Alive and Kicking Just as we can be partial to either The Beatles or Elvis, Tolkien or Rowling, Gamecube or Xbox, we can either breathe soccer or gag on it. The same can be said for those who would rather play the actual sport or the digital equivalent, but since we at the Revolution are more skilled with our fingers than feet, we'd rather save our shins and play the video game. And whether your league is competitive or couch, you're likely to be one of two types of soccer gamers. Are you one of the Winning Eleven clan or a FIFA man? The answer to that question will ultimately dictate your opinion of EA's FIFA 2005 ... full review

Midfielder's Choice As the years crawl by, we can be sure of only three things: The sun will rise in the east, you'll remember less today than you did yesterday, and another FIFA will come out right on time. It's been that way for about a dozen years now, and luckily, FIFA 06 also heralds a fresher path for the franchise while giving you more of the depth and accuracy you've enjoyed since the beginning. It's not a new kick, but it's a marginally better one. Most of the modes and features are back, though all see some notable tweaks. The core Manager Mode delivers over 500 real teams, 10,000 players and tracks a 15 year career, all of which should be more than enough for any hardcore soccer buff ... full review

Cleats of Rage EA's Street franchise started off as the company's response to the arcade hoops antics of Midway, and in the case of NBA Street, it was one hell of an answer. But instead of sticking with one sport, EA literally went Big and tried porting the concept over to other, less street-worthy sports, like football and soccer, both with mixed results. One of those already got a mediocre sequel, and now, so does the other. Once you pour FIFA Street 2 on the pavement, you'll quickly see how this collection of arcade debris fails to form anything resembling a ball ... full review

Triple Dribble Finding new sports for Mario to take up is getting seriously tricky. Let's see what out favorite Italian stereotype has left to play, shall we? How about "Mario Angling"? That might be fun, but we'll save that one for the Wii-mote. "Donkey Kong Zorbing"? Nah, too much like Super Monkey Ball. Ok, got it: "Princess Peach Buzkashi Party". See how the word "party" makes it all seem more fun and accessible? Those are the two qualities Mario Hoops shoots for, thanks to its never-before-touched all-stylus control scheme. But after feeling around for an hour, you'll realize that learning to play ball in the mushroom kingdom is more challenging and more fun than actually playing - mostly because the stylus interface design is thorough in its use of every possible type of stylus command: swipes, double swipes, taps, double and triple taps, gestures, and holds ... full review

This Ain't the Life Don't let this screenshots page fake you out. Skim the overview quickly and take note of the buzz phrases: "new gameplay features", "advanced AI", and "most realistic and engaging NBA experience available". With this review donning the mantle of an applied crash course in "P.R. Transparency Made E-Z", know that whenever you see both vague terminology and wide superlatives, nine times out of ten, you'll be excited while cracking open the game box - then it's downhill. And such it is with NBA 07. First, let's cover "new gameplay features", which is one of my personal favorite phrases since it can mean anything from a full-on mode to an extra "sweatiness" slider; thus it usually means nothing ... full review

My New Pet Rock Once our roundball reviewer bounced, we were forced to find another basketball reviewing scrub, and he is me. I'm not sure why our rapidly-aging coach plucked me from my comfy bench warmer position, but maybe it had to do with my drunken comment that if we were to take to the court in real life, he'd only be able to recognize me from the bottoms of my shoes, as I skied over him en route to the rim. Curse this foul tongue and these great hops! Or maybe bless them, because they won me a great game in an awesome series. Visual Concepts didn't change NBA 2K7 a whole lot from last year. The deep control scheme is intact. The context-sensitive right analog shot and defend sticks are still perfectly functional, and the complex isomotion handling scheme is as good as ever ... full review

Contempt of Court Sports franchises are great money savers, due to their heavy yet understandable reliance on yesteryear's code. They're also great money makers, since critics turn blind eyes to the makers' acts of necromancy, and you, the unwashed masses, don't seem to notice. As a result, sports games are one of the best rackets this side of dot communism (aka YouTube and MySpace). Well if EA wants to save money by re-releasing last year's basketball game with nothing but a new haircut, so should you. Now buy some soap. NBA Live 07 is highlighted by modes and options that were melted off last year's anorexic offering, however, this year's "new additions" are really just features floated over from two years ago, making NBA Live 07 essentially NBA Live 2005 Part 2 ... full preview

Not the Breast it Could Be After suffering through scores of games where sweaty men forcefully slap flesh together, the universe balanced itself by tossing Rumble Roses XX on my lap. In spite of its lithe vixens, reviewing this game was a heavy burden, one I accepted almost unwillingly. Almost. I know pitting beautifully rendered models against each other in flashy battles for popularity sounds rock solid on paper, but after wrestling with these ladies for awhile, you'll find the weak content distracts you more than the cleavage. This is where I'd talk about the back story, if there were one. Instead, you pick a wrestler and randomly choose battles from a map screen. As you win, your popularity increases a little, and when you're as popular as you can get, you'll eventually land a title bout. There is no aim, context, or guidance, just battle after sleazy battle ... full review

