Others say...

"Best Soccer Yet From EA"
All is forgiven. While I was lukewarm about FIFA 06, this latest title is absolutely EA's finest soccer effort yet. Every one of the items that irritated me about FIFA 06 have been ameliorated, if not outright eliminated in 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Game speed is just about right. Passing and shooting are intuitive and fluid, if a bit clumsy on occassion. Shortcomings in ball physics, while present, are almost never distracting. Matches end with realistic scorelines (on Slow speed, that is).

Graphics are sumptuous in the extreme. I always regard an EA World Cup or Euro game as a souvenir of the tournament, and this year's edition doesn't disappoint. In fact, it probably presents the most compelling pagentry of all the previous efforts combined.

Several challenge modes keep the game fresh with unlockable rewards. You'll probably never complete all the objectives available.

Best of all, you can qualify for the tournament from your region, much like Euro 2004 (another excellent EA soccer title). It all brings back memories of EA's Road to the World Cup 98, a flawed but very fun game. Well, the fun is back.

Lace up your boots!

"Best FIFA game I've played"
I must admit I haven't played a whole lot of the current batch of football (soccer for the Americans) games. I have played a few FIFA games though, so this review only compares to the past FIFA titles.

Graphics are a step up from previous titles. It's nice to have the players somewhat recognisable. Sounds are good and don't have the repetitive quality of the older titles. The commentary is good - it's never quite as detailed as I'd like, but you can't expect perfection from a set of canned responses. I find the number of control buttons to be a bit over the top - I'd like it to be a bit simpler. Also, the menu screens are a bit unintuitive, but that may be the fault of my controller, which is an older type with no dual analog sticks.

Gameplay is the best yet, and in this the game comes closer to real football than any FIFA game I've played in the past. Fatigue is still not adequately modelled and the game runs too fast even on the slow settings, but I suppose many arcade fans would dislike it if the pace of the game slowed to more realistic levels. I would like at least the option of having it be more real though. Midfield play is nice, and you can do well by blocking opportunities. Controlling the ball is nicely done, and passing seems more realistic than it has been in older titles. Play in the penalty box is nice and realistic, and players who shoot from too far out are not going to be rewarded, which is a good thing.

Altogether a good step up from previous titles. Some minor quibbles, but nothing to stop me enjoying the game big time.

"YOU WON'T REGRET THIS ONE"
I have pretty much all the EA games and most of them provide more frustration than they are worth. Just take basketball with the repetative comments and obnoxious AI, and NHL 2006 with the bugs that kill all the fun, like scoring 95% of the time on a wraparound and still loosing because AI scores on 100% of puck possessions. Football games have always been good, but this one hit the sweet spot. I liked Fifa 2004 and LOVED Euro 2004, but was a little dissapointed by Fifa 2006. The gameplay and the graphics were better, but just not what you'd expected after 2 years. The players looked blurry and unfinished.
If you are a football fan and liked the previous EA games at all, you will love this one. The graphics are great. The players look awsome; they are clear and look realistic and very well done. I'm sure in a year or two we'll look back at it unimpressed, but now it's as good as it gets. The stadiums are amazing. You get more camera angles showing players celebrating, play highlights and even angles from the crowd. The crowd is well done. The play is generally the same as Fifa 2006, except for small details. Passing and shooting is a little diffent, but it's more in the feel and after a couple minutes you don't even notice it. In any case, it's made the game better. The menues are well done and look great. I haven't had the chance yet to explore all the features, but from what I've seen they look really fun. The game is really fun. It's hard, but if you are a decent player they AI will not rip you to pieces like in some other games, you actually get to compete. I immediatelly went to the hardest setting and did ok, winning 2 of my first 3 games. That's the whole point of this thing, fun. I work all day and when I come home and decide to play on the computer, that's what I want to do - play, not pull my hair out get a heart attack. Those of you who will surely complain because people always complain, shut the f up. This is not a simulator, it's a game. If you want something more realistic, get off your fat asses and play outside. Everybody else, have fun and play hard.

