Every four years one of the greatest sporting events of all time takes place. One where the best footballers from all around the world join together to represent their home countries in the most prestigious international soccer tournament there is. Of course I’m talking about the FIFA World Cup, which is only one month away. This means it’s about that time again for EA to send out a lacking soccer game plastered with the FIFA World Cup license. Thankfully, that is not the case this time around.

Once you fire up FIFA WC and play a few practice matches, you’ll probably want to select your favorite international squad and lead it to glory in the World Cup mode. In this mode you can either choose to go through the rigorous qualification matches and earn your spot in the World Cup, or you can elect to jump right into the 32-team tournament. Of course neither of these options have nearly the depth of a normal franchise mode in most sports games since once you lose an elimination game or finally hold up the trophy after winning the event you’re done until you start another file in World Cup mode. It would be great if you could carry on after the World Cup and keep on building up your team for the next four years.

EA does try and make up for the lack of depth in the World Cup mode by adding in historical World Cup scenarios. You can play out some of the most exciting moments in the history of the glorious tournament here. Although I was disappointed not to see a "Score a goal off of a hand ball with Argentina" challenge, I still had a lot of fun with the historical scenarios. One thing plaguing this mode was that you have to use all of the current teams for classic games. So anyone looking to play as Pele or Diego Maradona will be disappointed. In addition to the historical scenarios you can also have a Penalty Kick Shootout and play online. Fans of FIFA 06 will be disappointed to find out that this version lacks the FIFA Lounge. Another thing to note is that this game does not have Create a Player.

Now for the most important part of any soccer game, the gameplay. While FIFA WC is still not as good as Winning Eleven in the A.I. department, it sure comes close. You’ll notice that the CPU will make smart runs and good passes, but occasionally the A.I. can leave you scratching your head--most of the time it will be keepers who don’t come out when they need to, leading to goals that probably shouldn’t have happened. The controls are the same as FIFA 06, and you still have the option to change them to suit players who are used to the Winning Eleven-style controls.

As you play the game more and more, you’ll be rewarded with points after completing certain achievements. For example you’ll receive points for shutting out the opposing team, getting a hat trick with a player, and beating certain teams. You can use these points to unlock classic kits, new balls, a tougher AI and more. The only bad thing about this is that all of the unlockables are pretty disappointing. There are hardly any classic uniforms, you won’t even notice which ball you’re using in the game, and the unlockables that alter the gameplay like turbo mode or slow motion are something that you’ll use once and never bother with again.

The graphics on the 360 are very well done. The player models are superb--when the camera zooms in on some of the star players in the game he can be mistaken as a real person in a real match. The crowds and stadiums are also highly detailed and look nice. The cutscenes at the start and end of each game can really draw you into the experience, and the same goes for the cutscenes after scoring a goal. You will be seeing the same one several times, but they still look and sound good. After you win a game your team will celebrate on the field as your fans cheer and your national anthem plays, and it’ll feel like you’re actually watching the World Cup. Needless to say the presentation is great. The soundtrack, on the other hand, is pretty lame. There is a huge list of songs but most of them are international and, well, not good.

Overall 2006 FIFA World Cup is a great soccer game and undoubtedly the best on the 360. Basically it comes down to this: If you want a World Cup game, buy this game now.