Review: 2006 Fifa World Cup (360)

They can try as much as they want, but for the foreseeable future EA's Fifa series will still languish behind the Pro Evolution Soccer series and this latest version makes you realise that more than ever. Pretty much an ever-so-slightly tweaked version of Road to the World Cup which was (hilariously) released less than six months ago, the latest from EA Sports does nothing for the genre, the series or the Xbox 360.

Naturally we started off with the World Cup mode, leaving it on it's default difficulty setting. We tried our very hardest to enjoy ourselves, but we couldn’t. It seems that what Fifa calls its default hardness actually translates to many people as “Very, Very Easy” even winning our second game 7-0. While ramping up the difficulty may stop such ludicrous scores in each and every game, it still doesn’t make the gameplay any better. Even the graphics can be described as nothing more than average.

Featuring Ken and Barbie-style plastic models of all your favourite football stars, Fifa World Cup doesn’t push the Xbox 360's capabilities at all. It obviously has better presentation than it's only other competitor (last generation's Pro Evolution Soccer 5), but that is easily looked past when the game plays like a dog. We’re not sure whether Fifa wants to be more of an arcade offering or not, but that’s what it seems like when you don’t have the ability to play a good passing game. Instead you have to resort to whacking the ball down the other end of the pitch and quite often the stupid opponent AI will let you through to score a goal past the idiotic goalkeeper who happens to drop the ball more times than he catches it.

When the opposition have the ball in their possession though, every single player in the game moves around the pitch like Ronaldinho, ducking and weaving, making sliding tackles that are almost impossible without conceding a foul. One thing that Fifa actually beats Pro Evo at is the commentary. However, that’s like saying you prefer drinking urine to eating excrement. Gamestyle is sure that one day a football title will finally get the commentating right.

If you find yourself getting bored with the main game (more than likely) then you can try the Global Challenge which is an actually interesting feature in an otherwise lacklustre game. With each challenge you can control a certain team roughly halfway through their game and you must complete the objectives you are given. It’s a great concept, but still doesn’t manage to raise the reputation of Fifa above average.

From this average single player venture we decided to take our football online and for those that complain that PES5 still has lag issues then you must play this game to see how lucky you really are. Like playing a football game in the Matrix, what gameplay Fifa had quickly evaporates into a slow-motion mess with a lot of luck required to win. Made even more frustrating when you play against some Dutchman who happens to scream down the mic when he scores, not realising that this game requires about as much skill as a game of Hungry Hungry Hippos. Not fun at all.

EA Sports will need to try better than this if its to once again gain the faith of the hardcore football fans. While those who love to have actually licensed stuff will no doubt buy it, we can feel nothing but pity for them because while they wrestle with the pitiful gameplay all the rest of us will still be feeling the love for last generations Pro Evolution 5. Better luck next time EA.

Rating: 4 / 10

Words by Adam Gulliver