"SOCCER IN THE RIGTH WAY"
I remember the conmemorative game of the world cup Korea-Japan 2002, in it, you only can play in the world cup, only whit the teams that clasified for it.
Fifa Worl Cup 2006, is a BIG step up in this franchise.
In this game, all the teams who will be in the cup are represented, and you can play whit your favorite team, even if it?s not the favorite.
In this ocasion, EA put, also, all the teams that participate in the eliminatories to qualified to the Worl Cup. Something similar like the game, Road To The World Cup. That is, you can compete for a spot in the World Cup in Germany. All the teams are represented. You like Camerron, you have it, play with them and qualifie them to the cup.
There are the North America, South America, Europe, Asian, African and Oceanian stages to qualified, all the teams, even rare ones like Saint Vincent, and the small contries you don?t even now where they are.a big new: JULES, HOLlAND IS HERE, REPRESENTED WHIT THE REAL PLAYERS, NOT NUMBERS OR POSITIONS. I refer to Jules ( I apologise to you for use your name if you don?t like it), because in his rewie of Fifa 2006, he said, that Holland is represented by players, in this game ALL the players are real ones. Even teams like Togo, San Vincent, etc. all have they star players in this game.
In the game you can chose amogn several ways to play: Exhibition, Penalty Soutout, Qualification series, World Cup, Practice ( free practice 11-11, 11-10, 11-9 or 11-1 man, penalty practice, free kicks, indirect kicks, corners), on line games, Scenario (when you recreate the mos memorabble games and try to repet or chanc?ge the history). You can use any tem you want.
If you win the match, you won some points, that serve you to unlock famous players of diferents teams, like Hugo Sanchesz for M?xico, than you can use in the World Cup.
The dificulty is very well balance, in this game, the better in the ranking the country you are against, the more oposition it makes. That is, is very easy to beat Saanin Vincent like 7-0 or 6-1, but try to win, even in the amateru level, to Brasil, Germany, Italy, or some other big squad, and you can do it, only whit some more work, and not spect a scor like 7-0 or something similar.
The graphics are very good. The players are represented almost like a the real ones, You can recognice the favorite one?s only for their look, like Ronaldi?o, Cocu, Del Piero.
In this time, the AI is a litle better, the oposition is more, depending of the country you like to chosee as your rival. The defensive side is more realistic, they tray to steal the ball, and they don?t give easy goals, the goal keperar behave more reaslistic, triing to lok for the beter man to give the ball to ( remember all depending of the team?s, it?s not the same the golakeper of Germany than the one of Togo). Somethig i noticed is that if you are the local country, the visitor is in the defensive area, trying to obtain a Draw, not atack much, waiting for the oportunity to do some damage, but the situacion changes if you are the visitor, the local's are goin to play more agresive, star to atack you, and in some cases when they are behind one goal and the time is over, send the goalkeper to the net in the corners, sometihg you see in the real game.
The controls are the same as Fifa 2006, use the A, S, D, W, E keys, that?s it. The physics are very well represented, forget about the time you hit a player and in the replay you can not see how you do it. The ball is more real this time, you can shott in the direction you want and whit the strenght you want.
The stadiums loke great. All of the stadium in which the World Cupr is takin part are here. Also, there are a lot more, some from europe, from america, asia, japan, and many countries, because, remember, you can play all the qualification games and try to qualifie for the Wordl Cup. ( try whit Cameroon, an qualified them).
For me, this game is a good combination of the Korea-Japan 2002 and the Fifa Road to the World Cup. All the stages of the World Cupa are here, from qualified to the big event. This game is a lot of fun, whit many teams in it. It dosen?t matter where you are from, if your country has a spot in the qualification tho the Worl Cup, is here, in the game, whit real player?s ( or at least real names, frankly, i don?t knok the names of the player?s of teams like Macedonia or Togo or Trinidad and tobago)
ENJOY THIS GREAT GAME, A MUST HAVE FOR ALL SOCCER FANS.