FIFA Soccer 2003

"The most realsitic simulation of the beautiful game made so far, but still some minor problems"

Gameplay

As mentioned in the title the most significant thing about Fifa 2003 is that it is the closest gameplay experience to playing a real game of football that you see on your TV screens all the time.

This is for a number reasons...

The first is that it is no longer easy to get the ball from one end of the pitch to the other, without having to make the right decisions of who to pass to, and having to get in the right positions to make the pass, and then actually timing it right - Just like in a real game of football!

Once you have got in to the oppositions final third it is also very unlikely you'll just be able to score from a shot outside the box (like in previous Fifa's). Instead, like in a real game, you will have to get in the right position to cross a ball into the box, or time a through ball with a teamates run (which you can control by pressing the L1 button), which, if done well enough, should end up splitting the defence and leaving your player with a one on one chance. Therefore the goals scored are generally a lot more like the ones scored in real life. The variety of ways players can meet crosses on the game has also improved which means it is possible to play in a low ball with somebody knocking it in first time, as often happens in professional football.

Another thing that makes the gameplay a lot more realistic than previous titles is that there is a much bigger range of motion and direction that the ball can travel in. That means the ball can be passed in, and the players can run in a much bigger variety of direction than in Fifa 2002, where I always felt the players were always stuck in some sort of groove and would have to turn very sharply to change the direction they passed it in, or ran in.

However there are still some gameplay issues.

The first of which is that the default camera angle does take a bit of time to get used to as it is much further out. This has been done for the very justified reason of allowing the player to see more of the pitch and the players, which does improve the gameplay, however it does make it harder to carry out actions that great precision and timing. The main one of these is tackling! It really strains the eyes to try and get the ball off someone at the far end of the pitch. It also makes shooting accurately into the corner harder.

There are also a few things that players do automatically I don't like, such as controlling the ball. This is annoying in the same way anything that is done automatically in a football game is; you can't stop them doing it, so it can often lose you the ball, and even if it does come off wheres the satisfcation in it when the computers done it for you?

Another issue is that the game jerks slightly whenever you score a goal, this is quite an annoying problem as it ruins the smooth action of the ball flying into the net that we all love to see. Finally the chipped balls forward are pretty much useless as they very rarely go exactly where you want them to, and they do need to be accurate, so its best to stick to the through passes for that killer ball.

The two significant control changes is that R1 is now sprint and triangle is now head. Sprinting has been improved by this as it is easier to press this while still having thumb at the ready to press a button in mid speed burst.

Heading is also harder as it has to be timed much more accurately, however sometimes I could swear the player doesn't jump for it know matter how well you time it.

Graphics

Have also been improved. The players no longer look like they have their shorts pulled up to their stomachs, which helps. The player faces are also very impressive. Many of the big and middle names look very life like, all though Forlan's hair could have been done better, still thats just me being fussy.

The stadiums are also very realistic. There is a wide range of all the best stadiums that look very impressive. Again being a United fan I would have liked them to put the all the real Stretford End banners on, but maybe next time.
However the crowd itself could have been improved. The game seems to assume that every ground is littered with flags from top to bottom, wrong, especially in the premiership. There are hardly any flags, and any that there are, are a lot smaller than the ones in the game. The crowd would look a lot more realistic without the flags, and the ones draped on the stands which have just been made up by EA.
One thing that I can't believe any football game hasn't done with the crowd is make them all jump up when a team scores. How hard can it be? This would really add to the atmosphere of the game.

Sound
Very important in football. The most significant change is the adding of 'real' chants for all the big teams, some of these have been done well, although most could have been done better, a prime example is United. The last time Glory Glory Man United was sung at Old Trafford was at least 5 years ago. This is the most common United chant in the game. Now the traditional U-NI-TED Chant, that's sung at every game has not been recorded. Instead its been made up from some crap so its sounds like YOO -NI -TED. They really should have managed to get this right. I'm sure a few employees wouldn't mind going to some football matches up and down the country as a job to record some real chants, hell I'll do it for United matches.

I also think there is too much background atmosphere and general noise in matches, because the realism is that a lot of league matches are pretty silent during long periods of the game.

The game also includes a highlights package of each match at the end of each half. This can be good although gets annoying when its shows the first clip three times, and you want to see the one right at the end again.

The commentary as usaual is repetitive and can get annoying, but as I've already accepted getting realistic commentary where the commentators are aware of the significance of every match, and say different things all the time is impossible, I'm not really that bothered. There is also some good in game tunes, and some poor ones, I like the German punk one.

Lastability
There are plenty of competitions to win, some of which will unlock more stadiums, as well as a season to do in a variety of countries which has the fixture list in the right of the current 2002/2003 season, although the worthington cup and FA cup aren't included for the premiership. There is also some realism problems with the group stages of the champions league, as the seeding system is wrong(I was Man Utd and got Real Madrid in the first group stage), and you can also play teams from the same country in the groups.

There is a good variety of teams including international and club teams. All of which have correct players and kits.

So there you have my review, I would definetely recommend buying Fifa 2003 if you like football games as it is the best I have ever played on, and I've played on a lot!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/28/02, Updated 12/28/02