may be difficult, but FIFA 06 certainly has an aura of authenticity about it, both in its execution and in its presentation. This entry into the series is clearly the strongest in terms of visuals, putting players onto a crisp, highly-detailed playing field. The players themselves are impressive to behold; the faces of players have been modelled to perfection, and every animation is fluid and cohesive. The in-game replays are worth watching simply for the sake of admiring the graceful, realistic movements within the game.
One high point for EA Games has always been sound - there is plenty of licensed music to be found here, the majority of it produced by foreign bands who will be unfamiliar to American players (that doesn't mean the music isn't fun to listen to, though). The real highlight of FIFA 06's auditory performance, however, is the in-game commentary provided throughout the course of scored matches. While there are only two announcers, and the names of players are never mentioned, the general gist of the game is transferred masterfully into words by the commentators. There is literally a comment available for every action within the game, and while you're hear the same things being said after a while, you'll rarely if ever hear something that feels out of place. FIFA 06's commentary, if taken by itself, could easily fool a dedicated soccer fan into believing that a real-life soccer game is taking place.
There's certainly no limit on how long FIFA 06 will keep you occupied. If the game strikes a cord with you, this may very well become your soccer game of choice until next year's entry into the series. Still, if you want to test your mettle against a friend, you can try one of the game's multiplayer modes. Of special note here is the Lounge Mode, a new addition to the series that allows you to play through a campaign of sorts against one or more friends. Lounge Mode ups the ante even further by granting disadvantaged players a variety of different "cheap shots" to employ during the course of a match to edge out their opponent. While this might sound ludicrous to hardcore FIFA junkies, it will certainly help to alleviate the frustration of many novices.
It shouldn't be too hard to decide if FIFA 06 is the right game for you. Soccer fans will simply revel in the game's consistently top-notch delivery, but inexperienced players may find themselves in over their head. Still, if you're willing to put up with some difficult AI, there's no reason not to give this one a shot - unless, of course, you end up hitting the post.
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8.5