FIFA 06: The Virtual Way To Get Red Cards With Wayne Rooney

Author's Rating:

Pros: Great presentation, more rewarding gameplay, exclusive FIFA license

Cons: Some visible gameplay flaws, still doesn't allow for as much on-field creativity as WE/Pro Evo

The Bottom Line: 
FIFA 06 is a step closer to Winning Eleven's prestigious territory, but it is plagued by a few pitfalls that keep it from being a world-class product.

Author's Review
Without fail, that one month every 4 years starts a football frenzy known as the World Cup, where everyone around the world (except most of the US) obsessively stares at a television screen each and every day, closely following match stats and results, offering their two cents on how the team managers are doing, or driving down the streets with their national flag painted on their car honking loudly as confused passers-by look on, confused. And that one month every four years, the country's finest suit up and play together to make their land of birth and their fans proud...or embarrased, depending on how you look at it.

But after that one magic month, when all is said and done, all the facades fall. The all-star rosters of the national teams stop pretending to like each other and go back to their squads, where nationality has a price tag. And then begins another season of football, filled with trades, loans, tournaments, memorable moments, tragedy, and everything in between.

And as the players return for another season of club football, so does EA, the "Brasil of football games" to cover it all with their FIFA series. It's humorous how the football videogame market can mimic football itself, as each year a battle of rivals ensues, with EA's FIFA series playing the Real Madrid to Winning Eleven/Pro Evolution's FC Barcelona. Both heavyweights slug it out each and every year, trying to edge the other out in competition.

Through the years, both games have gained distinctive identities from the gaming community. EA's FIFA series has always been known as the more arcade-like, high scoring affair for casual fans of the sport, while Winning Eleven/Pro Evolution is the ultra-realistic choice for football fanatics and hardcore gamers. Yet while it seemed that people who chose to pick up continous versions of the FIFA series knew exactly what they were getting into, EA wasn't happy being pinned down by the "arcade" label. After the release of FIFA 05, EA chose to hire a totally new team of developers to create a more viable FIFA game, so it could stand even stronger against it's Winning Eleven counterpart. The end result, FIFA 06. But does all this changing and re-working "fix" EA's football masterpiece?

That answer is the always unsatisfying "yes and no". In some ways, EA's more Winning Eleven style (though nowhere close to WE's mastery of the sport) in FIFA 06 provides a more rewarding experience, as goal scoring and winning feels much more earned than before, but this new direction also provides some inevitable flaws that detract from the game. And to the new football fan, some of these flaws can be downright aggravating.

But more so than gameplay, EA's FIFA series' strongest point has always been its exclusive FIFA license and presentation. The license is, of course, a huge advantage over the competition, with 26 full national leagues, 39 national teams, and a myriad of other clubs available for use (covering an astounding 10,000 real life players). Most top class European major leagues are included, from the Austrian Bundesliga to the Norwegian Tippeligaen and everything in between, with staples such as La Liga and the Premiership. Also included are a few of America's top flight leagues, from the US to Brazil. Despite the large number of represented leagues, it's still a shame that many African and Asian football leagues were overlooked. The only Asian league included is Korea's K-League, which is a nice inclusion, but where is Japan? China? Ghana? There are a few African teams playable in the "rest of the world" category (such as the Orlando Pirates and the Kaiser Chiefs) but past that the choices are lacking. Still, the number of leagues included is impressive.

Although the inclusion of smaller leagues adds a new level of playability and also allows for fans of prominent teams in smaller leagues (like the Dutch Eredivisie's Ajax and PSV Eindhoven) to play with their favorite clubs, usually these are one-shot leagues, with only the top league included and no leagues under that. Fortunately, for the bigger leagues, EA has included lower leagues (for example, Italian Serie B). For the Premiership, there are 4 levels included, making it incredibly deep (this pyramid scheme becomes more important in the game's manager mode). Spain's La Liga, France's Ligue, and Germany's Bundesliga also have dual leagues. Teams in the lower league who finish at the top of their division at the end of the season are promoted to the top league, while teams in the top league who finish at the bottom of the table are demoted to the lower leagues. With promotion and relegation looming based off your performance, this makes manager mode and play a full season a great deal more intense.

Manager Mode

The true draw to FIFA 06 is the expansive manager mode. Manager Mode allows you to take the role as the manager of one of many clubs around the world, and try your hand at leading them to glory (or dooming them to failure). At first, you will be presented with a list of lower level clubs in need of a new manager. While some prominent teams are available to manage from the start, it's very hard to hold on to these teams, considering that you initially won't be able to afford the wages the top teams pay their players. The real fun in FIFA 06's manager mode though, isn't keeping the best teams at the top, but instead taking smaller, unknown teams and transforming them into superstars.

