Do you enjoy the game of football – the same football that most of the world calls its’ own, otherwise known in America as soccer? Well EASports has a terrific PlayStation game that will inspire fast-finger action, allow you to sprint to the goal and snipe the ball past the goalkeeper with the greatest of ease.

FIFA 2001 is a Major League Soccer program that transcends the United States and encompasses the world. Missing from the FIFA 2000 title, published last year by EASports, are the classic teams. But there are a variety of world leagues and some of the best teams, with the names of players from those leagues that will entreat and challenge your ability.

Each team is rated on skills, giving you the option to play an exhibition against an inferior team.

There are some soccer rules (or football) that are lacking from this program. A pass to a seemingly onsides player is often whistled for the offsides. For those true to the game, that is just plain wrong. However, the ease of the control interface and the non-stop action allows the gameplay to flow seamlessly.

The announcing duties have been turned over. Julie Foudy, former member of the U.S. women’s national team, and sometimes broadcaster, no longer lends her voice to this program. But the male broadcasters do a wonderful job of describing the action.

You can play an exhibition ‘friendly’ match, play through a tournament, a season, create a custom cup scenario or just go through training. Team management modes allow you to trade players and manage the team of your choice through an intense season. Each substitution lies in your hands.

The PlayStation version of FIFA soccer is a wonderfully rendered program The camera angles allow you to get up close to the action and the sounds, slight vibration in analog controllers during a particularly hard tackle give a real feel for the game. Ok, the graphical elements may not rival the real thing, but they are similar to the PC version of the program.

Rated for Everyone, FIFA 2001 is a well-constructed program that will challenge and delight sports fans across the board. This product has incorporated left-footed action like never before and brought a more realistic look to this genre of console gaming.

Install: Easy
Though not really applicable, this program does come up fast and only uses one block on a memory card.

Gameplay: 9
You must be quick on the control pad, switching players in order to stay in the action. The variety of camera angles is very nice, and the play is seamless once a match begins. The only interruption - which is not a diversion, but rather enhances the feel of the game - is when you get to see the instant replay of a goal.

Graphics: 8.5
The polygonal characters are well-rendered. The game does seem to be played in one stadium and the crowd is only a combination of small blobs, but the players look good and move very realistically.

Sound: 7.5
Though well done, they are merely typical of this style of game. However, the announcers do a superb job.

Concept: 7
Not entirely a new idea, the game differs from its predecessor with the omission of the classic teams. Those teams made FIFA 2000 more interesting. However, this program does have more realistic movement from the players.

Overall: 8.5
Though there is some breakdown in rules, this program does succeed in translating the pace and abilities of the game onto the console screen. This is not arcade action, but rather nice, flowing game play with a solid options package.