Striking, but not Super After all the sports games Mario has been involved in, from Mario Power Tennis to NBA Street V3, you'd figure he would have lost some weight and toned up that stomach. Considering how often his girlfriend gets kidnapped, it only makes sense that he'd work out a little. Don't-a kick sand inna my face! At the very least, you know he's got marathon lungs, especially after Super Mario Strikers' nonstop madness from the minute you fire it up until the minute you shut it down. Unfortunately, a minute isn't very long, and for all its zany hijinks this soccer game has the lasting appeal of a kick to the groin ... full review

Can You Smell What the Cube is Cookin'? From the bootleg bloodbaths of the 70's to the plight of superhero wannabes in the 80's to the incendiary rhetoric of today's pec-powered, thrash-metal, Days of Our Lives extras, pro wrestling has evolved to keep up with the times...with some bras & panties scattered in there to keep the casual fans interested. How far the WWE has come from the Junkyard Dog days causes as much wonderment as spray cheese on Matzo balls, though the foundation of muscle, attitude and athleticism has remained unchanged. The same can be said of wrestling games - same deal, different mafia. The latest installment, WWE: Day of Reckoning, follows the family formula to a tee. Over 35 wrestlers are available, including Triple H, Kane, Rhyno, Ric Flair, The Rock, Y2J, The Big Show, Undertaker, Rey Mysterio and even unlockable old-school fools like Andre The Giant and Brutus Beefcake. BEEFCAKE ... full review

A Day Like Any Other Professional wrestling is a cultural platypus. It's a combination of elements that have no earthly business being together, a beast that's part sport, part soap-opera, and all macho craziness. Love it or hate it, it's proven to be as durable as the Hulkster himself. But within its own world, professional wrestling is so predictable and rehashed it almost feels like you're watching spruced-up reruns of matches you saw in the 80s, just with bigger pecs, better athletes and hotter sidekicks. So it comes as a slight disappointment, if not much of a surprise, that THQ's new WWE Day of Reckoning 2 also feels like a refry of the original ... full review

There Goes the Pain With Sequelmania sweeping the nation, it's hard to keep track of which wrestling game can be rightfully called the champ. Unless you're that wacko patriot who needs to have Kurt Angle in his newest lycra jumpsuit, small changes to a game's engine or content don't usually warrant another $50 slam. So each year, the decision to go further into debt begs the question: "How many minor updates amount to a major one?" The answer, it turns out, is found in WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2006. Though it doesn't add much we haven't already seen in past wrestling games (or even in Yuke's other grappler, WWE Day of Reckoning 2), the plethora of tweaks make all the little pieces snap into place to form a great new game while keeping the franchise's arcadey, fast-paced roots deliciously intact ... full review

Ayyyyy! Es Muy Bueno! America: Land of the Bear Claw with Coffee, the 9 to 5, the Freedom Fry and the dubiously named sport of football. Since the advent of organized sports, Americans have always regarded soccer as a Big Mac with no cheese -- not worth paying for. Well, it's time to trade in that Whopper for a nice, fat helping of rice and beans because Winning Eleven 7 will show you why the rest of Earth watches Futbol'and loves it. The multiple game modes in WE 7 take you from wearing jammies with little footballs on them to Pele in a Stealth Suit. Training Mode includes an effective Beginner's Tutorial as well as Challenge Training, which contains numerous shooting, passing, and dribbling drills that all play like great mini-games in their own right. Have fun while you learn: what a concept ... full review

How to Develop a Foot Fetish Buying a sequel to a sports game is always a rough prospect. Sure, it's important to keep up with your favorite teams' lineup changes, but a lot of the time it feels like that's all you're getting for fifty bucks. Now imagine you're in Konami's shoes and need to make a sequel to the acclaimed Winning Eleven 7, a game with no licensed rosters, and some of the best gameplay ever seen in a sports title. How do you even attempt to add anything noteworthy without seeming gimmicky? Having played and studied World Soccer Winning Eleven 8 International (enough title there for 3 games " Ed.), and seen that it is in fact the best one yet, we gleaned these important nuggets of wisdom. ... full review

Putting the world into the winning Buying a sequel to a sports game is always a rough prospect. Sure, it's important to keep up with your favorite teams' lineup changes, but a lot of the time it feels like that's all you're getting for fifty bucks. Now imagine you're in Konami's shoes and need to make a sequel to the acclaimed Winning Eleven 7, a game with no licensed rosters, and some of the best gameplay ever seen in a sports title. How do you even attempt to add anything noteworthy without seeming gimmicky? Having played and studied World Soccer Winning Eleven 8 International (enough title there for 3 games " Ed.), and seen that it is in fact the best one yet, we gleaned these important nuggets of wisdom. ... full review

Of Only it Were a Free Kick Simple is good. Everyone agrees, from Cro-Magnons to our elected officials, that simple proves to be an effective bone to wield in getting what you want, regardless of whether or not that 's beneficial to anyone. When it comes to video games, having only one title in a genre makes for a much simpler decision than having to choose between three or four, as is usually the case with sports games. Gamers fiending for futbol after catching the bug from games like Winning Eleven 8 will not find much substance to 989's opportunistic entry, however. Though the gameplay is decent fun and it's cool seeing visuals from a time after the 1980's in your sweaty palms, World Tour Soccer's limited offer is akin to a marginally implemented infomercial product - it's more impressive in someone else's hands ... full review