FIFA 06 review

I won't bore you with my personal history with Electronic Arts' FIFA franchise, suffice to say I've loved some versions, hated others, but still I always eagerly await the latest version. I've good cause to, FIFA 2005 and the follow on Champions League were both excellent games, especially the latter which went a long way to improve the AI.

In FIFA 06 we have the best game in the series in many ways, when it comes to AI, depth of gameplay, controls etc. this is clearly the best in the series, but there are one or two problems that mean this is not the perfect football game. So let's go ahead and look at some of these issues in more detail.

Hail to the Chief

The centrepiece of the latest game is the expanded manager mode. This section has been getting deeper in the last few versions and now offers a reasonably deep view of managing a football team. The object is to rise through the ranks and become a top manager of a high-profile team, and a lot of the fun is to be had at the lower levels where you're trying to keep a rather poor team together and on a winning run.

Managers are judged by three rating bars, fan satisfaction and job security are easy to keep on top of - just keep winning games. However team chemistry is much more elusive. It's all down to how happy the players are, both in the positions you have them playing in, and the team mates around them. One has to be careful brining in too many new players or team chemistry will suffer - leading to poor performances on the pitch. But no matter you managerial approach, winning on the pitch will do more for team chemistry than anything else.

Bring me the Signature of Alfredo Garcia

A successful manager will juggle a number of issues away from the pitch itself. The scouting is especially good this year and the scout can be sent looking for young players around the world with quick or much deeper searches. For the manager of a lowly team this is the best way of brining new talent into the team as it's less expensive than the regular transfer market.

Success in that transfer market is related to the skill of your negotiator. Staff such as this can be upgraded using you budget, you can spend money on the scout, midfield coach, stadium manager etc. The latter is useful as it increases your crowd capacity - couldn't with your ability to set ticket prices low, medium or high - this is you chief way of controlling revenue.

On the pitch

But let's not pretend FIFA 06 is a management game, the game is most definitely about the on pitch action. Once you've picked you squad via the excellent new formations/line-up screens it's time to get on that pitch and play some football. This year, in a nod to Pro Evolution Soccer there's the option of using that game's control layout, but whichever option you choose you'll find the best-controlled version of the franchise thus far.

The wonderful right-stick first-touch system remains, and if practised with, it becomes second nature. The shielding/trap ball control also works very well, enabling you to control the pace of the game - slow things down and return from a frantic piece of action to a careful build up of pressure. There are now controls for altering defensive/offensive strategies on the fly, these work well and I found them of great benefit in trying to eek out a decent performance from my chosen first managerial team.

Movement

Perhaps the aspect of FIFA 06 that impressed me most was the changes that have gone into the AI, both the players on my own team and the teams one plays again. On World Class the game offers an epic challenge but one that's fair, even on the lower skill levels, FIFA 06 takes its cue from the Champions League game and offers a tougher challenge than the last FIFA game.

Yet this extra toughness has been coupled with many welcome changes to the way players move around. In games past, the defence would stay ridiculously deep, always ready to face an oncoming attack. Now the defence plays a much more realistic and intelligent role. You'll see defenders push up to the half-way line when their team is on the attack, as you'd expect in real life. They no longer seem tied to the 18-yard line. This makes for a more open realistic game where you can attempt more natural attacking strategies, while at the same time the added intelligence - and abilities at catching you offside - doesn't make scoring easier, far from it.

Under pressure

Another welcome aspect of this year's FIFA is the way the game ebbs and flows. If you're playing a cup game and are one goal up with mere minutes left on the clock the AI team will put you under immense pressure. Wave after wave of attacks come as the opposing team tries to secure that equalising goal.

The way football matches flow, with strong periods for one team, followed by the advantage moving elsewhere is very well captured in FIFA 06. Games really do flow very well - especially now the referee plays the advantage intelligently.

I particularly enjoyed how it was possible to put a defence under extreme pressure. They begin to make mistakes and get flustered, you can hound defenders to the point they'll give away soft corners or dangerous throw-ins. It all adds to the realism and is something you have to feel for yourself rather than something that can be captured in a screenshot.

Stutter

So far it seems FIFA 06 is a wonderful game and due to receive a very high score. Alas there's one major problem that stands in the way of this occurring, and that is graphical stutter. FIFA 2005 was a very smooth game on Xbox, and despite using the same engine, somehow EA has managed to make this game stutter somewhat. I don't know what the cause is, perhaps increased detail, overuse of depth of field effects, whatever, what I do know is that often when the ball crosses the halfway line there's some stutter in the graphics.

Now it's not a major issue, certainly I'm continuing to enjoy the game despite this problem - which only rears its ugly head occasionally. But when a game excels in so many other areas it's sad that a publisher won't devote some extra time to iron out these problems. It's obviously an issue EA would have been aware of before releasing the game, yet it was released in this state anyway, which shows you exactly how much EA cares about you, the customer.

Final Whistle

But coming to the end of this review I do want to say this is the best FIFA game I've played. It's not getting the highest score I've ever given a FIFA game due to the annoying graphical stutters and poor frame rate in close up replays. But if you can live with those few stutters you'll find the best game around.

There are so many options and details, finally the international selection returns, meaning you can pick your own international squad. The Sky Sports duo of Tyldsley and Gray offer a much better commentary than Motson and McCoist's recent efforts, though Gray is woefully underused and somewhat repetitive. The Live play is well implemented and there's so much to see and do in this detailed and thorough look at the finest sport.

In effect what we have here is a flawed classic. It plays superbly, the management mode is certainly addictive in the extreme, the AI is great, the graphics detailed and crisp and there are so many modes to enjoy. So it all comes down to those stutters, which seem to affect some gamers more than others - meaning it could be a DVD Drive issue. Let's not get too bogged down on the issue of stutters though, certainly its not stopped me enjoying FIFA 06 more than any other football game I've ever played.