The one thing the FIFA games have always excelled in is when it comes to licensing and presentation and this version sets new standards. Admittedly it’s lacking some teams and stadiums when compared to the current-gen version but as far everything else goes it’s hard not to be impressed. Real teams, players and kits are to be expected but the effort put into the integration of real-time football news and results into the game has to be applauded. At any time you can access the latest news from any of the teams in the six leagues in the game as well as latest scores, fixtures, top scorers, etc.
In addition, when you first start up the game you are asked to select your favourite club. From then on in certain things in the game will be tailored to your club/league. The inclusion of radio updates is a superb idea too. Upon turning on the game you’re greeted with brief snippets of football news and discussion via real radio stations – TalkSport Radio in this case. For example, when playing the game in the week I heard radio highlights of Liverpool’s Champions League goals against Bordeaux followed by post-match discussion on Jose Mourinho’s over the top celebrations at the end of the Barcelona V Chelsea game. Turning it on the following day and the talk shifted to Arsenal’s glaring misses against CSKA Moscow and Tottenham’s 3-1 win in the UEFA Cup.
The commentary is equally as impressive. The combination of Andy Gray and Martin Tyler is a great choice as they are, on a personal level, the best in the business. They say the right thing at the right time and genuinely add something to the game. They sound believable and in a different league to the headache-inducing ramblings of Trevor Brooking in Konami’s game. The way they talk about individual teams and players is a great touch too. For example, during a match playing as Liverpool you’ll often hear them speaking about their Champions League win in Istanbul, their struggle to win the league in recent years and also mention Steven Gerrard’s inspirational part in last season’s FA Cup Final win. When it comes to making FIFA an authentic football experience it’s very hard to fault.
Action is frantic in the Milan derby.
As well as the usual Exhibition game option, and the returning Challenge Mode - a set of scenarios you must overcome, the main meat of FIFA 07 is the Manager Mode. This is much like the ‘Master League’ mode of Pro Evolution Soccer in that you take managerial control of a team throughout a season. As well as actually playing games you’ll have to buy new players as well as balancing the books. Player stats also increase with each game too so you have to decide where to ‘spend’ these points. Do you improve the tackling of your defensive midfielder, or choose to add a bit more pace to your star striker? In addition you’ll have to deal with Press-related issues such as deciding whether to send your players to a fan club event or do interviews with newspapers to keep them happy. Unfortunately there’s no way of doing leagues or cups outside of Manger Mode which is a pity if you just want to concentrate on playing football rather than worry yourself with all of the extra pressures.
Although some of the player likenesses are pretty awful, graphically the game is rather tasty. The most notable feature of this next-gen iteration in fact is the new physics and animation system. For arguably the first time ever in a FIFA game the ball moves realistically and now feels separate from the players. No longer does it feel glued to their feet in the way it has always done in EA’s game. This is also thanks to the animation which cleverly adapts in relation to the position of the ball. For example, players will stretch to control loose passes and shift their weight when in possession of the ball more accurately than ever before. Unfortunately this produces both a positive and negative effect on the gameplay. On the plus side the ball bounces, deflects and rebounds with the kind of realism yet seen in a football game.
Carlos? Ronaldo? Robinho? Who knows?!
But this is outweighed by the negatives. The ball itself becomes a real pain to control at times, often breaking loose unexpectedly when you make a tackle meaning perfectly clean tackles lead to losing possession needlessly thus making many games turn into a mess of midfield scrapping. Tackling itself is very much a random process in fact. If you’re face on with someone then it tends to work well, but two players running side by side will often collide stupidly. For some reason they just bounce off each other causing both players to stop dead which just looks silly. Slide tackling is a complete lottery too with red cards given for perfectly legitimate tackles, which pretty much renders slide tackling useless as no matter how well you master them you always run the risk of losing a player for no reason at all.
Passing is too slow, and you’re often left screaming at the TV as a simple 20 yard pass is intercepted because the ball simply doesn’t move quick enough along the ground. In the air things are the complete opposite. Most passes find their targets quickly and accurately, and maybe a little too well at times. Defending against balls played up to the strikers is not easy and it’s very hard to beat them in the air for the ball so you often find yourself not even bothering to contest the ball in the air as missing it causes your player to go through a set of jumping animations leaving you exposed to being turned by the striker. Player movement isn’t exactly great either. Players will make runs but often stop before you’re ready to make the pass. There have been many times where I’ve wanted to play the ball down the wing toward the corner flag for my player to run onto only for him to stop running and end up losing the ball as a result. One-two’s suffer a similar problem, not so much from the player not making the run but by them taking way too long to do so.
Juninho Pernambucano – arguably the best free kick taker in the world today.
A lot of these complaints aren’t so much a problem when playing against the CPU as it isn’t quick enough to beat you to many of the loose balls and hasn’t the intelligence to quickly move players to intercept slow passes, but playing human opposition is a different kettle of fish. The fact there are a few tactics you can use to get some easy goals doesn’t help matters either. After just a few games online it was clear to see that simply running down the wing and shooting hard at goal from a tight angle will bring positive results, whether it be a goal or a rebound into dangerous territory. Which is all a shame really as it’s an impressive game online with smooth netcode and a good deal of options that allow for a lot more than just the simple 1 on 1 of Pro Evolution Soccer 6.
Having tried to avoid them for much of this review, comparisons with Konami’s game are inevitable. Yet again it’s a case of FIFA really pulling out the stops when it comes to presentation, features and online play but ultimately failing where it counts most. The 360 version of PES6 certainly has problems of its own, but it’s still the clear leader in how it plays. The gap between them however is much smaller than ever before. There’s a good engine here that, with time, could become a part of a cracking game. But until the passing is quicker, tackling is more consistent and AI movement more intelligent it will remain a distant second place.
But I got over it and play anyway.
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