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FIFA 17

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In some gamers’ minds, the yearly update of EA Sports games like FIFA is an indication of what’s wrong with Triple A games. Being asked year after year to pay for what they see as a roster update is akin to nothing but the worst form of corporate greed. However, every year EA Sports and FIFA try to do something new, something to give fans of the series a reason to buy the yearly update, and not simply stick with the year before, or whichever year the fans vehemently argue was the best. Sometimes that works, like the introduction of FUT a number of years ago. Sometimes that fails, like the upgrade of engines when we first went from Xbox to Xbox360. This year, EA Sports have taken a risk and not only upgraded the engine, but added a whole new way of playing.

The big engine change is upgrading to the Frostbyte engine. Whilst FIFA has always looked good, sometimes the players and reactions to the way the match was played seemed a little off. Like when all the players played the same animation before the kick off. Like when the players seemed to do inappropriate actions to one another when one fell over. Frostbyte seeks to change all that, and does a reasonable job at it too. What this means is the game feels more lifelike than ever. Players sweat. Player breath frosts in the cold air. Players move around like players should – for the most part. There are still some odd results of the physics engine, such as often it appears players will kiss and feel each other up, which can be hilarious if you have the mind of a 12 year old (which I have).

Animations, whist still canned, appear far more varied and lifelike. The way players twist their body away from free kicks, for example, is far more realistic than previous years. Player movement feels smoother overall, and whilst close ups of players still force you into the uncanny valley, the players look far less ghoulish than in previous years.

The impact on the way FIFA plays in general is harder to recognise at first. The ball play does feel a little zippier, and the bounce and movement feel a little more realistic, although there are times where the ball does still feels glued to player’s feet. Because of the physicality of the engine, the game feels more brutal than in past iterations. Players are grabbed off the ball and physically blocked from the path of the ball. They’ve even introduced handball! It doesn’t occur often and can be switched off, but I liked having it on, because it did up the realism.

There are small changes to the way penalties and corners are handled now. There’s a movable aiming spot which allows you to pick out your man. It is deliberately imprecise and I’m not entirely sure that’s a good thing, as my I used to be rely on corners to get goals more often. You can choose to be the receiver of a corner or throw-in, allowing for more tactical outcomes however. Penalties are prefaced with a controlled run up now as well, which makes them just a little more difficult to execute.

The other big reason they introduced the new engine is the new mode – The Journey. In this mode you play as young Alex Hunter, rising from humble lower class beginnings to rubbing shoulders with the upper echelons of the FIFA sporting code. In a very RPG light-ish fashion, you improve your skills via training and playing, face and overcome several ‘big’ challenges, and make a bunch of decisions which will change your life forever… or at least to the end of the 15 or so hours you’ll be playing it. There are several animated vignettes which push the story along, as well as reaction pieces where you can be fiery, cool, or balanced and these slightly influence the game in terms of how you are seen by your peers and fans.

I must admit I was extremely dubious about this when it was first announced. PES also had a career mode which was like an RPG, but it was pretty awful, predictable and tacky. FIFA went to the expense of getting “authenticity coaches” to help with the plausibility of the story, and I must say I’m impressed. Yes, the story is tacky and predictable, but it’s played with such conviction, I even started to get angry with fake twitter feed when they would riff on Alex’s performance! Alex himself, played by Adetomiwa Edun, is likable enough, and it’s his gruff Grandfather, asshole ex-best-mate-now-rival Gareth Walker, and comic relief Danny Williams who joins you when you’re slumming in the lower league who make the story shine.

You earn your spot in the team by doing well in training, which leverages the minigames to more than just loading screen shenanigans. The mode itself can be played as a team or solo in the “play as a pro” style. I preferred team, because as is usual with the Pro mode, if your team is a bit rubbish (I chose Burnley because Claret and Blue!) then you don’t get to see much of the ball, so your score doesn’t improve as much as playing as the whole team. Playing as a team does have its drawbacks though – you can’t control the team’s formation, subs, or attack / defence approach like you can in the other modes.

There are a few other annoying nags about the mode in general. Training feels a bit grindy, however if you skip it you tend to score D or F, which means you won’t qualify for the starting line-up. It’s frustrating particularly later in the mode, because you’re doing so well during the match, which is the most fun part of the game after all, but skipping a session means you don’t get to play. You can’t skip or restart a match, although there are times, either for story purposes or because you don’t qualify for a game, that a match is skipped, so it feels a little odd. And there are odd story moments too – like being told your team faces relegation although you have won the majority of the games you played.

