FIFA Soccer 2005

"Its heating up between FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer"

For many years now, EA Sports has held the title for being the best creator of soccer games for a very long time, however now the title has had a very strong challenge, from the pro evolution soccer series (PES). However this FIFA 2005 was very good, especially with the new Career mode, which could almost match Pro Evolution master league.

The biggest advantage that FIFA 05 has over Pro Evolution 4, is that FIFA has all the licences for all the most famous players, leagues, and clubs, whereas in Pro Evolution 4, they do not have all the licenses for all clubs, leagues and players. The game play of FIFA 05 is much better than it has been since FIFA 04, especially with the new and improved Career mode. Also there is the trophy room, where you can see the huge amount of trophies you can. You can win these trophies by either winning them for your club in the right region in manager mode, or you can just play that tournament in tournament mode. Also just like in the other games, you can create your own tournament. So FIFA 05 is improving a lot, fun wise, even if it only improving slowly.

Now to go into the manager mode a little bit more. The career mode has improved a significant amount. Instead of the career mode only going for a very small five seasons, this time the career lasts an amazing 15 seasons. Also the leagues you can join are divided up into regions. For example the Scottish premier league and all the English premier leagues are all in once region. Having this makes it's easier to choose which club and league you wish to join. Also there are hundreds of clubs to choose from, which make the game more fun.

The graphics in this game are still good, but I think that have not improved that much from the previous game FIFA 04, they still look a bit too much like cartoons. However the graphics are not an issue for this game, they are still good. The sound in this game is also another good quality of the game. The crowd go ballistic when their team at home scores, however go very quiet when the away team scores. The commentators are the same old ones again. There are really no complaints about them, but maybe its time that EA Sports got some new commentators, especially with that Scottish guy starting to get boring.

Rent or Buy?
I suggest that you don't straight away buy FIFA 05, but rent it first. Then rent Pro Evolution 4. You can then decide which one you think is best and then buy it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/05/05