It's a very handy addition, especially in multiplayer settings, when the pause menu serves to only slow down the action. This year, the big new addition seems to be the ability to pull formations on the fly with a tap of the D-pad. The J-League is missing, but hey, Konami's gotta have something to itself, right? Last year's First Touch was a welcome addition, as it gave specific players a little more personality and added some strategy in the way that players could react to the ball. Boasting the greatest number of licenses of any other EA Sports game, FIFA's teams cover most of Europe, North and South America, and nationals. Everyone else, including soccer game virgins, will enjoy FIFA.

It mostly works, but for the most part, Winning Eleven fanboys will probably find themselves waiting until February. Last year's FIFA introduced First Touch to gameplay, whereas this year's seems to try to throw even more into the mix. Year after year, it seems to consistently improve at its own pace. No matter how many copies it sells, though, it always seems to loom in the shadow of Konami's much-lauded and better-scoring Winning Eleven (or Pro Evolution Soccer in Europe). It is, after all, their top-selling franchise globally. EA's meticulous attention to detail combined with fairly user-friendly gameplay keeps fans coming back. Among the many October franchises that drop on an annual basis, FIFA Soccer consistently remains one of the top-selling games year to year. It's the second cover he's made in a two-year time span. Ronaldinho might not be a handsome guy, but EA sure seems to like him.

Fifa 06 ps2