FIFA 06 has 26 leagues with 10,000 players. Possibly the biggest attraction for most NZ football fans is the official English Premier League licence so the English teams have authentic jerseys with sponsors' logos and the like.

Intro comes with the select control method so people familiar with the Pro Evolution Soccer series can pick the New Analogue Dribble method which has circle as lob and square as shoot on attack. Classic Analogue Dribble method is for those used to the FIFA controls and also there are the Digital Dribble methods which don't involve the use of the analogue sticks at all.

When on attack, directional buttons can be used to change the attacking strategy. It's the same with defence, although L1 needs to be pressed in conjunction with a directional button.

The game modes include Kick Off, which is the exhibition game mode, Manager Mode, which places the user as a manager of a football club side, FIFA 06 Lounge, which is an offline mode where mates can play against each other, Tournament Mode, which is where there individual leagues and cups from around the world can be contested, Create Tournament, which is self-explanatory, Practice Mode, where perfection can be attempted with corners, indirect and direct free kicks, and also free practice against another team to see if skills learned can be executed in game the environment without actually being in a proper match. Play Online is there for those willing to find competitors online.

Manager Mode puts the user as the manager and they are first responsible for creating the manager themselves and then signing a sponsor. There are many different sponsors to choose from so it is best to choose one where there is a balance of how much they pay the team per match and what they are willing to pay if the team wins cups, championships and loyalty, which is some type of expectation, for example finishing in the top half of table at the season's end. This is explicitly laid out in the contract. Transfers can be done and players from the user's squad can be loaned or sold so fewer salaries need to be paid. A scout can also be sent to places around the world and those players that your scout has spotted can be signed outside the transfer period windows.

At the end of some games an internal memo is presented with a scenario such as fans sending abusive messages to the club's website or players' morale seeming to be down, so three options are given and the manager needs to pick one. These obviously have consequences such as improving team morale, team fatigue and fan support; picking an option can also have a detrimental effect on the attribute so the options need to be thought about and chosen wisely.

EA Sports Retro is a mode included in FIFA 06 that features the original FIFA International Soccer from 1993 in all its glory so anyone feeling nostalgic can feed his urges.

Team Management includes 'creation central', edit player, edit kit number, squads, kick takers, and club transfers, which is useful as it can allow for essential transfers that were done after production of the game, such as transferring Michael Owen from Real Madrid to Newcastle. There is also the International Selection.

'My FIFA 06' includes game settings and Fan Shop. Points are earned by completing challenges. These challenges can be done with normal play or by choosing them straight off from the Challenge screen. The game instantly changes to the appropriate settings to allow the challenge to be completed.

Points earned from challenges can be used to buy features from the Fan Shop. These include classic player bios, which include that of NZ's own Wynton Rufer. Other things on offer are training stadia, extra teams, footballs, season highlights and third kits for some of the teams.

One thing that is frustrating is that substitutions only take place at the next stoppage after the substitutions menu has been accessed. It's annoying since it would make sense that if the substitution has been accessed during a stoppage it would happen in that stoppage but no, in FIFA 06 the user will have to wait until the next stoppage until the new players take the field.

The CPU man marking is tight on all difficulties. The only difference each step up of difficulty makes is that the CPU is more aggressive on attack and the CPU goalie is more responsive. The difficulties go from Amateur, Semi-Pro, Professional and World Class. Later on Legendary mode can be unlocked.

There is no auto save option available and this may be annoying since your profile needs to be continuously saved to keep a track of goals scored and games won, so an auto save option would have been preferred to avoid the hassle of manually saving the game and profiles. There is also no save replay feature for those spectacular goals.

The graphics are up to the usual standard that comes along with EA Sports titles, however animation can slow down when a ball is free in space or is being chased by many players, giving the game a cartoon quality.

The commentary in this game is amongst one of the better heard in a sports video game and the soundtrack has genres which are as varied as can be imagined. It also features some memorable sound bites from actual games.