FIFA Soccer 2004

"I'm addicted, but I don't know why..."

EA sports games have been around for years. You'd think the would be able to make a good football game by now, wouldn't you? However, while other sports games have improved (eg. Madden and the introduction of the EA Big games), football (soccer) has gone from bad, to worse. But I heard good things about FIFA 2004, so I thought that I would pick up a copy. Here are my thoughts...

Graphics: 8/10
Lovely. Everything looks pretty good in action, almost real, but this falls apart when you score. The players follow the FIFA tradition of being as ugly as sin, and the movement of the players in slow-mo replays does not look quite right. But it could be worse.

Sound: 6/10
I HATE ALLY McCOIST! The commentary sounds lovely for the first few games, even the first season of career mode, but after then it is mind numbingly tedious and annoying, and frustrating (if you miss by inches you get viciously scolded by good old Ally). On the other hand, the game has a fine soundtrack, including great songs by Caesar's Palace, Asian Dub Foundation and The Stone Roses.

Controls: 7/10
Fine, the usual footie controls, though I never managed to make a one-two (not that I needed to) and the Off-the-Ball button is a bit awkward at key moments.

And leave the best 'til last...
Gameplay: 3/10
It is not that the gameplay is that bad, but there are many little problems which add up to create an immensely frustrating experience, so I think I will make a list of a few of the many problems:
*The players stand and wait for the ball
*The menu system is very poorly designed (eg. you cannot hold down the stick and cycle quickly through menus and it takes about ten minutes to find a good player in career mode, as after you look at any player the menu resets itself, putting you back at the top, and you have to cycle through the masses of menus again)
*The AI is ultra-defensive, and (in the great FIFA tradition) is still incredibly stupid
*The off-the-ball system is a great idea, but is far too fiddly when you play on world class or professional (and the computer man-marks players moving off-the-ball most of the time)
*The odds are stacked in favour of the defense (eg. the skill moves fail nine times out of ten, defenders ALWAYS catch up with your strikers and free-kicks always fail)
*At higher levels the computer constantly fouls your players, and gets away with it
*The computer plays advantage when you lose the ball, gives red cards for fouls committed in the middle of the field and doesn't even give yellows when you are fouled one-on-one against the computer

The worst thing, however, has to be that the game is still so easy even with all these problems. I am currently in season three of my first (and last) career mode with Port Vale. Last season I won the First Division (fair enough), the FA Cup (bit of a long shot for a Div 1 team)... and the European trophy (huh?) on Professional. Now playing on World Class I am twelve points ahead of Liverpool and heading towards the final of all tournaments with ease (my best player is Robbie Keane, the rest of my team have skills in the 70s).

Conclusion:
Together, all of this frustrates me continually, though what I hate more is that I am addicted, basically because it is still the best football game on the Xbox (roll on Pro Evo). To be fair, there are good moments. Counter-attacking is quite good, corners and scoring the odd wonder-goal gives the game some enjoyment value, as does playing it with your mates, but not enough.

Please, I urge you not to buy this game. It looks nice and is a laugh (for a time) with friends but is not good enough for you to part from your money for it. If you cannot wait, relive the glory days: buy an N64 with ISS64 and FIFA 98 (the FIFA with indoor matches) for real fun.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 03/31/04