Want to travel to Germany for the World Cup this June and represent the Red, White and Blue on the soccer field? Those whose names appear on the United States’ current 25-man roster, chances of that happening are doubtful. However, those with $29.99 and a GameCube, Playstation 2, Xbox or PC, you can pick up Electronic Arts’ “2006 FIFA World Cup” and at least pretend.
Not to be confused with “FIFA Soccer 06,” released in October 2005, “FWC06” solely focuses on this summer’s World Cup in Germany. On top of featuring 127 national teams from across the globe, EA trumps all World Cup games of the past by allowing players to not only start from the cut of 32 World Cup teams, but to also go through the qualifying rounds in six regions with any one of those teams.
The gameplay is fluid, but far from flawless. Passes aimed to specific players often go to unintended targets, or even worse, to open space, only to be picked off by the opposing team. The “through ball” button works masterfully when connecting with a player on the run though, creating a lot of opportunities on the offensive end. On defense, player control is switched to whoever is closest to the ball automatically. This feature ends up being more of a hindrance than a benefit though, as pressing one direction on the controller can immediately become the opposite or undesired direction. A mistake like this by one of the back four can often be crucial.
Scoring is difficult, but rewarding and usually unique. In many sports games, finding the perfect spots to shoot from does not take long to find, eventually causing the game to become boring in its predictability and ease. Goals are so rare in “FWC06” that seeing the ball hit the back of the net might cause players to involuntarily grit their teeth and clench their fists triumphantly.
As unique as the goals themselves are, the celebrations are a bit disappointing. Players stall for a moment as the ball hits the back of the net, then make a run for the sideline to pump their fists. Where are the slides, players tackling the scorer or running along the sidelines pumping up the crowd? EA’s “Madden” franchise created specialized celebrations for players such as Priest Holmes and Antwaan Randle El, so why can’t “FWC06?”
Another disappointment is the lack of a dynasty or franchise mode, which most other EA Sports titles have. This feature would be especially helpful to countries that are not favorites in the World Cup as players could improve with practices or training camps over the span of four years before the next World Cup.
The commentary, provided by Clive Tyldesley and Andy Townsend, runs a bit behind at times (particularly as a goal is scored), but never seems repetitive. More impressive though, the commentary is never wrong, as it often is in “Madden” when Al Michaels inaccurately describes earlier incidents or uses incorrect math in regard to the score.
Graphically, “FWC06” looks decent, but not spectacular. The $59.99 version for the Xbox 360 looks far more impressive during cutscenes, but similar during gameplay because of the distance of the camera. Players slightly resemble their real life counterparts, but don’t expect anything jaw-dropping.
One more annoying aspect of “FWC06” is the font size of its menus. The opening page is easy enough to read, but after that, players may need magnifying glasses. Before every match, the load screen shows a collage for the country of the home team along with a fact about that country, but good luck reading what that fact actually says.
“FWC06” might not be a must-have title for all gamers, but soccer fans will not be disappointed overall. The appeal of getting ready for the 2006 World Cup with one’s country of choice to guide through it, playing with friends or just the low price tag leave no excuses to not own it.
