FIFA 06 (Xbox)

 

 

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Having been a loyal FIFA customer for many years, i live in hope that every year the gameplay of this so-called football simulation will be improved and every year i am left wanting. Whilst the game has more teams/players/stadiums/sponsors and editing abilities than you can shake a stick at, it in no way compensates for the poor gameplay. Real football gamers want a better on-pitch experience. Sadly, I still think the best FIFA game ever was 'Road to world cup 98' and thats saying something! FIFA has built up a reputation of being 'easy' (even on world class difficulty), well, this seems to have been reversed in their latest edition of the game. For example, On 'Manager Mode' I created a 5 Star Marseille team, and am struggling to put goals past the 2 star teams in the french 2nd division. I fail to see the realism in the fact that my wingers and strikers (who by now are all on skill ratings between 88 & 94 on pace & acceleration) are being out-paced by centrebacks with skill ratings of about 50. It is also impossible to beat a player 1-on-1. They will always tackle you and get the ball. Frustration is an understatement, especially when this is happening on Amateur level! Through balls, ball control and general passing and shooting is sloppy. It really does not matter how good your team is, you will struggle to win any game. I have owned every FIFA game since 'FIFA 97' so I am not just someone who bought the game and cant get used to it. When you do eventually get the ball in the net, you will notice that all goals and celebrations are limited and very repetitive. I, like other football gamers hate it when a game is too easy or too hard, there is just no point in playing. Thank god for pro evolution soccer. I would sacrifice all the fancy menus and registered players/teams/sponsors just to play a decent game of footy...and in the end isnt that what its all about?

This is a game that is fun to play for half an hour round a mates house, but that is as far as it goes.

The dribbling skills look nice, and the first touch is a good feature. Ok, now lets get to the meat of it:

PROBLEMS WITH THIS GAME:
1. The game play soon becomes repetative, with creative options that add up to pass up flank and cross, or through ball up middle. The computer play is awful, often he will dribble back towards his own goal from kick-off, before hitting a panicked clearence out for a throw.

2. The goalies. Firstly, they don't come off their line to intercept a pass; they would rather comically stand on their line and let the ball come to a rest a few yards infront of them, often to be gratefully collected by your striker. Still, atleast they make up for this deficiency by saving any shot, no matter how well directed, that you foolishly choose to strike from anywhere but right under their nose. Long shots are not completely fruitless though as they often result in a corner which gives you about an (unrealistic) 50/50 chance of converting.

3. The manager mode is ABYSMAL. Your formation options are limited to a few presets, and there is not even an off season to trade players in. Also, this game has the popular trend (also used in pro-evo) of trading in fictitious credits rather than a real currency. Annoying. I cannot list them all here, but about every manager mode function that the game implements is flawed and irritating. For example, i was promoted from league two with Oxford United, and the very next season my board expected nothing less than for me to win league one. still, it was not a problem as the ease of the game allowed me to cruise to the title with a winning margin of about 30 points. Thats about when i stopped playing the game.

4. Okay, FIFA has all the registered kits. This is one advantage over the far superior PES. However, atleast PES made the effort to give the players even a slight resemblance to their real life counterparts. Ok, i admit that rooney, ronaldiniho, infact about the top 10 players in the world look the part. But below that you might aswell be playing with a bunch of randomly generated computer models (oh yeh, you are). This goes for stats aswell, even big players like Kevin Nolan have ridiculously innacurate stats. For someone who scored 9 goals last season ( a more than respectable tally for a midfielder ) it amused me to see his shooting accuracy in the low 30s (out of 100). Things get worse when you drop below the premier division, i bought Leeds player Frazer Richardson, but was shocked to see his dark black hair had been replaced with bright blonde. I suppose i shouldnt complain, i am lucky he wasnt the generic 'Shaven Headed Lower League Player'. The fact that this game features the lower leagues is the reason (other than that i have to) for me awarding this game a star at all.

5. It says alot about this game that the most entertaining feature is watching the Memorable Moments highlight reel which features some top knoch goals, all unreplicatable in the game.

Okay, thats it. Hopefully i have put you off, but if you are like me then by this stage you will probably have already made up your mind. I only wish i had saved my time and money by listening to my mate who tried to turn me away from this game. Go for Pro Evo.

