E-Mail This Article to a Friend Britpop and Beckham FIFA on PSP bends it well BY AARON SOLOMON
	FIFA Soccer 06 For the PSP (also on the PS2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, GBA, Nintendo DS, PC, and Mobile) | Rated "E" for Everyone | Developed by EA Canada/ Published by Electronic Arts Inc.

In his book Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs, Chuck Klosterman calls soccer (a/k/a "footie") "inherently un-American," something that’s geared to, and rewards, what he calls "Outcast Culture." The implication is pretty clear: Chuck hates soccer.

But Chuck also claims to have only purchased one video game in his life, and he all but likens the video-game phenomena to some sort of cultural equivalent of masturbation — a belief he’s probably happy to see exacerbated by the rise of hand-held gaming, which is all about the "Outcast Culture." He’d probably view FIFA Soccer 06 for the Playstation Portable as an unholy doubling of said culture. But even he couldn’t deny that it has sensibilities and a soundtrack — full songs (and even some videos) by Embrace, Mando Diao, Oasis, Bloc Party, LCD Soundsystem, Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley and more — that any hipster would love.

First, the graphics. The PSP’s giant screen still can’t prevent Frank Lampard from looking like a blue pixilated ant. Such is the hand-held. But the transition movies — as when Thierry Henry nets a goal or Wayne Rooney draws a yellow card — did live up to my expectations: the players’ faces and unis are detailed and grand. The pitches are as accurate as they can be (many of the ads are replaced with generics), the colors are lush, and the chants in the stands are audible and fun.

The controls are reasonably intuitive, mimicking those of previous console versions of the game, though I periodically fiddled about trying to find the PSP’s toggle stick. This led to some comical situations where my players were left standing as their opponents burned through the backfield, but because I often played as the English national squad, these lapses were usually compensated for by my dominance of lesser sides like Mexico and Northern Ireland. (I know, I’m a bully.)

New to FIFA 06 is a Juggling mini-game in which you’re asked to rotate the PSP into a vertical position (good thing it’s hand-held!) and then hit the corresponding arrow on the D-pad when prompted. The faster you go, the more points you earn for some sweet in-game rewards like new unis (Kaiserslautern’s alternate kit) and stadiums (Parc des Princes at night). It’s a cool use of the portable feature, though it means the action buttons are now on the top of the machine, and that can cause you to miss a prompt — costly given that you only have five misses altogether. Another new feature is the Challenge mode, in which you can relive key situations from the 2004-2005 season — the April game between Man City and Liverpool begins nil-nil with 25 minutes left, so you can try and get Kiki Musampa to nail home the match winner for the Blues, as he did in the real thing.

There are nearly 40 songs available from the start (two more can be unlocked), and the mostly Britpop fare sounds decent with headphones. Add it all up and FIFA 06 for the PSP is a jolly good time, one that actually encourages playing with your hands.

To prevent the dreaded "Outcast Culture" from spiking up, moreover, FIFA 06 is WI-FI compatible with up to four players. Klosterman can call it the GOP: "Group Outcast Culture."