FIFA Soccer 06

Gaming Horizon

FIFA 06 is a great game for both soccer novices and enthusiastic players alike, and is a worthy investment to a soccer fan’s entertainment library.

Gaming Age

A true upgrade to the previous years, and as I mentioned before, is possibly the best version of the series since its inception.

3DAvenue

Absolutely positively one of the best football games ever made and shows that EA is serious about competing with "Pro Evo Soccer."

PSX Extreme

The redeveloped manager mode will occupy you for hours and hours, while you oversee your franchise, and the new online mode will let you test your skills against real opposition from around the world.

Official U.S. Playstation Magazine

Play on the field or in the management office - both work surprisingly well. [Nov 2005, p.114]

1UP

It's certainly very enjoyable, it's incredibly slick, and packed with features, but it still loses out a little to Konami's game on that difficult-to-quantify quality; feel.

GameSpot

FIFA 06 is particularly unusual in that it ditches some of the series' recent innovations in favor of tried-and-tested gameplay mechanics. However, it also adds plenty of new features that help make it the most realistic and accessible (and best) FIFA game to date.

Loaded Inc

06 has also improved on last years manager mode. Here you get to take charge of any team in the world during a 15-year career. You’ll have eight staff members you can upgrade as you make more money, a management board to answer to, sponsors to deal with and even newspaper interviews to give. Sheer class.

Game Over Online

The gameplay is extremely solid, the managerial mode is surprisingly deep and the additional features make FIFA 06 a great sports addition for fans of the sport.

GameZone

To the diehard fans, those who love soccer and/or can't go through a year without playing the latest FIFA, this is a must-buy.

IGN

It still hasn't struck the balance of intuitive play and depth of control that you get from Winning Eleven but the power of authentic players, teams and leagues still carries a lot of weight.

Console Gameworld

Better than all previous offerings, an awesome football experience, but still not quite on a par with "Pro Evolution Soccer."

eToychest

A modest upgrade from last year’s offering. However, for fans of the series, the changes made can drastically affect the way the entire game is played.

Times Online

Shielding, tackling and dribbling have been boosted for better on-pitch control, while business in the boardroom looms with a more comprehensive management game and careers judged over a 15-year span.

PSM Magazine

It may only be a year or so from topping "Winning Eleven." [Nov 2005, p.92]

Game Informer

FIFA is still doomed to feel a little stiff due to its reliance on set animations to govern play, and there are plenty of frustrating AI mistakes that linger. [Oct 2005, p.128]

AceGamez

I feel in about a year's time, when they have this new engine perfected, FIFA might be a serious contender, but at the moment it's not quite realising its full potential.

GameSpy

The PS2 version isn't as pretty, but it controls better, while the Xbox version is substantially more beautiful to look at. Either way, though, it's a solid game.

TotalGames.net

It may be far from perfect, but there are fleeting moments of exhilaration where FIFA 06 resembles a game of football like no other, and when this is coupled with a 15 year Career mode that now even enables you to choose your team's sponsor, even the most stubborn EA-hater will have to concede that this, for the most part, is a success.

Pelit (Finland)

FIFA 06 looks great and has a fabulous atmosphere, but feels too much like a video game and not enough like football. Where are the Finnish teams? [Oct 2005]

Armchair Empire

You need to work a little more to figure out the game, but once that little epiphany happens, you’re golden.

IC-Games

FIFA 06 does deserve a purchase but it simply doesn’t offer up anywhere near enough improvements for owners of "FIFA 2005" to part with cash this year.

BonusStage

Though always attempting to up the ante on their long time rival, this year’s FIFA actually seems more of a step back when compared to the 2005 iteration.

Play.tm

Now more than ever if you haven't already started to look at "Pro Evo" perhaps you should, it plays much better and feels like more a game of football than FIFA 06 ever will.

Next Level Gaming

Gameplay has always been the staple of a good Soccer game, and when playing against the computer, FIFA '06 just doesn't have it like "FIFA 2005" did.

Cheat Code Central

Hardcore soccer fans who wanted even more realism from this series will enjoy playing around with the new controls but if you’re a player who thought FIFA 2005 wasn’t a great game might as well rent this game or stay away from it cause you won’t be missing much.

Official Playstation 2 Magazine UK

FIFA has grown up a bit and learnt that it has to do the dirty work first before it can get fancy. Competent, entertaining but far from faultless. [Nov 2005, p.132]

Game Revolution

A solid all-around improvement over last year’s game. Still, EA should focus on really nailing the online play missing in "Winning Eleven" and stop embarrassing the franchise with petty control tweaks.

games(TM)

On the occasions when the game flows it’s possible to produce some breathtaking football, but all too often the game slows to a crawl and it’s extremely difficult to produce anything like a constructive passing move. [Nov 2005, p.116]

Total Video Games

Oh EA what have you done; we we’re getting to enjoy FIFA once again and now this. We’re never ones to severely criticise an average game, however FIFA 06 beggars belief.

G4 TV

It's tough to keep calling FIFA on issues of accuracy, especially when Konami seems to have soccer realism cornered.

Computer and Video Games

The players move so sluggishly it feels as if the match is being played on a waterlogged, mud-treacle pitch. And what's with the ball still feeling like it's tethered to a player's feet by an invisible elastic band after all these years of the same complaint? [PSW]