FIFA Soccer 2004

"And again I missed some essential parts of the game this year"

Before I start with this review I must say that people who have never played any of the FIFA games will probably love this game, but those who have played earlier versions, will miss some essential things. I play this game since the day it came out and I have won most prizes that are possible to win in this game on world class, so when I say that some things in the game are impossible, it's not because I'm frustrated that I can't win.

Ok, let's get started, the graphics. The graphics in this game are very good. Especially the better players look just like in real life, he players move very fluently and realistically. But unfortunately there are many glitches in this game, some of them affecting the graphics. Then worst one is when players should get dirty clothes, they just partially disappear instead, especially when zoomed in. Another thing is shirts and shorts turning into blue for a few seconds before returning to their original color. Very annoying.

Graphics 7/10

The sound in this game is one of the better parts. The commentary has really improved, John Motson and Ally McCoist sound more realistic than in 2003. Sometimes they talk less fluent because they think, or sometimes they laugh, and then it even sounds good. Also the sound of the fans is quite good, you can hear them yelling the name of their team when playing with one of the bigger teams, and you hear 'boo' from the fans when you make a dirty foul.

Sound 9/10

Gameplay

The game itself plays quite good when you play it the first time, but after some time you'll realize that the amount of goals you score from a distance of 25 yards (or more) is not normal. Unfortunately it's now impossible to beat a defender one on one. Another bad thing is that the defender always outruns the attacker. The only way to score is by shots from distance or by passing the other team crazy, but if you try that on higher difficulty levels you won't succeed many times.

According to EA, FIFA 2004 had a big and revolutionary improvement over 2003: Off the ball control. Unfortunately it doesn't live up to the hype. It took me hours of training before I had mastered it, but even then it's not what it seems. The off-the-ball-player you control will still be marked very closely no matter how you run. You'll also only be able to control him for a few seconds, or otherwise the player with the ball will lose it. The off the ball control is nice to give perfectly executed long balls, but not much more than that.

Gameplay 7/10

But there are still other things I need to say. What happened to the edit-mode, where you could change overrated/underrated players to a more realistic level. And where you could keep teams up to date. No doubt the edit mode was one of the greatest features of the FIFA games of 2002 and before. EA probably left it out to force the FIFA-gamers to buy the next version again, instead of giving the gamers the chance to update the game themselves.
Some other features they have put in the game: EA-Sports Bio, in one word: Crap. It should register the time you've played, the games you've won/lost/drawn, the EA-Sports titles you've bought, and your achievements. You should be rewarded for it. Yeah right, only if you load it everytime you startup the game, and if you save it before turning it off. But that's not even the worst: winning the FA-Cup is apparently not an achievement, neither is winning the League Cup, or the Spanish Cup, or the Italian Cup or any cup. Forget the EA-Sports Bio. It's like someone on the messageboard said 'you're rewarded, not for how good you are at the game, but for how much you spend on their games.'

I'm not ready yet. You wanted to play international tournaments like the World Cup/European Cup or Champions League? Forget it, they're out. Yeah, you can play the Champions League, but only in career mode (2nd season or later). It's ridiculous.

The unlockable things are just 3rd team kits, not that there's any idiot on earth who's interested in that, but apparently EA forgot that.

EA promised more teams this year. And yes, there are more teams, 2nd and 3rd division teams, unfortunately some of the bigger international teams had to be sacrificed.

The online mode: It's just horrible. You can't connect when using a router or firewall without changing your settings, and no one seems to know how to change these settings (you'll have to do some port forwarding). But who thinks that solves the problem is wrong, you still can't connect 75% of the times. This game was however one of the first online games (EA's first), so I'd forgive it this time, but if you're thinking of buying the game because it has an online mode: Don't do it.

Conclusion:
It seems that FIFA is going downhill every year just because they keep ripping nice features and clubs out of the game (edit mode, the international cups, International teams like Holland, Norway and more), and put quite useless features in (off the ball control, 2nd divisions). You better go for PES3 this year.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 02/16/04