 | | FIFA of course boasts fully licensed teams and players |
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While I'm not a massive footy fan in the real world, I can never help but get drawn into it all around World Cup time (which, being English, is naturally followed by the inevitable world falling down around me). It's for that reason that the next big footy game always manages to get me reasonably stiff - I guess you could say it reinvigorates that same World Cup fever.
This love for the virtual game really stems back to the classic football titles of yester-decade; Kick Off 2 on the Amiga primarily, and of course how can I forget the golden oldie Sensible Soccer. Appropriately enough though, it wasn't until the early versions of FIFA hit the Megadrive (or Genesis) that I got somewhat properly addicted to the genre. It was that 4-way multiplayer adapter which really did it, and the subsequent work-out me and my friends put it through. Who remembers the ability to shove players out the way by holding down two buttons at once (sadly missing now)? Good times, good times...
And yet 10 years on, with all the endless revisions, updates (and some might say, steps backwards), the franchise never really capitalised on that multiplayer brilliance. Sure, we've always been able to sit around our PC or console and enjoy the same old magic, but it stopped there when it could have gone on to be so much more. Online games have been restricted to 1v1, are often laggy, and just generally very unimpressive - a horrible shame when you consider the possibilities.
Now just imagine this; proper 22 player online games, each person taking control of a single player and having their own corner of the pitch to cover, and adversary to mark. Real time voice communication providing tactics and goal scoring opportunities. Online leagues and clan competitions. It'd be the ultimate sports game. Fuck, online shooters can manage massive worlds with 64 odd players, what's the big deal about a tiny little pitch with a meagre 22?
FIFA 2005 still doesn't fulfil that distant pipe dream of the 100% perfect online footy game I yearn for, but it does finally provide a basic online game for Xbox Live users at last, and thankfully fairs very well in other areas too. In fact, even by EA's own admission, they've had to really step up their game recently and give the series a huge kick up the poop shoot. With Konami's humongously popular football games of recent times, namely Pro Evolution Soccer 4, the standard yearly updates of FIFA were starting to look a lot less impressive...until now.
A New Era
The change started in 2004, when FIFA shied away somewhat from the more arcadey and fast paced 2003 incarnation, and headed more towards a slower paced, realistic and in my opinion, slightly duller simulation style. Admirable in theory, but it was a bit cack on the whole I thought, and had a wealth of problems.
In this year's incarnation however, a lot of those problems have since faded away. In fact, 2005 is finally a game that can be compared a lot more evenly to the Pro Evo series.
The big change is the way the ball handles this time out. It seems a lot less predictable, with the players utilising a variety of new context sensitive animations to keep it under control depending on the situation. The way the right analogue stick also ties in directly with the ball control, and your ability to flick and manoeuvre it all over the place further adds to this feeling.
 | | The ball actually, believe it or not, feels like a ball now |
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There also now feels like more much of a reliance on tactics and skill in order to slam one into the back of the net - no longer can you pelt it hard from outside the box and find the corner every time. At the same time, the increased fluidity of the ball certainly adds the much needed ability to make runs when called for. It's damn hard, admittedly, and more often than not you'll fail miserably, but on those rare occasions that a through ball finds the right man and he side steps the last two defenders for that winning shot, it's pure joy I tell ya.
Also worth noting is 2005's career mode. It gives you something of a long term campaign to play through, as you take control of a manager over the course of 15 seasons, working your way to the top. It's a great way to gain some incredibly long term goals for the game, and as disheartening it is to see your team fail miserably (and they will), it's similarly ecstatic to score the goal which moves them up to number one in the table too.
All in all, it's a game that demonstrates the same principles seen in the last FIFA - more of an emphasis on realism and simulation - but actually pulled off properly this time. This is real footy at last.
There's just one central aspect which bothers me somewhat. I'm of course talking about super-human AI on the part of the computer. Don't take this the wrong way either, as for the most part it plays fantastically well - and more to the point, fairly. However that bothersome "auto catch-up" bollocks is still alive and present from last year, by that I mean the AI's ability to
always come back from a losing match no matter what - seemingly to spruce up the score and make it more "interesting".
In practice it usually means your 1-0 lead will turn to a 2-1 defeat within the dieing minutes of the game, thanks to superhuman undefendable play from the computer. It's about as annoying as another Martin Lawrence movie.
But yet just try to avoid clicking the "Rematch" button which pops up moments later. It's just so blood clot-inducingly addictive that you can't tear yourself away.
That EA Sheen
Technically, things are a lot better this year as well. The crowd is no longer embaressingly bad, animations are much smoother, players look less pixelated, the dreaded slowdown has gone, and the in-game commentary doesn't exhibit the same horrible problems of 2004, which often lagged and failed to match up to the on screen action. Naturally, the PC and Xbox versions come out looking the best of the lot, although the PS2 and Gamecube versions are more than fine.
 | | Gravity defying headers and overhead kicks are still present |
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But the big question is how does this all stack up to Pro Evolution? Especially with the almighty fourth version already out on PS2, and coming soon to Xbox. Having played both games, I personally prefer FIFA ever so slightly. For all the enhancements I just mentioned, it still doesn't feel quite as realistic as PES4, instead striving for a bit more of a balance towards fun. PES4 on the other hand, with all its endless button combinations and complexities, is more like the IL2 of footy games. It's all very hard to pick up 'n' play, and somewhat intimidating for a football outsider such as myself.
Hardcore soccer junkies will no doubt prefer that, I think that goes without saying, but the more light hearted ones among us, those who skived off games lessons at school, will probably enjoy FIFA 2005 ever so slightly more.
