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November 3, 2005 | 9:22 PM PST
by: David Rudden
Lest you forget, the Xbox 360 will be available in places besides the United States this year. While Madden may pass over more than a few counter-tops on November 22nd, another football title is set to be the darling of the European launch. FIFA Soccer 06: Road to the World Cup may just be the most important launch title on a worldwide scale for Electronic Arts. Will FIFA provide an experience worthy of the world's biggest sporting tournament on the most powerful console in the universe?
FIFA, like many other EA launch titles, has a smaller feature list than its current-gen counterparts. There is precident for this particular series, though. While current consoles recieved the standard yearly iteration of FIFA Soccer, the Xbox 360 is the exclusive home of the "once every four years" World Cup offshoot. As a result, there are much fewer teams to choose from. Region or nation-specific leagues like Major League Soccer or the English Premier League will not be available in Road to the World Cup. Instead, the national teams of top World Cup contenders will be represented. EA hasn't released their official list of teams that will be playable- teams are eliminated from World Cup contention on a regular basis, and the final 32 won't be set until weeks. EA has promised 72 teams, so expect a few of the "never had a chance" teams to miss the cut. As the tournament only takes place over a summer, FIFA 06's 15-year career mode won't be making an appearance. The create-a-player mode will not be available either; as in EA's other sports offerings, the feature simply isn't robust enough to create character models on par with what the 360 can produce. Plus, it's the World-freakin'-Cup. You can't just throw you and your friends onto the Brazilian squad.
Perhaps the biggest benefit to the smaller roster of Road to the World Cup is the amount of detail is allows developers to dedicate to perfecting fewer player models. Without having to worry about getting the look of the NY/NJ MetroStars' backup goalie right, EA is able to focus on the superstars of soccer looking like their real-life counterparts. While FIFA has the rights to the countries and players in the World Cup (it is their tournament, after all) collecting hundreds and hundreds facial scans on an international level is a near-impossibility. Even though they're not afforded the same luxury of every other EA Sports offering, don't expect the graphical presentation to suffer.
Starting from the ground up, FIFA impresses graphically. Individual blades of grass are visible, a far cry from the "large green texture patch" that has afflicted even current consoles. There are a dozen stadiums in Germany that will house World Cup matches, and most should be replicated to near perfection. Crowds are more lively and realistic-looking. The players, as mentioned before, should look spectacular and look amazing in motion (this has been FIFA's strong suit for years). In this department, a tighter focus should yield a stronger result.
In terms of gameply, FIFA Soccer 06: Road to the World Cup should play almost identically to the recently released versions on current consoles. Unlike most of EA's Sports lineup, FIFA has been in a constant state of evolution, without any major overhauls in terms of gameplay (see Madden's passing game). The biggest changes to this year's edition was a sped-up passing game and a much more precise free-kick system that allows the player to excersise complete control of the ball's accuracy, velocity and trajectory.
FIFA Soccer 06: Road to the World Cup
Like the other EA Sports titles, FIFA offers up online gameplay, but, once again, it's not quite at the level of the lesser-looking games of this generations. Only two players can take part in Xbox Live matches, which is a bit distressing when you consider that a standard soccer match has 22 people on the field at one time. If EA can bolster the online game in other areas, particularly tournament matchmaking and stat-tracking, then perhaps the sting may be soothed a little.
FIFA Soccer 06: Road to the World Cup like many of EA's launch titles, has had to sacrifice some of the commonplace features of the past generation as they work on retooling them for the future. Fortunately, the circumstances of the game fit the restrictive feature list and the gameplay should continue to live up to the series' esteemed pedegree. This one should look every bit as spectacular as the rest of the 360's sports titles and should merit a look whether soccer's your country's national sport or it's sixth favorite.
FIFA, like many other EA launch titles, has a smaller feature list than its current-gen counterparts. There is precident for this particular series, though. While current consoles recieved the standard yearly iteration of FIFA Soccer, the Xbox 360 is the exclusive home of the "once every four years" World Cup offshoot. As a result, there are much fewer teams to choose from. Region or nation-specific leagues like Major League Soccer or the English Premier League will not be available in Road to the World Cup. Instead, the national teams of top World Cup contenders will be represented. EA hasn't released their official list of teams that will be playable- teams are eliminated from World Cup contention on a regular basis, and the final 32 won't be set until weeks. EA has promised 72 teams, so expect a few of the "never had a chance" teams to miss the cut. As the tournament only takes place over a summer, FIFA 06's 15-year career mode won't be making an appearance. The create-a-player mode will not be available either; as in EA's other sports offerings, the feature simply isn't robust enough to create character models on par with what the 360 can produce. Plus, it's the World-freakin'-Cup. You can't just throw you and your friends onto the Brazilian squad.
Perhaps the biggest benefit to the smaller roster of Road to the World Cup is the amount of detail is allows developers to dedicate to perfecting fewer player models. Without having to worry about getting the look of the NY/NJ MetroStars' backup goalie right, EA is able to focus on the superstars of soccer looking like their real-life counterparts. While FIFA has the rights to the countries and players in the World Cup (it is their tournament, after all) collecting hundreds and hundreds facial scans on an international level is a near-impossibility. Even though they're not afforded the same luxury of every other EA Sports offering, don't expect the graphical presentation to suffer.
Starting from the ground up, FIFA impresses graphically. Individual blades of grass are visible, a far cry from the "large green texture patch" that has afflicted even current consoles. There are a dozen stadiums in Germany that will house World Cup matches, and most should be replicated to near perfection. Crowds are more lively and realistic-looking. The players, as mentioned before, should look spectacular and look amazing in motion (this has been FIFA's strong suit for years). In this department, a tighter focus should yield a stronger result.
In terms of gameply, FIFA Soccer 06: Road to the World Cup should play almost identically to the recently released versions on current consoles. Unlike most of EA's Sports lineup, FIFA has been in a constant state of evolution, without any major overhauls in terms of gameplay (see Madden's passing game). The biggest changes to this year's edition was a sped-up passing game and a much more precise free-kick system that allows the player to excersise complete control of the ball's accuracy, velocity and trajectory.
FIFA Soccer 06: Road to the World Cup
Like the other EA Sports titles, FIFA offers up online gameplay, but, once again, it's not quite at the level of the lesser-looking games of this generations. Only two players can take part in Xbox Live matches, which is a bit distressing when you consider that a standard soccer match has 22 people on the field at one time. If EA can bolster the online game in other areas, particularly tournament matchmaking and stat-tracking, then perhaps the sting may be soothed a little.
FIFA Soccer 06: Road to the World Cup like many of EA's launch titles, has had to sacrifice some of the commonplace features of the past generation as they work on retooling them for the future. Fortunately, the circumstances of the game fit the restrictive feature list and the gameplay should continue to live up to the series' esteemed pedegree. This one should look every bit as spectacular as the rest of the 360's sports titles and should merit a look whether soccer's your country's national sport or it's sixth favorite.
November 20, 2009
