From the moment you pop in EA Sports’ newest soccer title, 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany, you’ll be instantly impressed with the visuals. While the stadiums are great, they are also not jaw-dropping. Where you will certainly be impressed, however, is when looking at any of the close-ups of the player models. Their skin seems to have the perfect amount of shine, and the clothing looks equally rich. It’s not to say the game is completely without graphical issues, however. At times you will see small glitches in the distance. But the most noticeable issue was with seeing a black seam along the tops of some bald players’ heads.

Using one of your other senses, you’ll also be able to hear the commentators spot-on as they call the action on the field. As they announce the game, they even throw in a few humorous one-liners, like when you take a bad shot, as an example. The crowd cheers and on the field sounds are quite generic in nature, but also serve their purpose well.

It was a surprise to see a second soccer game already hitting store shelves from EA’s lineup, especially given that the Xbox 360 is currently less than six months old. But what I’m not surprised to see is that the gameplay of this new FIFA is much better than the previous incarnation. It’s not so much that the formula has changed all that much, but the gameplay just seems a bit more fun. It seems as though the game has become a more pick-up-and-play title this time around, allowing anyone the opportunity to do well. Each experience will change however, as human and computer controlled players all have a mind of their own.

The exclusive FIFA license definitely has its advantages, and the World Cup mode keeps the game interesting. From the first game you play, you’ll be in a race with the futbol teams of the world to win the most glamorous sports title across the globe. This "season" mode allows for the player to manage every detail of his or her favorite team.

As you compete in this latest soccer title on 360, you’ll be able to unlock items and strive to complete many objectives. These goals are another method of keeping the game interesting, but basically come down to playing against every team in the game, and competing and placing in the race for the World Cup.

But for sure, the most interesting and fun part of 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany is in the multiplayer games. Where single-player is fun, playing against your buddies (or online via Xbox Live) is a new experience with each and every game. The control, difficulty, and computer A.I. is in a near-perfect harmony to allow for quick matches that you can sit down and play in a matter of minutes.

Unfortunately, my experience online was that of a lot of choppiness, which made for uneventful gameplay. Curiously missing from online play are any sort of tournaments. What? A World Cup game without tourneys? What gives?

In the sense that you’ll likely spend most of your time playing against other human opponents, the difficulty level often changes for you. Of course, against the CPU, you’ll have a variety of levels of difficulty as well, just in the form of settings. I’ve found that the defaults are just about perfect for most players. What does frustrate me, however, is that it seems as though the A.I. changes a lot between single-player and multiplayer modes, making it more difficult to perform certain actions. And of course, a lot of practice is needed if you head online, because there are a lot of great players out there (I’m not one of them!), who can whoop your butt if you are only an average competitor.

Controlling your players is much better than in the previous FIFA titles. The controls seem a bit easier and more rewarding, and allow for more simple moves to be performed. There are options to perform some more complex moves, however, which means that casual fans and veterans alike should enjoy 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany. The game is still plagued by accidental passing/shooting though, so you do have to be careful about hitting a button to switch your players if you are already the closest to the ball (otherwise he will kick it upon touching it).

The single player experience is good, and the multiplayer is great. Unfortunately for me, the Internet wasn’t kind in FIFA Germany as each game I played was choppy and affected the gameplay greatly. I was also frustrated with the sheer number of times in which I had to research for opponents, as they casually back out from the team select screen as soon as they see I chose Brazil (hey guys and gals... play me anyway... your rank is sure to go up!). Hopefully EA will find a fix for that problem, which plagues their sports titles greatly. Other than relatively few complaints, however, 2006 FIFA World up Germany is a solid title and worthy of a rental for most, and a buy for worldwide fans of soccer.