Fifa 06 (PC): A huge disappointment.

Fifa 06 is one of the more anticipated sports games this year, simply because EA sports has the right to call the clubs by their name, and also the players by their real name. This is different from Winning Eleven, who has to use "covert" names, such as West London Blue to represent clubs which they didn't have the right to use.

So, no more "Merseyside Red" or playing players whose names are "Van Nisterooy".

You would have thought that with THAT amount of money paid into getting the stars, you would actually get a decent game.

Not.

Let's start off with the game play.

Alright, so you have the ball, and you are so ready for kick off. You kick the ball back, before hammering the Q button to get some players forward in order to lose their marker.

You tap the W key, hoping that you are able to release a player who seems to have shaken his marker off.

Instead, your player decides to do something retarded, and kicks the ball to someone who isn't even half a step ahead of his marker.

You lose the ball.

Then, you swear.

That's about it. The AI of your teammates are so stupid, there's no actual purpose in trying to get them lose their markers. True, there are times when their balls are placed perfectly, but they are rare and hard to come by.

Defense isn't that great either. For some reason, your defenders keep losing their opponents, allowing them a chance at a free header, or a free shot at goal. In fact, you find yourself having to reposition quite a number of your men when the opponent is taking a corner kick, if you don't want them to be in front of the ball.

At least, the only good thing I see about Fifa 06 is that they got rid of the stupid corner system in Fifa 05, where there are only like 3 men in the box, and you have a choice of 3 different crosses. What kind of corner has only 3 attackers in it? >_> In Fifa 06, the corner system is pretty much like the Winning Eleven system, with an arrow to tell where you want to guide the ball.

As for graphics....

They say, a picture is worth a thousand words....

So, instead of a thousand words...



Good god. This is like new and super back in 1999 or something. Heck, I think Half Life 1 has better graphics. Hello? This is 2005.

As you can see, on top of horrible drawing, there's this outer glow on each player, giving them a strange holy aura when playing. Not only is this wierd, it also can be a pain to the eyes at times.

Crappy drawings, neon glow.

Nuff said about graphics.

Even the sound has some kind of fault. The commentator, Clive Tyldesley, sounds more like a talk show host then a football commentator. At least, Andy Gray is still around. The songs which are played in the Menu is just decent, and the crowd noise isn't that great at times (What the heck are they chanting..?)

This game is further struck down on my list, because when I played the demo, the only teams available were: Munich, Barca, PSG, AC Milan and Man Yoo. Of all teams...Man Yoo.... The team which didn't win a single trophy last year....

Meeh.

Anyway, according to the boards, this review actually stands, because the difference between the demo and the actual game isn't that much. The major underwork, which is the graphics and the AI is about there.

Thank god for the demo. Saved me roughly 2 days of internet time.

So, if you are planning to get this game, don't. Even at gun point. There are better ways to die then watching your brain leap out of your head as your IQ points start to decrease as though the Big Show has just stepped off the weighing scale. Just wait for Winning Eleven 9 to be released on the PC.

Score: -10/10
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