The Wonder Years 9.25.07: Week 23 - FIFA International Soccer
Posted by Owain J. Brimfield on 09.25.2007
The dawning of an age-old franchise.
Welcome to the column where all gamers of a certain age come to wallow in 16-bit nostalgia. I'm your host, Owain J. Brimfield, and I'll be discussing some of the hidden gems and instant classics of gaming's golden era. Some of these games may crop up on the Wii's Virtual Console at some point, some may be consigned to the annals of history. Either way, they're worth tracking down if you missed them first time round, or replaying if you were lucky enough to catch them. Let's take a trip to:
FIFA INTERNATIONAL SOCCER
(EA Sports, Genesis & Super NES, 1993)
Every world-dominating franchise was a baby once, and FIFA is no exception. While nowadays the series is a true giant in console gaming, and one of the few in the genre not egregiously responsible (like Pro Evo) for inflicting the fallacious name 'soccer' on the sport of football, back in the early 90s the game was little more than another contender in a crowded genre - albeit one that set itself apart from the pack thanks to its unique (for the time) isometric perspective. And oddly enough, the game wasn't too bad either, although it would go on to decline rather rapidly before more recently making a comeback in quality. For now, though, let's take a look at baby FIFA in all its glory.
The first thing that smacks you in the face (in a good way) is the sheer quality of the game's presentation. Give them their dues, EA Sports clearly piled what they had into this franchise from the beginning. The menus are crisp and clear, with some pretty good music compared to the aural turds that stink up most sports games, and the 48 world teams on offer, as well as the tournaments and leagues at hand, are very smoothly set out. The impression that gamers got was that here was a true alternative to the Sensis and Kick Offs that were all we had available up to this point - good games all, but a little bit of change never hurts does it? Especially not when it comes with an official license. Many have criticized EA for an oft-taken 'style over substance' route, but you have to give them credit, the style is usually top notch.
As for the game itself - well, you know, it was pretty good actually. Despite the ups and downs of the franchise's run through the years, it did get off to a very solid start, and remains one of the better football games of the Wonder Years. The football plays solidly if not quickly, and there's an option to switch between 'sim' and 'action' modes, the latter disregarding trivialities such as fouls and the offside rule. There's also the always-satisfying option to play a full 90-minute game, if you fancy scoring in the region of 30 goals a game. Actual modes, there are few - just your basic exhibition, tournament and league games abound, with nothing in the way of training or penalty competitions. FIFA was also the first console football game to feature multitap support, and it was implemented surprisingly well, although as with the single player game it can be tricky to work out which of your team your cursor is going to select - crazy thing has a mind of its own.
Of course, the series wasn't off to a flawless start. The isometric gameplay, in particular, gave rise to a few issues, notably the fact that there are several angles from which scoring goals is almost an inevitability. This is compounded by the AI, which is pretty weak; seasoned players will often find themselves getting into the double figures. Visually, too, there's a distinct prevalence of greeny-brown about the color scheme (yes, an obvious criticism for a football game, but competitors like ISS didn't suffer from the same problem). And there's a perplexing lack of on-screen score and time displays. