FIFA 06 is a solid soccer game that fans of the sport will enjoy. Key features include an in-depth manager mode and online play. It is also hands down the best looking soccer game on the market. Gameplay is where it counts, though, and FIFA just can’t quite keep up with Winning Eleven 8 in terms of accessibility and fun factor. FIFA 06 is a really good game, but it falls short of being the best soccer game on the Xbox.
Gameplay
For the most part, the gameplay is the same as last year. The fundamentals are as solid as ever and off the ball control returns so you can move a player into the perfect position before you pass to them. The flashy on-the-ball moves are back which allow you to perform special jukes and fakes that will cause defenders to jump right out of their cleats. You can also call defensive and offensive plays and set pieces on the fly and the “keeper charge” button returns once again so you have direct control over when your goalkeeper comes out of his box. Player morale also affects what is going on out on the field, so if you can move the ball effectively your players will feel better and thus play better. If you struggle to move the ball and go down a couple of goals, your players will play worse. Pretty cool.
There are some negatives about the gameplay, though. The biggest issue is that the controls aren’t nearly as intuitive as in Winning Eleven. FIFA gives you more moves and fancier stuff to do, but the basics for passing and shooting and simple things like that don’t really behave like you expect them to. You can switch to a different control style that is pretty much identical to that of Winning Eleven, but the game isn’t quite as sharp and, like I said, things don’t always behave the way you might be used to. It is still fun, don’t get me wrong, just not quite as sharp as the competition. Another issue is the AI. It has been greatly improved and actually poses a challenge this year which is more fun for the most part, but it comes at a price. Nine times out of ten when a defender challenges you for the ball they’ll get it no matter what fancy on-the-ball moves you do. This is rather unrealistic because you rarely see high level league or international teams challenging the ball every single step a player takes up the field but they do in FIFA 06. It makes you play a different style of soccer than normal, which isn’t necessarily bad, but it isn’t really realistic either.
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