FIFA Football 2006 (Xbox)

So a year has passed since the early release of FIFA Football 2005 - the game that finally hit the right note for a football sim.

You'd expect it 06 to surpass it's predecessor, you'd expect the lawsuits/game designers/nerds with no social lives (delete where applicable) to say :

"Right, we got it right with 2005, now let's keep that as a base and just improve on it"

Not really a difficult task is it? Well FIFA managed to screw it up again and they fell back into the vortex of ridiculously unreal football in my opinion.

Firstly I'll touch on the one good point I mentioned, the recordable replay feat, you'll hit that thunderous shot from 25 yards away and it'll near burst out the back of the net,

A treasured goal you've got archived to watch when you retire from football. Great. Fantastic - except almost every goal you score will be a 25 yard drive - they're that easy.

You won't score any other type of goal, believe me, god knows I've tried to calmly slot it into the bottom corner from 8 yards out but it just doesn't work that way.

FIFA have got caught up in the Arsenal glory season of 03-04, and said "let's make our next one like that" in my opinion.

Let's make it so that everyone runs at 200mph, can score from 2 miles away with a toepoke and make it swerve like a boomerang.

Football doesn't work that way.

FIFA is supposed to be a football simulation, not glorification.

By far the worst thing about the game is the AI I feel, and not just the players...

There was one time when my defence were all over the place, as usual, and the opposition broke away, the forward latched onto a through ball, and chipped it over the keepers head.

Yes. The ball made it in from a tiny angle, but the daftest thing was that it went out for a corner.

Another case was when I was taking a direct free kick, was smashed off the crossbar into the 6 yard box, completely loose.

Now normally, a FIFA game will automatically switch you to the player nearest to the ball, but not 06. I had a bloke who could've run onto it and smashed it in long before the keeper got up, but I couldn't even switch to him, even worse was the fact that the computer AI took control of him itself and made him actually run away from the ball.

The game will make you explode furiously because you will be constantly shouting phrases such as "how is that possible", because the offside rule is measured by the nanometer, and centre backs can outrun you're strikers so you're hopeless scoring from through balls, even if the defender is completely wrong footed, he still manages to catch up.

You can't really have a fluent game, it's as stop start as a Bolton - Blackburn derby, and as bad to watch too.

The ball is constantly intercepted, and the tight marking on this game becomes a real pain, a player can slide tackle someone about 2 feet away, even when it's not wet.

My rating for this is 5/10. Not because it's an ok game, but because it's hot and cold.

Some players will love it because they never get tired of scoring unreal goals and having open games for 90 minutes at a thousand miles an hour, and then some, like myself will hate it.

Fifa Football 06 is a brilliant game and got me strapped into soccer tight. The manager features are much more life like because you have to choose the stadium prices - if you are not doing to well in the table then less people will come to see your games. Therefore you have to lower the prices so that more people come. It's a matter of luring the customers and in 05 and 04 you don't get that feature to screw up. Another thing is first-touch, in the previous games when you hit first-touch the player taps it quite a distance and the opponent can easily intercept. The worst thing is possession in the game, if you keep pressing the opponents into their quarter, they will keep passing and dribbling up and down which makes you annoyed at the game, your players lose energy while chasing the ball and you lose possesion and get bored. But overall it's a great game that I love to play.

Other than all the bad points Fifa Football 2006 is still a very good XBox game. On the next Fifa game I would like to see more of the weak teams like from Wales, N. Ireland, R.O. Ireland etc., so at least through a top division you can put your name down for a possible place in the Inter-Toto Cup, and have 3 Qualifying rounds of the Champions League Play offs, and if you win the Champions League or UEFA Cup, you can Qualify for the World Club Championship. The Scottish Premiership might be good if the league splits as the real one does, and also what might be nice is if there were Non-League sides playing in the F.A. Cup, and the same for all the other leagues. A new mode where you can make a team from scratch in the non-league, and make you to the Top-Flight and able to play in the F.A. Cup and make your own Stadium, making it bigger and better when you get more money and your reputation grows, and also to be able to have pre-season friendly matches and friendly cups would be nice. Having all the problems fixed would make it better than any other Football game out there; not counting games like Fifa Street.

I found nothing new about FIFA Football 2006, wait for Pro Evolution.

I wish they had put the Nationwide Conference on FIFA Footballs 2006, as I could have been Halifax Town, and go down from the Coca-Cola league 2.

The Fifa series returns with the best installment yet. Due for release in late September. Fifa Football 2006 is back for Xbox and Playstation 2. Updated teams, improved graphics, and an incredible sound engine, ensure that this will be the most sought after soccer game of the year. Kick a goal with EA Sports Fifa Football 2006.