After picking a team, you will be e-mailed by "the board", who will tell you what they expect you to accomplish the following season. This can range anywhere from finishing in a "reasonable position", to straight out winning the league. You then choose a sponsor, who will offer to pay you a certain salary per game, with added bonuses if your team wins the league and major tournaments. From here on, you spend your budget upgrading staff, scouting out fresh new talent, rebuilding your team, and gaining money in hopes of buying a star player when the transfer season begins.

Manager Modes' true potential is found in taking a team that is stuck in one of the lower levels (England's Football League Champ, Italian Serie B, Spanish Segunda, etc), and re-building them to become top finishers. Usually the top 3 clubs in the lower league will be promoted to the top league (or a higher league, in case you are playing with a football league below the Championship League in England), where the best of the best play. Bringing a team all the way up the pyramid to compete with the best in the world is extremely rewarding, as is taking a team of unknowns and eventually putting yourself in a position where you can stake claims to the best players in the world.

While not extremely accurate, Manager Mode does a great job hooking the player in for a long, long time. You can not only change the face of the team you've picked by scouting talent from other continents, but you can even upgrade your home stadium on your way up to the top. On the way, you must also work over the fans and management, as sometimes you will have to answer to the press after certain games. Positive respones to the press will get the team, owners, and fans behind you, but consistently bad responses will send your popularity spiraling down to earth. Consistently winning league titles and cups ensures that your paycheck will get fatter and your team more prominent, but lose too many times and you will find yourself in need of a new job. Eventually, by winning tournaments across the world, you can gain enough money to manage the world's top clubs.

Still, there are a few minor drawbacks to Manager Mode. First off, the ability to play with more than one player in the mode has been eliminated from the game. It was present in FIFA 2005 and added a level of replayability to the manager mode, but is inexplicably gone now. Secondly, if you are using Manager Mode as a pure sim, without actually playing the games yourself, its rather lacking. Total Club Manager is much better for the sim fans, but the lightweight managerial moves in this game really don't make it that much fun to sim. Finally, the stat table in Manager Mode is bare bones and doesn't give you a sense of long-term accomplishment for your players. The stat categories are universal for every player on your team and consist of Games Played, Goals Scored, Clean Sheets (a GK only stat), and the number of yellow and red cards accumulated. Also, these stats are erased at the end of the season, so there is no way to track a player's progress and career other than through ratings.

Gameplay

Of course, Manager Mode is nothing if the gameplay isn't good. FIFA 2006's gameplay takes a totally new approach compared to previous editions, opting to go the path of a more realistic sim in the vein of Winning Eleven rather than continuing in the more high-scoring arcade like path of previous editions. Being the first edition of a newer game engine, there are both inherent pros and cons to the gameplay, many which can be noticed from the get go. The result is gameplay that is both intuitive and somewhat open-ended while at the same time can be quite frustrating for for first-time gamers. While eventually the game can be appreciated for its free-flowing style and challenging modes of play, initially gamers will find it hard to win, let alone score for the first couple of games.

Though not as steep as Winning Eleven's learning curve (for fans new to the series), EA's FIFA 06 provides a considerably deep curve that requires use of the game's practice mode to hone your skills. Sounds strange for an EA game, right? Scoring on any difficulty level at first is no walk in the park, as you will have to outmaneuver pesky defenders adept at taking the ball away. You will also have to gain a grasp of the meter system used to determine power and accuracy for shots and crosses, as well as passing, especially in tight areas. Initially, you will find that defenders on the opposing side will strip you of the ball with ease, while you desperately try and fail to wrangle the ball free from them, and eventually get frustrated and slide tackle them, usually resulting in a yellow or red card.

In FIFA 06, there are 4 control schemes to choose from, mimicking those in WE. At first, this in itself will take some getting used to, as you might find yourself shooting when you meant to pass. The 4 control schemes aren't too bad, and getting the hang of them in a few games isn't beyond reach. The only part of the control scheme that flat out well...sucks, is the uselessness of the 'change player' button. EA's development team had the bright idea of introducing auto switching, which means that when you don't have the ball, the game will automatically switch you to the player closest to the ball. On paper, this sounds nice, but in practice, it is one of the leading reasons first time players will get frustrated at the game. One second, you will find yourself chasing down an opposition player with a midfielder, and then the next second the game switches to a random defender. Now, since you were running one way with one player, and there is no real way to anticipate when autoswitching takes effect, you will be more than likely to be running the same way with another player. Usually, this means a defender running off his line, leaving giant gaps open for the opposition. At least EA could have introduced an option to turn this off, but even at the lowest setting auto switching is pervasive and quite annoying, as well as rather useless and counter intuitive.

