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2006 FIFA World Cup Review

Chris Leyton

24/04/2006

EA returns with the third FIFA title in six months, but hey the World Cup is just around the corner...

Every four years heralds the largest sporting event known to man, and yet another chance for EA to squeeze out twice as many FIFA related titles in a given year. Coming less then six months after FIFA 06 found its way to the market and just over four months since Xbox 360 owners were duped with the superficial release of FIFA 06: Road to the World Cup, 2006 FIFA World Cup provides very little incentive to purchase the game if you've picked up any of the previous FIFA titles in the last year.

Encapsulating the entire experience of FIFA's debut on the Xbox 360, 2006 FIFA World Cup provides the chance to guide any nation through the World Cup qualifiers and ultimately onto the Finals in Germany, though you can just start from the finals if your team has actually made it (unlike Wales Jon). Away from the World Cup, 2006 FIFA World Cup provides the typical selection of Exhibition and online modes, along with the mild detraction of recreating historic situations using the players of today in the shape of the Global Challenge mode. Bizarrely the Xbox 360 misses out on one of the most entertaining features to be found in the current-generation versions with The Lounge, which effectively puts a structure around classic multiplayer match-ups such as "Winner Stays On" or "Best vs. Worst" and keeps track of everybody's performance - exactly why this hasn't made it to the Xbox 360 is beyond us.

Right from the first kick-off it's apparent that very little has changed when you're on the pitch. In-keeping with the traditional EA model that follows the World Cup and European Cup tournaments, we get a slightly modified version of last season's offering with official endorsement and that's about your lot. Those with a keen eye for the little details will probably notice that the game runs slightly smoother then the likes of FIFA 06: Road to the World Cup and FIFA 06 before it, however such touches are negligible if you've picked up a FIFA game in the last year (though we could argue it's been significantly longer then that since we've seen any real innovation).

Refusing to introduce anything new, playing 2006 FIFA World Cup is essentially identical to before, so you'll find tricks and one-touch control mapped to the right thumbstick, along with the iffy close-touch control technique introduced in FIFA 06. Although it's easy to criticise the experience as feeling too samey to the last few FIFA titles, it's disappointing that EA haven't been tempted to develop these concepts and improve their implementation. Introducing one-touch control on the right thumb-stick was a major step for the FIFA series getting back on track, however it was never perfected and should have opened further avenues for the concept to build into; the same argument can also be levelled at the close-touch control system, but even more so seeing as the implementation was never entirely spot on.

On its default Semi-Pro difficulty setting 2006 FIFA World Cup completely disengages you with the complete lack of challenge provided by the AI. It was easy enough to win the World Cup with England without too much of an effort, rolling past Brazil 4-0 in the Semi-Finals and putting the same score-line over our old-enemy, Argentina, in the final. You would have thought seeing Beckham, Lampard, Gerrard and Co would have been cause for celebration, however there was more cause for relief because everything had come to a close. Whacking up the difficulty is always an option, however the game never seems to completely engage or immerse you because the level of finesse just isn't there. Computer controlled opponents will run around in circles to try and avoid your tackles, a technique that just looks daft and continues to shatter any illusion the game has of looking convincing. If anything FIFA has been dumbed-down somewhat with shots no longer flying off into Row Z as a result of the revamped shooting system, which takes care of the level of power for you, leaving control only over the direction and angle of the shot.

Perhaps that's FIFA's biggest issue, it can be entertaining with the odd game here, however it never completely immerses you with a believable game of football in much the same way as a certain competitor. Tactical aspects such as the role of a squad are ultimately made meaningless because a player's fitness is always replenished at the start of every game; what's the point of having a 24 man squad if you can consistently use your First XI all the time?

The lack of challenge coupled with the overall lack of finesse to be found in FIFA's gameplay results in a largely uninteresting gaming experience. Some of the disappointment and lack of innovation is allayed by the structure of the World Cup mode, with comments from players and managers between games and a FIFA magazine chronicling progress, going someway to breaking up the typically sterile nature of sports titles.

The biggest innovation stems from the unashamed plagiarism of Xbox Live Achievements. Your performance at the end of each match is tallied up based upon a huge range of criteria, with a positive score awarded for scoring goals, shots on target, successful tackles, etc..., whilst points are deducted for committing fouls, offsides and picking up yellow or red cards. In addition to this the game has a huge list of objectives to achieve throughout the game, from scoring four goals to earning the FIFA Fair Play award, each of which grants further points towards purchasing extra content in the FIFA Store. The flipside of this is that the game only has five Xbox Live Achievement Awards, which is guaranteed to disappoint Xbox 360 owners, although at least other formats can enjoy the extra challenge for a change.

Perhaps that's being a little cynical, on the pitch 2006 FIFA World Cup does make one significant change, compared to previous FIFA titles, with the revamp of the penalty shootout system. Typically penalties are met with a chorus of groans as an unsatisfactory outcome of a match, however 2006 FIFA World Cup is the first time that a videogame captures the drama of a shootout, accurately portraying the importance of psyching out your opponent. A moving target on the power meter indicates the sweet spot to hit a penalty, with the rate at which this moves dependant on exactly what the keeper is doing, who is free to move around on his line, knees wobbling and arms flapping around in the air doing a Dudek.

On the Xbox 360 2006 FIFA World Cup is veritable feast on the eyes with impressive character models and epic stadiums building upon those seen in FIFA 06: Road to the World Cup. Characters look far more convincing and less like waxwork models then before, with the little details such as folds in the shirt and different fabrics marking this out as a cut above the rest. However it's the truly epic nature of the 12 different stadiums that steal the show, easily capturing the drama of 50,000+ spectators cheering or jeering your performance. Bizarrely the individual blades of grass technique that marked FIFA 06: Road to the World Cup out as a next-generation title has been removed from this game, in place of a static pitch texture that looks slightly fuzzy when the camera is panned in close. On the current-generations 2006 FIFA World Cup is about as impressive as FIFA is ever likely to get, and despite the occasional frame-rate issue, manages to replicate the epic nature of the 360 version through its style, panache and presentation.

Stepping up to the commentary box this time around is Clive Tyldesley and Andy Townsend, both of which perform an adequate job of following the action but still manage to irritate and get things spectacularly wrong, such as praising a goalkeeper for "organising his defence and making some great saves," but only after he'd already let four past him!