FUT has had some minor changes, the impact of which will depend on how interested you are in the mode. The “Ones to Watch” and Holiday Specials (the latest is a Halloween flavoured one called “Scream Team”) are new ways for prices of certain players to be artificially raised. They’ve also introduced Squad Building Challenges, which offer rewards for doing certain things, like putting a back four together all from the same country. However, the rewards are non-tradable, and be aware that doing challenges will remove those players from your club, so choose to do these wisely, especially if you have traded high value cards or even spent money on packs and players.

The other modes such as Manager Mode and the International Women’s Tournament all remain pretty much the same. Japan has been introduced to the International Women’s Tournament, and the mode is still pretty strong, feeling different enough from the men’s game, and I’m fairly certain FIFA is the only sports game to feature a women’s league at all. It would be nicer if this wasn’t tucked away behind menus this year though. Manager Mode focuses a little more on your objectives as a manager, and these are tailored more to your team. Choosing a lower division team means you won’t be asked to win the FA Cup to survive in your role, for example. However, gaining a place in the cup will give your team a financial boost. It’s a more realistic approach, which is appreciated, but doesn’t substantially alter the mode.

Conclusion:
EA took a risk with FIFA this year and it’s paid off. The new Journey mode is ultimately silly, but it’s surprisingly engaging and a lot of fun. The new engine makes the game better, not in leaps and bounds, but subtly so, and it’s not until a few hours of playing whatever mode you prefer that you appreciate the differences and the sense of realism the changes bring.

Pros:
New Engine improves the way the players look as well as the way the game plays.
New mode is surprisingly engaging and fun, leveraging disparate parts into a whole.
Women’s football remains a strong part of the game and difference to other sports games.

Cons:
Changes to FUT can result in the loss of paid for content if you’re not paying attention.
Women’s football mode is hidden behind the menus.

80/100

Review, Video Games, Writing, XboxWorld

FIFA 12

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Complaints levelled at EA and FIFA for just rehashing the same game have been fewer in recent years, and the game has gone from strength to strength, providing soccer lovers with a reason to upgrade from each previous year with not only the usual roster updates, but solid and worthwhile adjustments and advancements throughout the core game. This year it stumbles however, and whilst the advancements never feel like a misstep, it’s one of the times that yearly iterations must be called into question as more polishing could have made this the best FIFA yet.

It all starts with defence. Tactical Defending is what EA calls it, and it’s quite different to previous games. Rather than simply focussing on applying pressure on the ball barer, FIFA 2012’s defence system aims at being more realistic. The focus is now on jockeying, containing and positioning; forcing the player with the ball into positions where passing is impossible or will concede possession. Although there are tutorials showing you the new controls, it still takes a lot of getting used to, and I’m not entirely convinced it’s better.

It certainly changes the rhythm of the game, but, I found as I usually play as lesser ranked mid table teams, I get beaten far too often. The problem is computers don’t do errors very well, and this is all about forcing errors. It just feels though at times errors aren’t coming naturally, and you have slightly less control over the game than you should. It’s not so bad when you’re attacking; it never feels like it’s cheating, it just feels slightly off, and with more time they could have got this perfect. It can be turned off however, and reverted back to last year’s methods, but that kind of defeats the whole purpose of buying a new game.

Another new adjustment is the Player Impact Engine, which is the most noticeable change to the game, and also the one which seems to have the biggest need for more polish. Players are now complete physics representations, and when players collide with each other and the ball, this is taken into account. This allows for a far more realistic jostling and impacts and play, which when it works is an absolute joy to experience. Slight nudges to players can knock them off the ball, and dribbling becomes the art it should be.

This also affects tackling. Now tackling with the X button throws the player’s leg forward, and causes the player to halt their run in a much more realistic manner. It forces you to tackle less as otherwise you’ll lose momentum, and concede many frees. It becomes especially hairy in the box. Whereas previously it was simply stupid to slide in the box, now even tackling from behind can cause penalties to be called.
But like noticing a flaw in a diamond, when it goes wrong it’s really noticeable. I had my two forwards trip over each other at kick off, leaving the ball stranded on the kickoff spot as they flailed about. It pulls you out of the fiction of the game, like when noticing a jet trail in the background of a medieval fantasy film. It’s no game breaker though, but with a little more time and polish it could have been flawless and skyrocketed FIFA into the history books as most realistic soccer game ever.

The game features all the usual modes –Be A Pro, Tournaments, Manger, Player Manager all return, as expected. They’ve had the usual yearly tweaks to make them a little different from previous years, but honestly it hasn’t changed much. Be a Pro still works in the exact same manner, except now you have to work harder to keep your player’s performance high. The Manager Career mode transfer window feels more dramatic with countdown timers and AI teams constantly trying to poach your players, and morale seems to play a bigger part in this year’s series.