The meters for the game have been improved, however, and while it takes some patience and learning to get them down, they are welcome additions to the game to make it feel more realistic, and much more rewarding. The shot meter powers up by holding and letting go of the X button, and for accuracy trying to get the shot in the blue "sweet spot" area. Initially though, players will undoubtedly try to take wild shots as soon as they get in the box, no matter their orientation to goal. Realistically (although some gamers may not understand the meters actions at first), the shot meter fills up very quickly, resulting in a wild shot nowhere near goal. A shot at the right direction, on balance, however, allows a player to aim the shot and send it flying beautifully into the back of the net and past the keeper. In theory, anyway.

Passing and crossing have both their pros and cons. One touch and through passes are extremely effective and are very well rendered in the game, and players willing to experiment with the various dummy and give-and-go moves will find themselves quickly working the ball around the defense and into goal. Crossing is not as well done in some respects, however. When you get to the sides of the box, the game seems to automatically know you want to cross it into the box, but if you aren't actually parallel to the side lines of the box, for some reason no matter what direction you choose, the player seems to many times just punt the ball out of bounds. Crossing once you get near the box, however, is very well done, and with practice will become a key way to score goals (especially on higher difficulties). The big negatives to passing and crossing is that sometimes, the controls can seem unresponsive. Beginners will find that the momentum based passing will be a little tough to control initially, as there is a delay between button presses and actions. Usually this will cause beginners to press the pass button 3 or 4 times, so that the player receiving the pass will immediately kick it, usually to a defender or out of play. Other times, passes will go in a completely different directon than you intended, or to a target you didn't want. However, with practice these flaws soon become mostly non-existent, minus the occasional slip-ups.

One of the coolest new features of FIFA 06 is the revamped free kick system. Although gamers will be frustrated by the fact that there is no meter for free kicks, it makes the game a heck of a lot more realistic, and also makes scoring free kicks extremely rewarding. Instead of aiming with a meter, players line up the camera to a certain orientation, attempting to shoot the ball at an angle, or put spin on it to curve around the wall and goalkeeper. Learning this skill takes time and effort, but is extremely rewarding once you get it down.

While many of the new controls are solid and intuitive, one aspect of the game that is still lacking sorely is on-field AI. This mostly is a problem with user-controlled teams. The problem lies in the fact that many times, your club doesn't seem to play like a team, and instead it always seems to boil down to the effort a few players making strides down the field. Defensively, the mix of autoswitching and poor defensive AI means that many times your back 4 will break down if you're not careful. Many times you might find yourself chasing down an opposition player while the defense seems to just be watching you. On offense, there are times when your team gels allowing you to make wonderful passes and goal scoring opportunities, but many times (especially when you are down in a game), your club seems timid, and finding a place to pass becomes woefully difficult, as it seems as if no one is one the field.

EA's answer to this problem is manually directing the AI. Basically, you are given four different offensive and defensive play calls, which you can switch "on the fly" to direct your team. The only problem with this, is that in the heat of the game, it is inconvenient to actually have to stop your progress and press a button on the other side of the controller. Usually, in the time it takes to call a play, the ball with be wrangled free from you.

However, this AI isn't as persistently bad as the goalkeeper AI is. Although there can be flaws with defense and offense in FIFA 06, many of these flaws are forgiveable. But EA's poor work on goalkeeper AI many times causes frustrating results and poor goals that shouldn't have been scored. First off, it seems as if goalkeeper rating means little. A 95-rated goalkeeper like Gianluigi Buffon can seem weak compared to a 70 rated goalkeeper at times. But, the real flaw in goalkeeping AI is the fact that goalkeepers almost never seem to get off their lines. On a one on opportunity, or when the ball is cleared over the defensive line, the goalkeeper sits back on his line and doesn't do anything. In real life of course, goalkeepers move quickly off their lines to scoop up balls, and move up to challenge potential goalscorers if they break through the back 4. While this does happen sometimes in FIFA 06, many times it doesnt. The goalkeepers seem as if they are still playing in youth leagues, often content to sit on the line and wait for the shot, instead of cutting down the angle and stuffing the attacker. Once again, you can manually make the goalkeeper get off the line, but the delay is so slow that he will usually just leave the goal open for scoring.

