FIFA Soccer 2004

"A surprisingly fun soccer game"

Intro

While checking some sports games at my local walmart for my GBA, I noticed that there weren't many sports games for the GBA. Not surprising considering the GBA is probably the worst thing to play sports games on this gen. But, that didn't matter to me, I continued on my quest to find the perfect sports game for my GBA. Although I couldn't find the perfect game, I found a pretty good one. FIFA soccer 2004 is probably the best soccer game on the GBA.

Gameplay

Yeah, Yeah, I know what you're thinking, ''How can a soccer game's gameplay be good on the GBA, it's a friggin' GBA for godsakes'', but worry not. The gameplay, although simple, is pretty addicting. The controls are not to complicated considering it is the GBA, you press A to shoot, B to pass, D-Pad to move, L to slide check, hold R to sprint, SELECT to replay the action and START to pause, pretty simple. The game is pretty easy though. Even a beginner should put the difficulty up to normal or hard, if not that than maybe put the GK (Goal Keeper) difficulty up. All the teams from the console version are here, which is great. The season mode is definitely not as in-depth as the console version but it's ok nonetheless.

Graphics

The graphics are not too great. The players look pixeled, the field looks good but that's probably it. I don't know if the GBA can do better graphics with a soccer game, but I've definitely seen it do better graphics with other games. It kind of bothers me that the players are pixely but what bothers me more is that some of the players skin colours are not right. I never remember Ronaldo being white...

Sound

The sound isn't too great. The game has a song in the menu's but you can't really tell what the guy is singing because it's kind of garbled up. I played most of the game with my sound off because I don't really like the sound of a crowd roaring all the time. There's no commentary in the game but that was expected. I guess the sound passes since this is a soccer game.

Replay Value

The replay value is good since the game is addicting and you won't get tired of it that easy. The replay value also goes up if you get your friend to buy this game too, then link up your GBA's and play through the whole night, or until your GBA's batteries die, or until you get tired of the game. Some people may complain that the replay value isn't too good considering that there isn't as many modes as the console version, but I can definitely see me coming back repeatedly to this game.

Gameplay 8/10: Simple gameplay, yet addicting. It works very well for this game.

Graphics 6/10: The graphics look somewhat more along the lines of GBC but the whole game is fluid and it feels like a GBA game, the players could've looked a lot better though.

Sound 7/10: Not bad for a GBA soccer game and there's actually like 3 licensed songs in the game, probably a 1st for the GBA in music.

Replay Value 9/10: The addicting gameplay makes the replay value go up.

Overall 8/10(not an average): This game is really fun. Sure the lack of modes hurts the game, but a lot of other things make up for it. It's a great game to play on a bus/train to school or work or if you're just bored. This game is one of the best games on the GBA in it's genre which I'm sure you all can figure out what it is.

Recommended?: YES

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/15/04