Despite it's minor bugs and glitches, FIFA 06 is an amazing Football Game, still there fighting for the Title vs. PES5!
So...EA Sports' FIFA 06 is here to make all the wrongs from FIFA 2005 into a right, with it's all new Gameplay, which is almost completely different to last year's edition, a better Manager Mode, Editing Features and more...but the quiestion is, does it square up to Konami's Pro Evolution?
Gameplay has been revamped this year, and finally feels like real Football. Passing is a lot more accurate and smooth, and Player movement and Managerial Tactics have been vastly improved. FIFA 06 doesn't fail to produce the best gameplay from all of the FIFA games in the Series, however, it's gameplay DOES fail in many areas, in which Pro Evo make for better playing. Something from a Football game that you'd expect and want is a range of ways to score goals. You don't want to be able to walk past the Defenders and tap it past the best Goalkeepers over the World all the time do you? Well, unfortunately, ranges of ways to score in FIFA 06 is not it's strong point, as 8 times out of 10, your Goals will come from a Cross into the Box. OK yes, there are other ways to hammer that ball into the back of the net, but unfortunately, range of ways is lacking. Another Gameplay problem is the amount of bugs and glitches in the game. You could be happily playing and 0-0 and you or your opponent could take a shot at goal and hit the shot wide, and moments later, you'll see the Player start celebrating and the score line will be 1-0, sometimes. It doesn't happen all the time, but the problem is, it does happen. Other bugs include the loss of visibility of the Players and the ball, making it almost impossible to play. So, apart from the range of bugs and glitches, Gameplay is vastly improved from last year's, and previous FIFAs.
Manager Mode indeed is a lot more improved from last year's Career Mode. This year feels more like you are in charge of the Club you are managing, and doesn't fail to do this well. During your Season, you can Scout for Players, make sure you get your best Players to sign new deals etc. It is a lot more complex than previous attempts, and this year's game definently does this well. You don't have to sit through and play every one of your games either, as you can choose to Sim you match. However, the handy part of this is, say if you are trailing 1-0 in the dying minutes, you can opt to dig in and have a stab at scoring in the last minutes to at least get a point. It is a new and handy feature of Manager Mode.
Finally included is Editing, as you can finally edit the Players. It doesn't go quite as far and deep as Pro Evo's editing, but at least we can finally edit Players stats and appearance (lower than the head) etc. Any problems here? Unfortunately yes, you are limited to 40 edits throughout your game which seems a shame. PC Users are lucky here, as they can do as much editing as they want...
The Graphics aren't brilliant, as last year's edition, however, they have been slightly improved, and more of the more experienced Players have been given faces this year. Basically, they do look a lot more crisp than they ever have before, howeverm there is the odd graphical dillusion where the graphics don't seem as good as you though they were.
The Sound is brilliant. During the Menus, EA Trax play as usual, featuring new songs from all across the world. Admitadly, the average 'music listener' won't enjoy a lot of the Tracks, but don't worry, as you can select which Tracks play and which don't from the EA Trax Menu. Xbox Users were expecting Custom Soundtracks this year, but didn't make the cut unfortunately. However, if FIFA 07 makes it's way to Xbox 360 this shouldn't be a problem due to the 360's Custom Soundtrack power and ability.
Its an amazing improvement over it's predecessors, and, is a lot better than Xbox 360's offering of FIFA 06: Road to FIFA World Cup. Despite it's minor bugs and glitches, FIFA 06 is still an amazing Football Game, and in my opinion, is still in there fighting for the Title against Pro Evo!