Ultimate Team is now included in the game from the get go, and I found this to be quite a fun little experience. Formally a downloadable and purchasable add on, Ultimate Mode gives you the ability to trade player cards with other people, buying player packs, and competing in the Ultimate Tourneys. Ultimately it’s a pay-to-win experience, especially if you want to be competitive online, but it’s nice to have it right on the disc rather than a separate download this year.

A new addition to the game’s modes is “EA Sports Football club”, featuring “Support Your Team” As you play FIFA, you earn XP, and this is used not only to unlock strips and balls and arenas, but also adds points to the team you designate as “yours”. Each week, the scores are tabulated and shown as a soccer season. It’s interesting that the “big teams” like Arsenal and Chelsea aren’t always at the top, but I have no idea if this is because supporters of those teams are just bad FIFA players, or if there is some huge organised movement for teams like Wycombe to get a little more free advertising.

There’s also the weekly challenge, where real-world events are recreated in FIFA so you can see if you can recreate them. Scenarios like Dortmund being 1 player and one goal down at half time, or Real Madrid winning 7 goals to 1. It’s a fun and often challenging distraction and one that acknowledges the wider enjoyment of the sport.

Online the game is as great as single player is, and free of lag for the most part. Again, I felt let down by the matchmaking, as I never felt able to seriously challenge any of the random players I was matched with. I admit I’m not the greatest player, but after a succession of being beaten by more than 5 goals, I’m left wondering is it just me, or is something else broken.

Lastly, these are little niggles which have no real impact overall, but demonstrate what I mean by needing more polish. Some menus are very slow to react to input. Sometimes the players don’t load in the Arena when loading a game. Overall loading across the entire title feel longer. Nothing which is really upsetting or detrimental to the experience, just that compared to previous iterations it seems a little worse.

Conclusion:
The additions this year make this a worthwhile pick up, but this year more than ever I wish the game wasn’t a yearly event. Although nothing new breaks the game, and with practice you’ll develop an appreciation and even fondness for the new changes, it’s the little flaws which indicate that perhaps EA didn’t get enough time to do everything they wanted. If the game was given more time for polish on the new features, this would easily be the best FIFA since 2010.

Pros:
New additions to tackling, player movement and so on make the game much more realistic
Ultimate Team included right on the disc
EAS Football Club is a great new addition

Cons:
The Player Impact Engine can cause things to look and feel wrong.
Overall the game needs polish
Online Matchmaking needs improvement

85/100

Review, Video Games, Writing, XboxWorld

FIFA 10

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Developers and Publishers get a great deal of flack over sports games. The general sentiment is that they just give a slight makeover to the graphics of the game, put in new team line ups, make minor tweaks, and re-package the last instalment which they sell for full price to a gullible public. Whilst this has been true in the past, last year EA did something astonishing with FIFA 09, providing a whole new way of playing the beautiful game, making giant leaps in replicating the sport of soccer in video games, and blew away the competition. In fact, I’m going to go as far to say FIFA 09 was so good that would be absolutely fine if EA rested on their laurels and just did a roster update.

However, EA Canada has shown the EA of the past is radically different to the EA of now, and worked hard to make FIFA 10 the best soccer game ever. Admittedly the changes are subtle to the uninitiated, but the changes do make it a whole new ball game.

One of the most important changes is you are now have completely free movement of players with the control stick. No longer are your players limited to the 8 axis of the stick; you can curve your runs onto the ball when up forward, you can zig zag run when you have the ball, you can put a nicer curve when kicking and passing, you can pass to people more accurately, and most importantly, you can make runs down the touch line and make adjustments without the ball going out of play. The change doesn’t sound like much on paper, but it makes the game so much better. Going back to FIFA 09 feels like stepping into the dark ages of Microprose International Soccer.

The player AI has been improved as well. Everyone is in constant motion, and plays flow beautifully from one moment to the next. If you make a pass, players will now step over the ball if another player is in a better position to advance the ball or score a goal. Players will rarely be caught off side, and if they are it’s because the AI pulls the opposing team up-field. Defenders will step into intercept crossed balls. Opposition players are marked correctly, and your player will return into position if you pull them to help attack. Goalie AI has improvements too. In FIFA 09 I found the keepers dives impossible to beat, but now the keeper moves a little more out of his box and liable to make more mistakes, making it feel much more of an authentic game.

