FIFA 07 review

It ain't easy managing your own soccer club. Between your bosses on the board, fans in the stands, scribes in the media and players on the pitch, it seems like everyone is working against you if even the slightest things go awry - which they often do in the Beautiful Game.

Whether you're running a world-class side or a second-tier bunch of also-rans, the gods will conspire to make your life difficult. Of course, if you've got what it takes to build a champion, everyone loves you (until, of course, the next losing streak). It's a tough life, but someone's gotta do it.

The latest footy feat from Electronic Arts, FIFA 07, drops you headfirst into the life of a club boss. On the pitch, the action is tight and startlingly flexible. Individual players can rip off all sorts of jaw-dropping moves by planting your right thumb on the "trick stick" (naturally, the more gifted the player, the wider the gape of the mouth), provided you're using a two-sticked controller that the game recognizes.

In its neverending quest to build the perfect soccer game (or at least catch up to Winning Eleven), EA has again expanded the options for shooting, passing, and otherwise bringing the pain onto your opponent. Even series vets will have to teach themselves some new thumb exercises to exploit all the shimmies and dashes at your fingertips. Don't bother trying to play with a keyboard, though - it's a controller or nothing as far as we're concerned. Getting ours configured was more of a pain in the neck than we'd like to admit, but after a bit of driver downloading, we were all set.

You could easily lose yourself in the depths of the Manager mode. Any team is yours for the taking, from the powerhouses of the world like Chelsea, AC Milan and Real Madrid to the dregs of the "minor" leagues of third-tier divisional clubs. Unless you're a masochist, it's probably not a good idea to try and get a low-level squad from Football League 2 to the FA Premier League as your first order of business, as budget constraints prevent you from spending money like a drunken sailor.

It ain't easy managing your own soccer club. Between your bosses on the board, fans in the stands, scribes in the media and players on the pitch, it seems like everyone is working against you if even the slightest things go awry - which they often do in the Beautiful Game.

Whether you're running a world-class side or a second-tier bunch of also-rans, the gods will conspire to make your life difficult. Of course, if you've got what it takes to build a champion, everyone loves you (until, of course, the next losing streak). It's a tough life, but someone's gotta do it.

The latest footy feat from Electronic Arts, FIFA 07, drops you headfirst into the life of a club boss. On the pitch, the action is tight and startlingly flexible. Individual players can rip off all sorts of jaw-dropping moves by planting your right thumb on the "trick stick" (naturally, the more gifted the player, the wider the gape of the mouth), provided you're using a two-sticked controller that the game recognizes.

In its neverending quest to build the perfect soccer game (or at least catch up to Winning Eleven), EA has again expanded the options for shooting, passing, and otherwise bringing the pain onto your opponent. Even series vets will have to teach themselves some new thumb exercises to exploit all the shimmies and dashes at your fingertips. Don't bother trying to play with a keyboard, though - it's a controller or nothing as far as we're concerned. Getting ours configured was more of a pain in the neck than we'd like to admit, but after a bit of driver downloading, we were all set.

You could easily lose yourself in the depths of the Manager mode. Any team is yours for the taking, from the powerhouses of the world like Chelsea, AC Milan and Real Madrid to the dregs of the "minor" leagues of third-tier divisional clubs. Unless you're a masochist, it's probably not a good idea to try and get a low-level squad from Football League 2 to the FA Premier League as your first order of business, as budget constraints prevent you from spending money like a drunken sailor.