Customer Reviews

2006 FIFA World Cup

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this game shortly after buying my DS Lite (a week after it's release) and played it nonstop for 2 weeks. The gameplay is great and i love being able to go through all the stages of the World Cup, from qualifiers to the finals. Overall, it was a good investment and I could play it for hours without getting bored.

Then, I bought FIFA 06 DS. Oh man what a difference. The gameplay in Fifa 06 is much quicker than in World Cup. The graphics are also much smoother and more clear, something you don't really notice unless you play each game for a while. In the end, it seems like World Cup added a lot of great features, but subtracted where it counts: the graphics on the pitch.

FIFA World Cup PROS:
* The ability to play as your favorite nation. There are dozens to choose all with full accurate rosters.
* The fans. EA focused more on the audience in this game than in FIFA 06. And although that is a nice thing, its not very neccessary.
* New game modes. The skill challenges mode is a lot of fun when you just want to get in some practice on set pieces. It's fun, but can get boring after a while.
* Great pitch graphics. The actual pitch itself looks beautiful. With cloud shadow effects, it seems nicer than in FIFA 06.

CONS:
* Poor graphics on pitch. The players are not rendered quite as well as in FIFA 06 making them look like tiny stick men.
* Choppy graphics. On pitch, in set pieces and in throw ins, the graphics get quite choppy and ruin the flow of the game.
*Doesn't flow as well as FIFA 06.

OVERALL:
For all the new things EA put in, they took out a lot. Persoanlly, I would recommend buying FIFA 06 because you get much more for your money. I've played a full season with Manchester U and i still can't get enough. Although you do have to set the difficulty all the way up to be a challenge, but thats no big deal. If you already own FIFA 06, i wouldn't really bother with FIFA World Cup unless you own an XBOX or PS3. This is the DS and to have a game like FIFA 06 play as smoothly as it does, i'm impressed just by that.

Also, keep an eye out for FIFA 07, out in the fall. Hopefully EA will have found a way to keep or improve upon the FIFA 06 graphics engine and keep the wide variety of leagues and teams while being able to add features such as skill challenges.

Our 8 yo son was never a gamer...this game changed him. I am not certain if that's a good thing but I credit this game for his interest. The split screen is amazing. The ground plays are on one screen and the aerial plays on another.

The game is fun and can be played by people with no prior knowledge of soccer.