The ball physics have also been refined for the better. Kickers can curve and spin the ball with much more precision, and the ball moves far more naturally than any previous soccer game. I’ve scored a Beckham style corker of a goal I never was able to do in FIFA 09 because of the way the ball floated in the air.

All of this combines to bring you one of the best simulations of the soccer ever seen. In fact, the game is so stunningly accurate to ‘real life’ that my flatmate mistook it for me watching a real match. It’s not just the graphics, which are superb as usual, it’s everything – the way the teams work the ball, the way individual players look and behave, down to the commentary and the crowd noise. Yes, even the commentary sounds authentic, with Andy and Martin sounding like they’re actually at your match. Sometimes the game will slip up and get names wrong or misinterpret a cross, but there is a much bigger range of comments and banter, and I’ve only heard a few lines repeated.

Off the field there have been changes too. The addition of Virtual Pro allows you to build up a player, who can look like you, and be played across multiple game modes – no more waiting 4 seasons to get your star out of Be A Pro and into Manager Mode. You’ll even build up your players’ stats in the Arena mode. The menus have remained largely the same, which is a little disappointing because they’re still awkward to navigate, but with so many options it’s hard to think of a better way of managing them.

There’s a set play editor, which I’ve fiddled with but didn’t really get the best use out of. Accessed through Arena mode, which itself is more robust this year with options available from a couple of button presses and quicker to load, you can set up plays from corners and free kicks. It’s quite complicated and fiddly, you have to select individual players and then record where they go with no kind of copy and paste function, but hardcore coaches will have a grand old time with it.

I have to make mention of the EA Game Face here. Like previously, you could put your ugly mug on your pro player. Last year, you used the Xbox Live Camera in game. This year you use the EA Game Face web application. Annoyingly, this application went down for a few days at launch, and unfortunately only works for windows PCs. If you don’t have a decent front on image, you’ll need a camera or webcam that works on PC to generate it, although you can use any picture on your hard drive to generate the image. Most annoyingly, it takes twice as long as the in-game method and ties up your PC for that entire time. Whilst I appreciate being able to use any image, they should have stuck with the in-game method for simplicity.

Be A Pro is slightly different this year. It’s still a season with points rewarded for how you play to the position you’ve selected, with bonus points awarded for achieving the coach’s objectives. However, you gain points as you play and they’re assigned automatically. Play defensive, become a more defence based player, with better stats in running and tackling. I am not so fond of this as I feel it’s taken something away from the player – sure it’s good that it builds up based on the way you play, but if you wanted to become a better crosser, you’re going to have to cross the ball more often, which reduces your shot count, for example. I preferred building up my players the way I wanted, RPG style.

Manager Mode has had some changes which make it feel more realistic, and as always, these are very welcome. Transfers are much more realistic – there’s no more 90 ranked players being traded to 2 star teams. You have the option of an assistant coach who will swap fatigued players around, and works well for the most part. However, there are still issues with it, such as playing players out of position reducing their effectiveness more than it should, some teams missing players they should have, but these are minor gripes that will only bother the hardcore players. For me, it worked great.

Live Play mode sounds interesting. For some MS Points it allows you to follow your favourite team and replay games that have just been played throughout the season based on their current form. Don’t like the fact Chelsea beat Aston Villa? Play it again and see if you can win. Although I love soccer, I can’t see myself getting into this mode – it took long enough to get through the other modes!

Online is superb as always. The Be A Pro matches can be limited to 5 v 5, so you don’t have to wait for 10 players and fight over position… although everyone still wants to be a forward. It’s still great as an attacking midfielder though because I’ve got man of the match a couple of times and didn’t even have to score. Like last year; play your position and get rewarded. Returning is the friends’ league which allows you to play with friends, ranked matches to show your skills to the world, and the head to head matches, and all of it is relatively lag free. There are still people who rage quit in ranked matches, but I think we’ll see that until the end of time.

Conclusion
I had a real hard time reviewing this game – I simply couldn’t put it down. I’ve got other games to review, and they’re running late because of FIFA 10. It’s a beautiful game to play, full of awesomely exciting moments. It’s a game which needs to be played to realise the difference between this and last year’s game, because screenshots and even videos don’t do it justice, but once you get the controller in your hand and you’re playing, you’ll never want to go back to a previous version.

Yes, there are flaws here, but depending on your level of involvement with soccer games, I’m not sure if they’ll really bother you. Sure, the menus are annoying. Yes, Game Face should be part of the game. But I found them to be rather minor. And of course, if you want a true to life manager sim you’re going to find issues, but why are you not playing Championship Manager? However, if you want to play soccer, want to cross, pass tackle, slide and score against the computer or against a real life person, then you’re not going to get better than FIFA 10.

