FIFA 07

The way FIFA handles fundamental manoeuvres like 'pressing' and through balls feels frustratingly ineffective. In theory, you'd expect to be able to split defences and feed wingers with deftly weighted balls, but FIFA 07 is nowhere near as intuitive in that respect. In fact, unless you're plain lucky, a through ball down the middle will almost always be instantly handing possession back to your opponent, while balls down the wing are annoyingly hit and miss. The passing system lets you dictate how far the ball will go depending on how long you hold the button down, but in terms of fluid intuitiveness it doesn't hold a candle to PES. It may simply be a learning issue, and maybe I'll 'get' it in time but even after a solid week, my passing game never seemed to click properly, with passes consistently missing their mark.

Getting possession back, too, can be a real chore. In theory, simply pressing A to apply pressure or a press tackle instructs your nearest man to harass and closely mark the player on the ball. According to EA's own literature "the defending player will tackle as soon as the opportunity presents itself" which is as woolly a definition imaginable. Apparently, the player is supposed to automatically track the ball, meaning you don't need to apply a specific tackling direction, but it's an instruction which appears completely inconsistent - sometimes working a charm, other times seeming to be a completely ineffective means of wrestling back possession.

Beyond that you can resort to pressing B to call upon the 'secondary press' which calls a second player to help close down the player, but, again, two of your players will stalk a zig-zagging player for half the length of the pitch and still be unable to get a decent foot in most of the time. Other times it works well, and it's this inconsistency which makes FIFA sometimes a mite more frustrating than PES. In PES you'll stand a much greater chance of succeeding with pressing, and that makes you learn how to double tap RB at the right time to get extra space, and shield in tight situations. FIFA makes it easier for the attacking team to smuggle the ball through and go on snaking runs, but when you're the defending side it can feel like the game's not giving you a fair fight.

As for sliding tackles... don't even bother. Whereas PES 6 lets you block tackle quite effectively with timely ground-based interceptions (which allow you to 'scoop' the ball off the opposition's toe when you're running alongside them, too) and lets you off with yellow cards if you tackle from behind (most of the time), FIFA is a different story altogether. EA's handling of the dreaded sliding tackle is not only far less flexible, but hands out straight red cards for the most innocuous trip in non-threatening parts of the pitch. In addition, rather like PES5 you'll constantly find yourself penalised with free kicks for the crime of merely pressing opponents (something fixed in PES6, incidentally), which essentially neuters the whole process of regaining possession. It's a strange non-contact sport that gets a bit exasperating after a while and leaves you unable to give a true physical response to your opponent's attacks. While this isn't such a big issue with the AI, played against the less forgiving human player the ref is constantly breathing down your neck for the most trivial misdemeanours and it's difficult to work out the parameters of what you can and can't do. In summary, a slightly broken tackling system and harsh refereeing contribute to spoiling some of the core facet of a very promising game.

The sprinting system, meanwhile, is a damned sight more effective than previous FIFAs, and in some senses more effective and therefore less frustrating than PES this year. For a start, wing play is noticeably more effective here when you feed someone like Robben down the left, and makes for a an exciting, free-flowing game with plenty of crossing and goal mouth incident as a result. Tied in to the two-tier fatigue system, you get a handy visual indicator of your player's long and short-term fatigue. For example, a player will recover quickly from a quick dash, but gradually lose energy the more you punish them with a high tempo game. Similar in a sense to PES' less visible system, there's a definite benefit to being able to see exactly how fit your player is at any given time. In terms of actual pace, FIFA's sprinting system is much more like PES5 in being able to outpace your opponent, and I have to admit I much prefer it this way.

Shooting, meanwhile, feels slick and intuitive, not to mention spectacular. Shots connect with real venom and purpose, and you can enjoy some hugely satisfying moments when things come off. Allied to the rather wonderful animation system and some decent ball physics, you get a much better sense that the body parts properly connect - and you don't need the replays to confirm that. Certainly, the new high-def FIFA on a big screen is one of the most visually stunning sports games yet, and the benefit of being able to see the precise animations of relatively small players is enormous. On the other hand, it's a mite annoying to have to remember to press RB to perform what EA terms the 'finesse' shot. In other words, it guarantees accuracy at the expense of power. As with PES, EA can't resist loading up FIFA with so many modifiers and combos that your head's spinning with the control options available to you. Several years on from the introduction of the 'trick stick', it still doesn't feel remotely natural to reach over to the right stick when you receive the ball and then go back to the buttons and switch back, loose off a shot while holding RB just to stand a better chance of getting a shot on target. As an aside, can we not go back to basics and refine these bloated control systems? Less is more.

In so many areas FIFA 07 gets things absolutely spot on. The online play, for example, is streets ahead of PES6's lag-ridden farce and makes it instantly the preferable choice if you intend to spend most of your multiplayer time on Live, with results logged and mailed to your real-life inbox. But even then, EA manages to do strange things like not allow you to replay your last opponent without re-inviting them from scratch.

As is the case with every FIFA, the presentation side of the game is mostly superb - as it always is - but it's not the definitive article that we were hoping for. For example, you might be a little perturbed to find that a mere six leagues made it into the game, which amounts to a mere 117 clubs. Compared to previous FIFAs this is a paltry amount (no Championship for starters), and with some questionable player likenesses this time around, you might baulk at some of the next-gen corner-cutting that has ensured that the game has shipped with a fraction of the content that you might expect.

There's also the question of achievements. Whereas PES6 dishes out points almost for free, FIFA 07 has some ludicrous requirements, such as 50 wins in a row, or 50 man of the match awards as a defender and so on. Put it this way, you won't be mining this FIFA for cheap points like the infamous World Cup edition, and focusing on rather arbitrary goals it gives less incentive to explore the other single-player modes - such as the rather basic (but nevertheless entertaining) Manager Mode. Would it have really taken much effort to throw in a few achievements based on, say, winning the league, cup or promotion?