The Road to the is characterised by moments of joy, glamour, jubilation and passion for the game. Unfortunately Sports latest reincarnation of the beautiful game offers little in the way of such feelings. It seems that every few months a new Fifa game is released by EA, with each claiming to boast significant enough changes to warrant your hard earned cash... however increasingly few seem to deliver on these promises. Fifa 06 was the latest offender in the trend, bizarrely throwing out much of what was good from the previous instalment, making it difficult to recommend.

Fifa 06: Road to World Cup, despite perhaps appearing to some as another cash-spinning carbon-copy of previous titles, does indeed offer a few unexpected changes and tweaks to the gameplay formula. While they are in reality minor changes, rather than a complete overhaul of the match engine, they still manage to significantly improve the flow of the game. However, being an game, it is hardly surprisingly that the most focused on aspect was that of the presentation.

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The game tasks you with the challenge of qualifying for the world cup with one of the 72 international teams on offer. However this leads to the biggest problem, the fact that the world cup qualifying stages consists of only around 14 matches and a few friendly games to boot. There are also two other small fictional knockout tournaments in the main 'Road to Fifa World Cup' mode, giving you a total of around 25 matches to complete the game, however they seem like a token gesture from the developer, in a futile attempt to increase the longevity of the game somewhat. These 25 matches are likely to last the average player around 3-4 hours on default settings and the game won't let you continue on to play the final stages of the world cup, making the whole experience feel rather incomplete.

Thankfully though, there are custom tournaments you can set up yourself, as well as practice, free match and modes, each giving the game a little extra lifespan. Sadly there are few incentives to play these modes other than increasing your 360 Achievement Gamerscore and unlocking a new special edition Adidas ball.

Its not all doom and gloom for Fifa 06: RTFWC however, as with any game, the real judgement takes place on the pitch. And when you do get into a match, things can begin to pick up somewhat. Although the match engine seems rather simplistic and pales in comparison to the series, the game does feel much more slick and playable than the previous outing: Fifa 06. One of the main flaws of the predecessor was that it was seemingly impossible to try and run past opponents, detracting from real-life football where a skilful player has the ability to skin an entire defence on his way to creating a scoring opportunity. Despite the fact that this is sadly the case with Fifa 06 RTFWC as well, a noticeable improvement has been made to the intelligence of your team-mates, as they will frequently make runs into space to assist you.

Another key area of the game that has been noticeably improved is the shooting mechanism, as it actually seems quite accurate now. It seems that the Fifa series has gone from one extreme to another over the issue of where and how the shooting ability was implemented. In Fifa 2003 you could shoot from anywhere inside the attacking third and have a good chance of scoring, whereas in 2005 and 06 you had to be virtually on top of the goal, otherwise no matter the skill of the player, pulling the trigger from further out would result in an Emile Heskey style comedy shot, ending up closer to the corner flag than the goal. Its nice to see that that is no longer the case in RTFWC. Perhaps another gripe is that nothing has been done to address the corner or the free kick system, which still feels stale and uninspiring. In spite of this, the developer has ensured that on the whole, the process of scoring goals, the most important part of a football game, has become much more enjoyable, making Fifa RTFWC feel significantly more realistic than any of its predecessors.

Graphically the game is a bit of a mixed bag. Although it does look a great deal better than the previous Fifa games, especially at first glace, it still looks far from photo realistic. Most of the players are very detailed but tend to look 'over' shiny, so much so that they look made out of plastic. The crowd are actually this time and look surprisingly good, however the over the top blur effect can lead to them seeming out of place. Hopefully EA will remove this peculiar 'gloss', as it is rarely noticed for the right reasons. Another point that needs to be addressed is the frame rate; which can become bogged down during set piece routines. While during open play it is acceptable on the whole, it hardly stands out as showcasing the power of a next-generation console. These somewhat tarnish a game that is visually not terrible by any stretch of the imagination.

In contrast to the inconspicuous visuals, the audio is generally pleasing. Regardless of the variety of in-game commentary there is, it will always get repetitive and that is eventually the case with RTFWC as with any other game. However the snippets of football knowledge from Sports commentators Andy Gray and Martin Tyler come as a welcome surprise and help give the game more appeal for the statistics-hungry football fan. The realistic crowd chanting is also something that plays a major part in creating and enhancing the atmosphere, but once again, you have heard most of it after just a few matches. The in the menus is an interesting blend from a variety of different genres, but as with any other Xbox 360 title, you have the ability to create your own adrenaline pumping tunes... 'Football's Coming Home' anyone?

Overall, Fifa 06 RTFWC is a surprisingly promising game marred by many striking (excuse the pun) shortcomings. The gameplay formula feels somewhat well balanced despite its simplistic approach. While Fifa is still not up there with the mighty Pro Evolution series just yet, in terms of gameplay it is a large improvement over the Fifa 06 game launched back in October. However the biggest problem this game has is the sheer lack of play time offered in its main single player mode. The fact that you can only qualify for the World Cup and not play the whole thing paves the way for EA to make a quick buck later in the year with the predictable World Cup tie-in they have already announced. While this game is definitely worth a rent or borrowing off a friend, its serious lack of substance makes it difficult to justify the £49.99 RRP price tag unless you simply cannot satisfying your football fix on the Xbox 360 or are intending to make full use of the online service provided. It seems that the best bet is either to wait for the full World Cup game to be released by EA later this year, or for the scheduled release of the 'Galactico' of football games, Pro Evolution 6 in late autumn.

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By Steven Embling