Pros:
360 degrees control changes the way you play game
Every time you play it’s exciting and fun.
Incredible sense of realism from all aspects of the game – visuals, controls, AI and sound.
Virtual Be A Pro allows you to play and improve your Pro in different modes concurrently
Great amount of options and game modes creating a great depth to the game
Loads quicker than ever to get you in the game

Cons:
Manager Mode still not quite up to a standard people are hoping for
Some may be annoyed that you can’t adjust stats for players as you want to.
Menus are still fiddly
Should be an option to use the Live Camera to import your face as well as Game Face.

90/100

Review, Video Games, Writing, XboxWorld

FIFA 09

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Last year, when I reviewed PES 08, I mentioned that FIFA wasn’t in the same league as PES, explaining “People don’t play FIFA because it’s the superior soccer game; they play it because it’s got all the teams and players’ people love, straight out of the box”. Although I only jumped on the PES bandwagon 3 years ago, I can see that PES has consistently been the better soccer game. Me and some mates still play PES 08 on a weekly basis (albeit on a far inferior console) whereas my copy of FIFA 08 actually has a fine layer of dust on it.

But when people rest on their laurels, as Konami has done a little with the last few PES games, a competitor can get the edge. And when that competitor is EA, the biggest publisher in the world, it gets very, very interesting. Because, if Konami don’t address the issues of that last couple of PES games, then I think FIFA will be the better game this year.

First thing you’ll notice is the fluid and organic player animation. Beautifully rendered, you’ll see them flow naturally from one move to the next as they move down the pitch. This is true of the overhead cams, and the closer third person perspective of be-a-pro mode. It’s also functional – you’ll notice a tired player leaning over with hands on knees. A player wanting a pass will throw their hand up. And a scoring player can now be made to do celebratory moves like the robot and belly slide.

AI is vastly improved, with players running into position and dealing intelligently with the ball. A player will trap a ball if it comes to them, or chest the ball to their feet, or leap over a sliding tackle and regain control over the ball. Players will run onto the ball, spring the offside trap intelligently, and call for passes when they’re in the clear. It’s not completely perfect – I’ve seen an opposition goal keeper kick the ball as my player was running past, and my player stopped the ball and scored. There are also the errant passes that go straight instead of to the side, but these feel far less frequent than other soccer games of the past.

The ball and the players have a real physical presence, as in past years and other games, but usually this hasn’t been implemented that well, with the ball bouncing off players at wrong angles and generally not feeling right. This time it feels almost perfect. Balls will die in open space, creating opportunities for faster pace men on your team. Get a strong player running with the ball, and they’ll athletically jostle for the ball, knocking a running player off their line and allowing you to tackle without resorting to a slide and invariably a free kick.

Speaking of free kicks, FIFA 09 is far more forgiving with play ons, with the Referee allowing play to continue. Once the ball goes out of play then cards are given, which can seem a little silly, but it’s better than the game stopping and starting. It’s still harsh with the Offside, giving it in situations that no linesman or ref ever could in real life, but it works both ways and has saved me as many times as hurt me.

As always, FIFA is packed with features. Manager mode is still here, and whilst it’s marginally better than last year and still relatively easy to use and understand, it still is not as deep as PES’ offering. With the copious number of teams and leagues to choose from, it’s a great long term game play option, especially if you begin in the lower leagues. Some people have issues with the AI controlled teams not trading players in and out, but to me that’s a minor gripe. Similarly Tournament mode has had some small tweaks, but feels as solid as last year. Some criticism last year were directed at the mode for not being realistic enough in terms of dates and calendars – I wouldn’t know if that has been fixed, as again, I’m not that much of a “real life” soccer nut nor that nit picky.

The Be-A-Pro mode returns, and this time around gets the most love. Offering you the choice to create your own player, his position, and play through four seasons from reserves to major, all the whilst improving the player, it’s another deep and interesting addition to the FIFA game. I made a player for Adelaide United in the A-League, and it was so satisfying whomping the ball into the net against Melbourne Victory, and then being called up for the reserves match to play for Australia against Slovenia. This year the feedback given on where you are meant to be is more direct and helpful, but it’s still difficult to play the back line well.

