There's also much more to the game than what happens on the pitch. However, spend a little time tweaking the game settings to suit your style of play - especially the manual player select, which is too sluggish on default - and FIFA 07 is all the better for it. Cranking up the difficulty to Professional alleviates the problem a little but FIFA 07 still plays a high scoring game of football which some may find a little too unrealistic. They're pretty pathetic against free-kicks too, with Petr Cech - one of the best shot-stoppers in the world - beaten twice in close succession by Mark Viduka from over 35 yards away. Liverpool's Jose Reina let in an absolute howler from over 30 yards, a fairly weak shot hitting the inside of his leg and trickling over the line. On the subject of flaws, the goalkeepers on the default settings make too many mistakes. Sure, team rosters can be manually changed but in our opinion it's an annoying oversight - but thankfully one that will be rectified for the Xbox 360 version. Gallas still plays for Chelsea, Cole and Campbell are included in the Gunners line-up and Van Nistelrooy still plays in red and black. Unfortunately the player roster is accurate only up until 27 August, so any transfers made after that date are not included. You see, when we mentioned Cole and Ljungberg linking up earlier it wasn't a mistake on our part but one of the (admittedly very few) niggles we have with FIFA 07. It's not just the top clubs that work together well either and, as ever, FIFA caters for the lower league teams superbly well, boasting over 500 teams from 27 leagues - all with the proper kits, badges and players. Take Arsenal for example: watching Freddie Ljungberg effortlessly thread an inch-perfect through-ball to Ashley Cole who's passed him on the overlap is a sight to behold, especially when the move is finished off with a superbly hit half-volley from Thierry Henry.

In fact, playing as Barcelona or Chelsea, or any other club with a high 'team chemistry' rating for that matter, is one of the most satisfying footy experiences to be had, with individual players linking up to play some truly beautiful football. Speaking of fellow team-mates, they react more intelligently to the way you play, making probing runs and backtracking to cover out-of-position defenders far better than any other FIFA game - and, dare we say it, PES5. In fact you're more likely to get one over the opposition by passing the ball around to create space, using the runs of AI players to split the defence and open up the goal for a clear shot. Admittedly, it's still possible to score from long range (more on that later) but it's much harder. Thankfully they're virtually non-existent here, with defenders closing down shots much quicker - especially if you're playing as a decent team. Ah yes, the notorious scoring sweet spots that dogged previous FIFA outings. Therefore you might get a lucky deflection that directs your shot into the back of the net, but more often than not you'll only score through skill - a requirement somewhat lacking in previous FIFA games. Fumbling goalies, awkward deflections and other on-pitch occurrences like handballs - all part of the beautiful game in real life - are in FIFA 07 too, but they happen randomly rather than being associated to a pre-determined animation or particular set-piece. That's all changed, with EA cranking up the complexity of the ball physics so that the game feels more natural and the ball reacts in a much more organic way. In previous FIFAs the ball physics were painfully basic and as such the way a shot bounced around the pitch or deflected off a keeper depended primarily on player animations rather than acting independently. Playing FIFA 07 is an experience much closer to the real game than ever before and that's largely down to the way the ball now reacts.

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