FIFA Soccer 2005

"Competition between Pro Evolution Soccer has started!"

~ Introduction ~

Another football season starts in Europe, another FIFA game is released. Again the graphics are polished, players are updated, and much more, read it in my review :).

~ Game Play ~ 8/10

Like each year the game play gets more realistic. In FIFA 2004 there was "off the ball" as game play feature, this time it's "first contact", this means you can use the right analog stick to have fully control over the first ball contact from a player. Also a new thing is "create a player", always wanted to play side by side with Raul, Beckham or Zidane? This time you can create yourself and put you in the best teams of the world.

Create a tournament is cool, you can make your own tournament, choose which teams that play in it, and the other settings, talking about that, this is a little disappointing. There aren't too much settings this time, what I've seen the maximum time you can play is 2 X 10 minutes. You can't choose the weather just yet, the shirts or the stadium. I think you can unlock it when you play some time.

Remember the trophy room in 2004? It's back, now with a trophy for every league. If you want them all you have to play a lot. After a match you get points sometimes for a clean sheet, beating a rival team, winning with a national team and much more. With those points you can unlock stadiums, shirts, FOOTBALLS, REFEREES (like Colina, the best referee of the world), more music and play at night.

~ Story ~ 8/10

I'll discuss the career mode here. It's been worked out more. Now you have to hire some more people, medical, scouting, tactical and more! If you win you get money for transfers and paying those guys.

~ Music & Graphics ~ 8/10

More music is added! Like I said you can unlock some cool songs too, check out the jukebox and select the ones you want to hear. The commentary is like FIFA 2004 but they added some new text. John Motson and Ally are still doing all the voice stuff.

The graphics are polished, you can recognize more players. The moves are more realistic but the crowd is still flat and pixelized.

~ Controls ~ 7.5/10

This is nice, same like the previous version but with first ball contact added. Still, it's way harder to score, you will have to practice a lot to win to the best teams.

~ Play Time / Replay Ability ~ 8/10

You can always do a career or just play now, you won't get tired of it!

~ Overall ~ 8/10

Pros:

- Better graphics
- First contact
- All teams are updated
- Much better career mode

Cons:

- Takes a lot KB on your memory card (career takes 700KB)
- Difficult to score goals

It seems FIFA 2005 has finally become some competition for Pro Evolution Soccer.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/11/04