But where Be A Pro mode really shines is online. You can now play 10 on 10 in the BAP online, and with up to 10 people playing in a set position during a match, it’s probably the closest you’ll get to play the beautiful game for real. There is no lack of people playing, so you can always pick up a match. It’s a rush to nominate for the best positions, but the old adage is true – every player has their part to play. Sure, sometimes it feels like playing with a bunch of abusive under 5 year olds who’ll run off the field as soon as the icecream man drives past, but with a serious bunch of people the matches are just as intense as a real league game. Furthermore lag hasn’t been a problem in any of the game I’ve played, a considerable feat seeing as I had people from the UK, Canada, Australia and Spain in my games.

To aid in playing as a team on online games, FIFA introduces a Club mode, which is analogous to Clans. You have a bunch of people in the club, and these people can arrange matches against other clubs. On top of the online leagues and ranked matches, there is now almost as many options in Live as in single player, a real impressive feat.

One thing that really impressed me are the Achievements. Usually soccer games give you achievements for winning this league or that derby or completing the modes. In FIFA 09 they’re based on what you do in the actual matches, and this in turn helps you become a better player. For example, there’s an achievement for scoring a goal from a bicycle kick, and I’ve decided I want to get it, so I’ve been trying to perfect the bicycle kick. It’s helping me learn and play the game better.

I’ve already mentioned the fluid player animation, and the good looks don’t stop there. The stadiums look amazing, and player likeness is nearly spot on. The BAP player creator is robust and you can create good renditions of yourself, but they didn’t include a Tiger Woods import a photo option for your player, which is a little disappointing. Also disappointing are the menus – they’ve been standardised across all EA sports games and work a bit like the Xbox menu blades, but I’m still not sold on the whole idea.

Sound wise the game is equally impressive, with the thud off the ball sounding spot on, and crowds chanting your clubs’ name as you play, spurring you on. The commentary by Andy Gray and Martin Tyler can sometimes they fall behind the play and become a bit repetitive, but that’s the nature of sports commentary really.

Conclusion:
We’ll just have to wait and see if PES 09 delivers the goods to match this year, but EA have finally delivered a decent competitor in FIFA 09. The marketing team says there are over 250 changes to this year, and I don’t know if that’s true, but I do know this game is a vastly superior product to past FIFA games, and is a superb game. If you’re a FIFA fan, you will be impressed by the changes, especially online, and will count this as one of the best.

If you’re a past FIFA player who hasn’t liked the direction the game has been going, or feel its just the same old same old, pick it up and I guarantee you’ll be impressed with the depth and the way the game plays. I appreciate there are people who just won’t play FIFA because it’s Electronic Arts, or they only play PES Master League because it’s deeper, but I honestly think these people will be missing out on one of the greatest soccer games of this generation.

Pros:
Amazingly fluid and organic player animations
Excellent ball and player physics
Incredible amount of options and modes
Fantastic online play in Be A Pro Online

Cons:
Menus can be annoying
Manager Mode still lacks depth of other sports games

90/100

Review, Video Games, Writing, XboxWorld

FIFA 07

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Xbox 360 owners felt pretty ripped off by EA after the universally loathed Road to World Cup was offered as a launch title. Why they could have just slapped an Xbox360 sticker on FIFA 2006 is beyond me, as that was a fantastic game and easily the best in the series in a long while.

2006 FIFA World Cup improved the series greatly, providing a solid title that bode well for the future releases of EA’s franchise. Although it used the same FIFA engine as the xbox version, it featured brilliant presentation, a whole heap of options, and a gameplay system that somewhat refined the way FIFA has played in the past, a little for the better and a little for the worst.

Enter FIFA 07. EA has actually listened to gamers for once, redesigned the engine from the ground up for the Xbox 360. Here we have in actual fact a new game for our money, and this can only mean good things, right? Unfortunately a lot of what was looking promising in the old engine has been trashed, and I found the more I played the more I longed for the old version as I discover things that at first thought were cool, but suddenly become very annoying.

Like the physics on the ball. Finally the ball is completely untethered from the players, and has its own identity, which used to be a common complaint about FIFA. It bounces freely, and is deflected off various body parts in a natural and realistic manner. If you hit the ball with the edge of your player’s foot, it will shoot off at an odd angle. Spin and velocity can influence its direction. I have seen it spin under the cross bar and into the goal. However, at the same time you never feel as though you have control over the ball. It can receive a glancing blow from another player and scurry out of dribble range, bounce off the back of players’ head.

Combined with the AI, this gets quite frustrating. Many times you lift the ball in a pass to a player, and they’ll be running forward and the ball will hit them in the back of the head. When on a run forward, players never seem to turn around fast enough. It’s like players are on tracks, and won’t deviate from their runs, so if a ball bounces funny because of a deflection or interception, it takes too for the game to catch up. This sense of being somewhat behind the play appears to infect the whole game. In fact, because it’s so noticeable the commentary actually apologises for it!