Despite the negative title above, some aspects of Fifa have been vastly improved in the 06 compared to the 05 version:
- the game is faster and more fluid than Fifa 2005, which gives a more realistic feel to the attacking play;
- the free kicks are much more realistic, as you now have a lot of control as to how you tack your free kick (around/over the wall high/low, straight, curved, etc.)
- the keeper seems to move much more realistically, and the motions on some of the saves are really beautiful
- the shots from outside the area are more much realistic than in Fifa 05, especially with lower-level clubs (amyone who tried scoring from outside the area with a 1-starred team in Fifa 05 will know wha I mean)
- the graphics are top notch
- the AI is much improved, with defenders finally knowing what they should do most of the time

However some improvements are still much-needed:
- the through-balls are so appallingly inaccurate (same with the 1-2s) as to be nearly impossible to use. In that respect the game has regressed compared to fifa 05
- the 'first-touch' control is often inaccurate as well
- the dribbling is completely unrealistic (especially that of players controlled by the CPU): often the ballbearer dances around the same spot with the ball for 3-4 seconds. That hardly ever happens in real football.
- the menu to control team formations and select players was very user-friendly in Fifa 05, and is quite messy in Fifa 06
- the slowdowns are frequent when playing a clearance, which is annoying but should not be exagerated
- it is still impossible to shoot on target while not facing the goal. Have EA developpers never watched a real football game?

Overall it seems a shame that EA could not correct Fifa 05's largest flaws (slow gameplay, ridiculous free kicks, relatively poor Artificial Intelligence), without bringing a whole new set of problems to the new version (inaccurate through-balls and 'first touch' and often ridiculous dribbling).
That's why I rate Fifa 06 at the same level as Fifa 05: playable and enjoyable, but could be a lot better (although for very different reasons) if it were not for a few really annoying flaws.
Thanks for nothing, EA: next time please bring us a game that is much improved compared to the existing version.

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1.0 out of 5 stars Hilariously bad
It is really worth spending £1 on this just so you can feel what its like to own a playstation. Awful game. Wheres the training section? Read more

Published 15 months ago by J. Tracey

1.0 out of 5 stars The worst football game I have ever played
Someone told me that this was better than the mighty Pro Evolution Soccer. Wow! I thought, I have to give this a go.

Well they were wrong. Read more

Published on 5 Mar 2007 by Mr. B. J. Roberts

5.0 out of 5 stars Pedro from LEEDS, PUDSEY
What a trumendous acheivement. How can one possibly vote this game any less than 5 STARS, in a nutshell it is an epic football game with everything you want. Read more

Published on 24 July 2006 by Mr. P. A. Bainbridge

4.0 out of 5 stars Nothing special
This game is no match for pro evo 5, the gamepay is poor, the graphics are not great either. The good thing about this game is the presentation of the game, the menu which... Read more

Published on 14 July 2006 by G. Dryburgh

5.0 out of 5 stars Football perfection
Fifa 06 is the ultimate football game.
It not only better than pro evolution soccer
it better than all the previous fifa games. Read more

Published on 28 May 2006 by Mr. P. Holt

3.0 out of 5 stars An Improvement
Fifa 06 is a ground breaking game that puts you in control of the best football clubs with its immense graphics, well at least thats what is said on the box. Read more

Published on 8 May 2006 by Pete

3.0 out of 5 stars A tired formula, longing for a change
Unfortunately, its 50/50 whether to reccomend this game or not. On the plus side, EA have put lots of detail into getting star performers actual boots on the tv screen, and some... Read more

Published on 7 April 2006 by Tom Cat

3.0 out of 5 stars Fifa 06 Does It Have Better Gameplay?
Lets be honest, most people only buy Fifa football games because they are the official brand name for football, so they get all the correct names of players and teams in the game... Read more

Published on 3 April 2006 by the_critic141

4.0 out of 5 stars fifatheman
I think that fifa 06 was very good and had some good updates however they still just havent got the gameply up to the standad of pro even though the presentation of the game is... Read more

Published on 4 Feb 2006 by Mahyaris the best

2.0 out of 5 stars Not Good
I am overwhelmed with curiosity that the games developers have ever seen a game of professional football:
- Footballers dont dance around the middle of the park running to... Read more

Published on 25 Nov 2005 by Rich

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