One of the most lingering memories that I have of the 2002 World Cup is of leaving a club at 1 a.m. to go watch Brazil take on England. Aside from that nail-biting match, what I remember so vividly was a commercial for 2002 FIFA World Cup for what is now current-gen. As a player leapt into the air for a victory jump after scoring a goal, he transformed into a flash of multiple players striking the same pose. I think that it was a crucial moment that transformed me as a gamer. After that, I began playing soccer games with a fanaticism that I've seldom found in other American gamers. So, suffice it to say, I had a huge smile on my face when I fired up an unfinished build of 2006 FIFA World Cup and saw the same animation technique at the end of the intro cinematic. EA mailed us an almost-complete build of their newest official game of this year's World Cup festivities, and frankly, it's looking great.

As with the game four years ago, 2006 is all about capturing the essence of the world's most heralded sporting event (next to the Olympics, the likes of which they still can't make a good official game). The world's teams compete back and forth to get a foot in the door to compete for that all-important cup. While no one knows for certain who will take top honors this year, it's certain that players will be able to write history as they see fit. So, while gamers around the world scoff at the US's odds (if they can even name more than two players), you can take McBride, Donovan, and Beasley to the top. Or you can go with the reigning champs, and own everyone with Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, and Roberto Carlos.


So far, the builds are coming along nicely. The gameplay is a little more than three-quarters finished, as are animations and lighting. With that in mind, the gameplay feels about as sharp as the FIFA 06 game that came out last fall. All of the features, including First Touch, Freestyle Control, and Pace Control are all intact in this game. The inclusion of both the Classic and New (read: slightly more Winning Eleven style) controls that were introduced last fall are also here. The AI is still being tweaked, but certain nations have very characteristic playstyles. A randomly assigned match between England and Paraguay yielded some interesting results, as the Paraguayan team played a nice round of keepaway after scoring an early goal. It was a hard-fought effort to come back after that, but the feel of the AI had dramatically changed, more noticeably than in past FIFA titles.

Visually, the game looks fairly close to FIFA 06, although the camera has changed a bit. During the game introduction, there's an interestingly edited montage of the starting eleven juxtaposed with quick flashes of on-the-pitch action. It's a cool new way to dramatize the action on the field. The graphics look rather clear and sharp on Xbox and GameCube, while the PS2 looks around par. But that's mostly how it's been during this entire current-gen run. Although as of press time it was unconfirmed whether or not the GameCube version supports progressive scan, an attempt to run the game while holding down B seemed to work, and the game looked quite lovely. There are some occasional dips in framerate when the action gets intense on the pitch, but hopefully those are problems that will get resolved during the final animation overhaul.