A great representation of the sport; this is what RTWC should've been.
The bad: No player editing; formation changes won't carry over to the next game; some camera quirks.
It's any football fan's dream come true, and it's only a couple of weeks away -- the FIFA World Cup hosted by Germany this summer. Here to quench your thirst for even more football goodness is "2006 FIFA World Cup", courtesy of EA Sports. Believe it or not, but this is actually the fourth FIFA game (if you count the "Street" series) to hit store shelves in the last couple of months; if nothing else, EA knows how to milk this cow. That aside, WC2006 is a great game in its own right; and it's basically what last winter's "Road to World Cup" should have been.
Let's get it straight: There are no club sides in this game -- if you want your Manchester United, you’ve got to stick with your previous FIFA games. What you do get is an impressive number of national squads, though – just short of 200, that is. From England to the Solomon Islands, they’re all included. This makes it possible to play the regional qualifiers from any part of the world; if you’re feeling like leading Fiji to World Cup glory, here’s your chance. Of course, you can opt to skip the qualifiers entirly and head straight for the trophy, but, where’s the fun in that?
The main game mode is simply called „World Cup“, and it introduces an immersive campaign that has you tweaking formations, scouting competitors and studying individual player stats for your upcoming games. It sort of plays like a managing simulation, sans all the number-crunching. It’s fun, engaging and well implemented, but not without its flaws. The most glaring bug is that editing your squad won’t carry over from one game to another. You see, me being Viennese, I started a campaign with Austria. Since the default starting eleven was outdated, I had to make adjustments – which didn’t carry over – so I had to re-adjust my starting eleven before every single match. Granted, this is mostly a problem with squads of lesser prominence, since rosters of grand nations as Brazil, Germany and Italy are up to date. Still, it’s a tedious chore and it’s unexplainable to me why this simple feature wasn’t implemented. Here’s to hope we’ll see a patch soon.
Those flaws aside, WC2006 is simply amazing once you’re on the pitch. Graphics have been overhauled and feature brilliant stadium effects (detailed crowds; confetti flying from the stands; nice dynamic shadows and lighting); unfortunately, the frame rate still tends to take a dip or two during replays (but it’s not half as bad as it was in RTWC). Sound-wise you’re treated to some pretty noisy crowd chants and a mostly competent commentary couple (though you can’t shake the feeling that you’ve heard some of their slogans before); plus a cosmopolitan soundtrack featuring artists such as the Black Eyed Peas and Mattafix.
Last but not least, gameplay: Controls haven’t changed much in comparison to previous games, with one exception: The shot button no longer determines the power of your shot, but instead the height: Tapping the button will result in a low shot, whereas holding the button will see you hammering the ball just under the crossbar. It’s a welcome change and becomes second nature after a couple of minutes.
Overall, this is a great game with brilliant presentation. Though minor flaws rear their ugly head from time to time, those ultimately don’t get in the way of gameplay -- which makes World Cup 2006 an enjoyable hors d’oeuvre before the real thing in June.