While there is certainly a sizeable list of complaints and flaws concerning gameplay, that is not to say that FIFA 06 isn't fun to play. On the contrary, once you get the hang of the game, it flows very smoothly and provides for intense action. Most of the listed problems come to pass when you play the CPU, but against human opponents, especially friends, the playing field is level and it makes for a much more exciting and fun game. Still, while some of the flaws can be chocked up to beginner mistakes and nitpicking, some, especially goalkeeper AI, are issues that need to be adressed for the next FIFA game.

Game Modes

FIFA 06 boasts an impressive set of modes, including Manager Mode, that allows for some serious replay. Of course, everything is boosted by multiplayer and online, as the experience is unmatchable. Kick-off is the quick start mode, allowing for players to just pick a team and get onto the pitch. You can also customise match options to set scores, time remaining, and pretty much anything imaginable. Unfortunately, for some reason there is no scenario included that lets you go straight to penalty kicks, which is always a fun mini-game to play with friends.

The other game modes include Create A Tournament, where you can pick what type of tourney you want and which teams will participate. Although there is a group and knockout mode included (which gamers might think is a good way to use National teams to do a mock World Cup), it is modeled after the UEFA Cup (club championships) and not the World Cup. There is also an official tourney mode, where you can compete for official league cups in any of the full leagues included in FIFA 06. The FIFA 06 lounge is a mode getting a good amount of buzz as well. Lounge Mode is a hub for offline multiplayer action, as you and up to 7 other friends compete against each other in different scenarios for matches, with the winner gaining advantages and cheap shots in their next match.

There are also a host of team customization modes that allow you to tweak rosters to your liking, and update rosters based on high-profile players and their moves to different clubs. Club Transfers allows you to move players from club to club, while International Selections lets you update one of the 39 International Squads included. Creation Central is the create-a-player mode, which features a solid number of customization options (although there are a rather low number of available hairstyles for some reason).

Graphics & Sound

FIFA 06's graphics are quite solid, and easily the best in the virtual soccer genre. The pitches, shadowing, and lighting all look dramatic and realistic, and you can really feel the difference in atmosphere between playing a regular season game out in the sun, and a dramatic, intense championship game at night with the floodlights shining down on the field. Player models look very realistic, and the attention to detail is at times astonishing. Just take a look at the details in replay mode, where you can see everything from the stitching on the ball to the makeup of the turf. EA's inclusion of realistic wide angle and telephoto focusing is also a welcome addition. Zooming in on a player creates a very shallow depth of field, making it look like a picture right out of a real game.

The sound presentation is also very solid. The crowd is the best part of the match, and realistic samples really add to the game. Hard sliding tackles, red cards, and near goals yield loud cheers and boos, and during the game the crowd buzz really adds to the atmosphere. EA is still the king of videogame presentation, and FIFA 06 is no exception. The commentary by Andy Gray and Clive Tyldesley can be spotty at times (not to mention somewhat annoying when you are down a goal or two), but for the most part refreshing and high-quality. With the option available, you can also switch to Spanish language commentators, which I find much more exciting, especially for the long "gollllllllllllllll!" cheers being very rewarding during a good goal.

Another great benchmark in EA's FIFA 06 is the awesome soundtrack. While "EA Trax" for most other sports games sometimes boils down to generic rock and heavily edited rap, FIFA 06's world-spanning soundtrack offers quite a few catchy efforts. Not to say that all the songs are good; a few take a while to grow on you, and others are just plain awful from the start. But, the game offers an impressive number of enjoyable and interesting tracks. Highlights include Turkey's MaNga (Bir Kadin Cizeceksin, which features some very cool use of a string section), Somalian/Canadian political rapper K'Naan (Soobax), Ghanaian world/reggae artist Selasee (Run), and many others. Definitely a quality soundtrack that features quite a few good songs.

The inclusion of challenges and the fan shop is a great addition to the game and adds to its already high replayability level. Completing certain in-game challenges, such as winning a league or beating a certain level team, yields points that you can use to buy a myriad of unlockables, including new camera angles, match balls, jerseys and teams.

Conclusion

EA's FIFA 06 is a step in the right direction for the series, as far as credibility issues. Closing in on WE's territory, FIFA is bridging the gap between presentation and gameplay, a gap that used be miles wide. The more realistic control scheme and gameplay compared to previous versions yields some noticeable flaws, but is also a good stepping stone for later releases in the series. While nowhere near as realistic and open-ended as WE in the gameplay department, the mostly solid gameplay offered in FIFA 06 paired with great presentation and the most extensive club team list ever included in a football videogame makes for a great offering. It's certainly not perfect, but its getting closer.