FIFA Soccer 06

"Greatest Footy game yet?"

I have to say, this game is the greatest of its genre yet, just because of the addition of FIFA International Soccer...

As fun as it is to beat your friend's Columbus Crew with Stoke City at Camp Nou, there is a divine pleasure in playing this gem from 1994, with it's simplistic gameplay, horrid graphics, and unnecessary 90 minute games, especially when you can lead Lars Webster and Cameroon to a 27 all draw with Yacob McMillan and Iraq.

The 2006 game is actually quite bad, in my opinion, because any calibre of defender can easily catch your top class pro who has broken past him, but even sprinting your top class defender has trouble catching a 52 rated player who just blows past him, even in amateur mode.
Also, the team mentality and strategy functions do nothing , even on all out attack, wing play, and box overload settings it is rare to get more than one player in the box to receive a cross.
Crosses are almost the only way to score, as driving the ball through the center is nearly impossible.
When your player loses the ball, he will often stop momentarily as if stunned, allowing the opposition to get away cheaply.
The game is fairly lenient on fouls for the opposition as well, I don't know how many times I have seen the ball clearly deflect off of a defender's outstretched arm in the box and only earn a corner.

The only saving grace, apart from the 'retro' game, are the squads, although these are somewhat flawed. There is nothing more disheartening than searching for a player you like, who isn't very famous, to find him mysteriously absent. This game assumes people who'll muck about with the squads will be building a super team. I want to be able to take a team of mid level players to an English League Two, and take them to the Premiership, but it is easier just stock it with the superstars, and edit them to all be perfect 98's, than it is to find those diamonds in the rough.

Overall this game is very disappointing if you want a true football experience, but if you want to have fun with your mates, this game is great. It offers fun at the expense of realism, which makes the answer to the initial question no, it is not the greatest footy game yet, but it's not really that bad.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/26/06