Ah, the good sport of Football… rather Soccer here in North America; every year two companies go head to head competing with one another for top spot and the proud title of Soccer champion. EA Games usually faces off against 2K Games giant when it comes to sports, but the European football franchise has been a good battle for many years between EA and Konami releasing FIFA and Winning Eleven. Although EA Games has licensed the FIFA name and is more well known, that doesn’t necessarily mean the series is better… or does it? Every year for more than ten years now, FIFA has shown its appearance on various platforms, but only recently the series has shown a dramatic improvement in gameplay and of course visuals. How does the most recent installment of the FIFA series stack up to the next generation platform? This Xbox 360 exclusive should please fans of the series.

Like most sports titles released on the Xbox 360 in the past year, the next-gen version of the game suffers deeply from the loss of features and modes, and what’s worse is the $10 addition to the price tag. FIFA 07 unfortunately is no different. The game features new innovations such as the soccer balls new physics but the game lacks depth and variety, not to mention all of the stadiums and modes the last generation consoles contain.

The brand new feature that stands out the most in the new installment into the series is the physics placed into the Soccer ball. EA Games have created a new and interesting way to control your ball while controlling your character. They applied something similar to NHL 07 by giving physics to the puck but this time they have to deal with a constantly rolling ball. So during the game you find yourself intercepting or throwing away the ball constantly. With this the game makes you wait a bit before you pass or shoot. If you push the ball ahead your character must reach to it before performing an action such as passing or shooting. Some people might not like this but it brings a more realistic feel to the game and puts you right into the action with its split second decisions. The ball constantly moves but when attempting to react with it, you can do various things. For example when the ball is in the air you can jump up and fire it in any direction and it’s very satisfying when your character performs a bicycle kick.

When you first start up FIFA 07 for the Xbox 360 you’ll be put into a, what you would call a practice match with Ronaldinho (Ronaldo de Assis Moreira) going one on one with an unnamed goalie. While this is a mini-game you are able to access it with ease from any menu, this unfortunately is the best gameplay experience you will get out of the game. Here you will be able to practice everything, attempt to score or bounce it off the goaltender so you can perform one of those sweet in-the-air shots. You will also be given the chance to practice your free and penalty shots close up. Anywhere on the half court (you are able to access) you can press the left thumb stick and you’ll go into a free shot mode where you can aim your soccer ball and fire! If you’re in the penalty area while you press it, you will be given a different game; instead of aiming at a specific angle, you must shoot it left, right or just straight on (and depending on your kick power up or low). You won’t be able to actually aim like the other kick as your player will stands still towards the goaltender but while holding the left stick in a direction your character will fire it at that location and the goalie will jump either way. It’s basically a 50/50 chance, a coin toss really if you’ll score; it’s a bit more realistic when playing with another person because that way you know the game isn’t cheating you. Like said before, this is actually one of the better more addictive gameplay features the game offers sadly. So you best have fun with it.

Kick that ball now.

But FIFA’s core gameplay is still fairly entertaining. While it’s nothing that new the game holds up well. If you’re not familiar with soccer games the basics are this: you select a team, you select the players who will play during each game (or you could let the game pick for you), and when you’re on offense you can pass with one button and shoot and lob with another button. You can boost your characters' speed with the right trigger, but you don’t have unlimited stamina. And last but certainly not least, your goal is to shoot the ball with one character and get it in the net. There. Now you know what soccer and the game is about; it’s about that simple.

The main game consists of a couple modes, the first is quick match. You will be able to access a quick game, actually named Kick Off, right when the game loads up. This is where you can jump into any game, select your teams and jerseys and you’re off. Pretty much standard for any Sports video game. Now let’s get into the "good" modes that are available in 07. Recently EA games has been adding a specific feature to every sports title. Managing a team seems to be the most popular task to any gamer now a days but does everyone go through all the options and pieces that you are given? Manager mode is the biggest thing other than online that’s going for this year’s FIFA. The main purpose of the Manager mode is to control your team, manage your finances and your team’s performance and experience. While you the player are actually the soccer team, you don’t necessarily coach the team rather than play them. Right at the beginning of becoming a manager, you will have to choose a couple things. First and most important is your team, and you will be able to choose from all of the countries. Second is the league. Depending on what league you select, you will go up against specific people and win (or lose) different cups. Now you need money, but how do you get money? You sign with companies and you will sponsor them. There are plenty to choose from and they will offer you various amounts of cash for your attendance and even will give you bonuses that you can achieve, such as placing first in your league or making VIP, these will help you keep playing.

Being the manager of a football team looks to be hard, not only do you have to monitor your players well being, but you must make sure you don’t go bankrupt. Getting into the mode a little more, you’ll notice its very similar to other titles EA Sports has put out, you will have a large calendar of events and with this you will check your games and statistics on what’s happening in the future. The design is pretty much exactly the same as NHL 07 or NBA Live 07 with a slick dark layout with silver and white outlining while it looks nice it’s also easy to navigate through. When you begin a season with a team you will automatically set to two choices, either play your next game or simulate it. Playing it of course earns you real gaming experience where simulating it will just calculate the outcome and decide a winner and a score… not very exciting. Governing your team, you will have various options to choose from. With each game you play, each character will gain experience points (cheers for adding role playing in a soccer title!) and with these you can obtain various statistics and attributes for each player to make them faster and stronger. So basically it’s like steroids. The different attributes you can modify with each player is their attack, defense, skill, power, movement, mentality and goalkeeping, each one seriously improving your character, although you only get experience by doing specific things such as tackle an opposite player many times or scoring (which gives you the remote). Although this really does try to add the RPG element to it, you will only upgrade your character once and awhile, you won’t find yourself doing it too much, just when you get quite a bit of points.