More of the same - but it's updated so fans will still love it (FIFA 2006 (PS2))

Member Name: Secret Squirrel

Product:	FIFA 2006 (PS2)
Date:	28/11/05 (337 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: New kits, better rendering and of course, up-to-date

Disadvantages: Not much in the way of advancements over previous FIFA games

I loaded up FIFA 2006 with excitement. Having played 2005 to death I was looking forward to a new challenge - Hull City in the Coca Cola Championship - with of course the new lineup and kits. From that respect, I wasn't disappointed but then - that is the selling point of FIFA.

The gameplay is different to previous versions - at first it does seem more difficult and posts on the official EA forums bear this out. And that's a good thing. No longer can your team's powerhouse barge his way straight down the centre of the pitch and blast the 20th shot past the poor beleaguered keeper. No - a little more attention to gameplay is required.

Goals in Fifa 2006 come more from constructed attack - a team high on morale works well together to move into positions for that crossed ball. A struggling team will not be so well organised and the player may well despair as a cross worthy of Beckham's own boot sails into open space, or onto the chest of a defender who will launch a swift counter - and that is the key to this game - keeping your team happy and making use of the "team chemistry" feature of this season's serving of officially endorsed football.

Like previous FIFA games however, once your playing style comes together, it becomes all too easy for the Southend United fan to have Jose Mourinho quaking as Roman Abramovich demands to know how his Chelsea team crumbled before such lowly opposition in a cup final they should have walked through. And suddenly you are the special one.

But that is the appeal of this game too. EA know as well as you or I that what we really want to see is our own team at the top of the Premiership, lifting every cup on offer and storming Europe.

Non-football fans won't see the appeal of a facelifted version of an older game - but non-football fans are not the target market. Purer gamers may prefer other football titles with less emphasis on official authenticity. But does it have to be one or the other?

The slogan "you are Ronaldinho, you are Wayne Rooney"? Maybe so but I doubt Everton fans will want to be Wayne Rooney. The appeal is more along the lines of "You are your whole club, and you can make it to the top. Even if Sincil bank is your home ground!

Roll on the next season and the next coat of paint over the top of the same formula!

One for the football fan, rather than the videogame fan

Summary: Perhaps not technically the best simulation - but YOU, not Mourhino, are the special one!