FIFA 06

Written by Glenn Wigmore  on October 28, 2005

First Impressions: "It was a brilliant save off a long-range cracker!"

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The launch portfolio for the Xbox 360 is definitely not falling short on one genre: sports. While the 2K Sports studio will provide several choices within the launch window, the main bulk of sports-related gaming will come from EA Sports. The usual suspects will be there such as Madden 06, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06, and NBA Live 06, but there will also be another entry to the FIFA soccer franchise. For this 2006 version on the Xbox 360, the people at EA Sports have opted to go for a World Cup specific title (they did the same thing a few years back), entitled FIFA 06: Road to FIFA World Cup.

This straight-up international style may discourage those who are huge fans of club team soccer, but this decision for FIFA is understandable seeing as EA appears to be a bit rushed with all of their Xbox 360 launch games; other titles, like Madden 06, have also had features pared down or removed altogether. Still, with the omission of club teams aside, the game is still shaping up to offer a lot in terms of detail on the stadiums and players, and it should also include more international teams than would normally be found in the yearly FIFA entries.

With a focus on the upcoming World Cup in Germany, FIFA 06: Road to FIFA World Cup will allow players to experience the qualifying rounds for the tournament, as well as the actual World Cup itself. In addition to these game-specific modes, there will be the usual assortment of conventional options including УfriendlyФ matches, penalty kick shootouts, custom tournaments, and practice sessions. Obviously, this means that no career or franchise mode will be included, but again, with the time being devoted to modeling all of the international teams it is understandable that any sort of career mode would not be possible.

The game is pegged to have over 70 national squads and many of them will be Уlesser lightsФ or teams that don't normally make it through World Cup qualifying. This means that all of the obvious favorites (and qualified teams, of which there are 32) like England, Brazil, Italy, Germany, Portugal and Spain will be there, but more fringe teams like Ghana, Iran, Kuwait, and Senegal will also be represented. This is good news for fans of soccer that usually get snubbed in EA Sports' yearly iterations due to the lack of comprehensive international team support.

This next-gen FIFA experience looks to raise the bar of difficulty somewhat, essentially pushing the series more towards its simulation roots. You'll be able to employ many moves and strategies that were prominent in previous FIFA games, but novice players might have a bit of trouble scoring goals, as the checking and defensive strategies used by the opposition appear to have received upgrades. Additionally, the shooting mechanic has been tweaked a bit so expect a little more challenge in that area Ц this is always a good thing. The right thumbstick still employs trick moves, as in previous FIFA games, but they won't be so potent that you can spin-o-rama your way to copious amounts of goals.

FIFA 06: Road to FIFA World Cup also allows you to use the D-pad in order to execute various tactics to keep the action moving. Essentially, pressing the pad will prompt the game to allow you to make changes at the next stoppage. While in this menu, you can make substitutions, select formations, and change game strategies (should things not be going so well for you). This feature might not add anything major to the overall gameplay, but it is nice that EA Sports has found a way to place all of these choices in-game for the user so that frequent pausing won't be necessary.

Since FIFA 06: Road to FIFA World Cup is an Xbox 360 game and also the first soccer game on a next-gen platform, it is expected that the visuals in the game should deliver. From what has been shown so far, including at the recent X05 event in Amsterdam, the game looks to be shaping up extremely well, with a fluidity and smoothness to player movements almost unparalleled in current-gen sports offerings. The key to producing this effect comes from EA Sports' optimizing of the game so that it runs at a perfect 60 frames per second, effectively eliminating choppiness and fudged animations that were present in previous years of the game. This framerate really allows the movements of the players to reach a new level of believability and authenticity, as momentum and body movement all appear to be much more relevant in terms of how the game moves.

Of course, there are other visual upgrades that have taken place for FIFA 06: Road to FIFA World Cup. The detail on the player models is definitely a large leap from anything on current platforms, and this is evident by the advanced hair physics, upgraded face modeling (including very specific detail on certain facial features), and less-cartoonish looking material for the player uniforms. When the detail of the players is seen in concert with the meticulous animations and amazing framerate, it does truly create a striking effect. Other great touches to watch for throughout the stadium include improved crowd modeling (with enhanced detail on specific fans for close-ups, etc.), beautifully rendered blades of grass, fully realized benches (with involved coaches), as well as great design in the stadium architecture, itself.

Sound has always been a big key to the FIFA series and that looks to continue with this iteration. The crowd will be heavily involved as before with chants, songs, and reactions for all moments throughout a game. Additionally, with coaches now being represented on the sidelines, you will hear them (or see them in cutscenes) expressing their displeasure with a call or waving players over to receive instructions. Commentary also appears to be implemented reasonably well at this stage. The flow of the speech and banter between frantic moments sounds good, but only extended play time will really show how this area turned out this year. It is noteworthy that the usual duo of John Motson and Ally McCoist have been replaced, in this version, with the Sky Sports team of Martin Tyler and Andy Gray Ц these guys definitely have experience calling international matches.

Online support is another area that had to be scaled back somewhat, but users will still be able to engage in one-on-one matches, as well as compare statistics with others throughout the world. Obviously, all of the Xbox 360 online integration will help out this game, and the УachievementsФ section might be something to watch out for, as EA could presumably work in some good challenges for users to undertake while playing the game in either offline or online modes.