“Commentary isn’t an exact science” quips Clive Tydsley quite often as the players scrap over the ball because they’re moving this way and that in response to your joystick movements and the ball bouncing of body parts. At first I thought this was funny and clever commentary, but after the 10th time in a match I realised it must have been included because this flaw!

Speaking of 10th time, I know soccer is a sport known for seemingly soft tackles and frees, but when you get your 10th foul and you’ve never hit the button to slide-tackle, it becomes incredibly frustrating. Players will push and jostle each other when running for the ball, and pressing the A button makes your player attack the ball with vigour, but if you tackle from any position than slightly in front of the other player, you’re issued a foul. Now, given your player is running on a track and will often run past the play because the response is slow, you player will be nearly always the player from behind the ball, so you’ll nearly always cause a foul when you tackle.

Some may argue that this is realistic to the game of soccer, but for a computer game it just doesn’t feel natural. You get worse at tackling and give away more frees the more you play. If it was a realistic play device it would work in such a way that the more you tackled the better you become. You’d figure out better strategies and a better way to play. I’ve played many, many games and am still not better at it. I’m better at corners and frees and passing and scoring, but this is a fault in the mechanics of the game.

The presentation of the game is superb though. The interactive loading screen with a keeper and your favourite player is great fun, and the option screens are very slickly designed. The ability to change not only team but an individual’s play style and level them up with skills is a very welcome change, allowing those who like the simulation side of soccer to tweak to their hearts content. You can also look at the stats a player has for an individual game, essentially checking their performance on the fly; their tackles, their main areas of play, where and when they commit fouls. And it has a greater impact on the field than the simulation in FIFA 06. Changing your formation or pinpoint the space a player should run when in attack can have a greater impact on the game.
Where the presentation fails is in sound. Whenever there’s a substitution, the sound stops completely. Sometimes the channels clash,

[NOTE: The rest is missing. I think the original file has become corrupted]

Review, Video Games, Writing, XboxWorld

FIFA 2006

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EA get a fair bit of flack from their policy of releasing new revisions of their franchise games every 12 months or so and charging full price for seemingly small changes. Sometimes this is warranted, and other times it is not. The problem with the FIFA series is that football is such a well-loved sport, and EA has tried to buy the sport through exclusive licensing deals, that people often slag EA off before giving the games a really good chance. I couldn’t say I’m a football fanatic, but I do enjoy the sport, did play in my youth, and I have played all the FIFA series of games on Xbox, and it’s my opinion that FIFA 2006 is the best to date.

One of the primary causes of concern amongst football fans about FIFA was the scorelines. People on forums constantly whinged about how in “real football” there are no 4-4 draws, or 6-3 wins, and said that the FIFA game should reflect more realistic scores. I’m not going to enter a debate about how boring a nil all draw can be to watch, but for me this arcade score line made the game extremely fun. I come from a background of playing games like Sensible Soccer and Microprose’s International Soccer, which were lots of fun, had crazy scorelines and realism wasn’t the entire point. I’m of the opinion if you want “realism” in a soccer game, go play a game like Championship Manager – they’re made for geeks in glasses who obsess over numbers and statistics.

However, FIFA 2006 has indeed addressed this complaint, and it’s quite tough going to score at all in FIFA. This is both a blessing and a curse. For someone used to scoring high in matches, it can seriously put a dent in your ego to win by only a goal or two, and to have more draws than wins. However, at the same time that makes it one of the most intense FIFA games to date. Every strike has to be on target, every loose ball has to be won, and every time the opposition gets close to your goal square the anxiety levels rise.

Part of this is the result of smarter AI. It’s a subtle change over the previous release, but after prolonged play it becomes more apparent. The AI is tougher, sticks to the player, and plays much more aggressively. They’ll play advantage, but they’ll also play towards the sidelines when in defence when you’re in a threatening position. Speaking of playing advantage, I was shocked the first time the commentator said, “the Ref has given advantage” after a bad tackle. The ball was held up in play, the whistle blew and I was awarded a free kick. This could be in other games, but this was the first time I noticed it, and the first time it was an accurate reflection of how the play-on rule works.

Another reason the game seems tighter are the physics of the ball are a lot more realistic than previous FIFA titles. The theme song of this years release is Jamiroquai’s “feels just like it should”, and sums up the ball physics perfectly. It actually moves like a ball on a pitch, rather than a sprite in a game. When it rains the ball becomes slippery and heavier. When a kick is reflected off the gaol post it’s reflected in a real direction. And in addition, this year the player stats do actually seem to mean something. Fast players will be able to outrun slower players, tougher players will be able to force players off the ball with their body, and the strong kickers will be able to kick the ball more accurately.

However, there are some major problems with the game, holding it back from being a truly great football game. When the ball is kicked into midfield, the game suffers a quite noticeable framerate drop. It seems that having so many players in the midfield cause the game to stutter and slow down, which is really unfortunate. When there doesn’t seem to be much going on in the terms of onscreen action, especially compared to a shooter or racing game for example, it really does seem like an inexplicable problem. And it is enough to make a player have second thoughts about playing it. You do become accustomed to it, but I was ready to stop playing and give a dismissive review the first few times I played.

Another issue is the Team Management section. Even though I’m not a great fan of team management games, finding the statistic crunching to be rather dull, I am prepared to admit they usually do impact on a game. FIFA 2006 has attempted to bring in some form of team management, but it fails because it doesn’t seem to have too much an impact on your team, but enough to simply annoy you. This year, instead of gaining points for winning and spending it on certain coaches, you earn money from home ground ticket sales and sponsors. You then use the money to improve your coaching field, improve your grounds and pay your players.

However, choose the wrong sponsor and you could find yourself losing money every match, especially if you’re not getting wins every game. This makes it hard to improve your coaching line up, which in turn means your players don’t play as well, and their team and individual morale drops. This in turn affects team chemistry, that unquantifiable quality that means certain teams play better together, which is sadly given a score that you have to try to improve on. When your team is not playing well, crowd attendance will be down, meaning you lose more money, and sacking players doesn’t help team moral much either.

On top of that, you get wildcards, as per the Sims, where a scenario presents itself, such as “Management has heard rumours of dissention in your team” and you have to answer appropriately from a choice of three. Sometimes answering the question appropriately doesn’t seem to give a satisfactory result. It does all seem rather light, and there’s no option to turn it off in the main Manager mode. It only mildly impacts on your teams’ on-field performance, and makes transfers and recovery of players more difficult than perhaps it should be. EA should go all out with this mode and give a rich and deep transfer and management market, and give players the option to simply turn it off.

For those who like playing with mates, FIFA2006 has you well covered. Not only is there Xbox Live functionality with the ability to play in online leagues and track your wins and losses, but there’s also FIFA Lounge, which allows you to create a local league of mates on your xbox and rank you against each other. Lounge allows you to play a round-robin knockout game, or a full tournament, and also allows you to get “Cheap Shots” like issue Yellow Cards at the start of a match to really piss your mates off. Xbox Live games were fairly free of lag, but I had fairly regular server disconnections from the EA severs. Admittedly I didn’t do any of the set up things suggested when I first signed in, like opening ports and so forth, but then again I shouldn’t have to when most other games work fine. And that information should be in the handbook, not on a screen that can be quickly skipped.

Graphics problems mentioned above aside, the game does look quite impressive, with players looking much like their real life counterparts. The stadiums look great, and the shadowing on the pitch is very impressive. The crowd looks a little like 2D cardboard cutouts though, although the crowd roars and stadium ambience is excellent. When you’ve got the ball and the crowd are chanting out the teams name, it really does strive you on to excellence. As with any sports game the commentary can get a little repetitive, but this year the dropping of Ally McCoist and John Motson inclusion of Clive Tydsley and Andy Gray mean that there’s less inane chatter and much more action orientated discussion, which is very much welcome. The music that plays on the menu pages is quite a good selection of world beats, being mostly free of crap rap and rnb.

Closing:
Playing FIFA 2006 was a really good experience after I got over the initial disappointment of the framerate drop when the ball enters midfield. The game is a real challenge and a real improvement over last years’ release. The AI is especially tough, but never so much so that it becomes frustrating, and unlike previous FIFA games I never felt that the AI scored against me by using cheap shots or cheating. Likewise, online play is equally challenging, but again I never felt that a better player overwhelmed me. The Team Management section just doesn’t seem robust enough to me, which indicates that it will be seen as wasteful by the hardcore football fans, but it’s a step in the right direction.

Pros:
Overall improvement in realism from player representations to scorelines
Excellent and challenging AI
Great Ball Physics
The aftertouch plays are still a great inclusion
FIFA Lounge is fun – especially the ‘cheap shots’

Cons:
Heinous framerate drops in midfield
Team Management not robust enough
Bland stadium crowd animations
Frequent disconnection from EA Servers

82/100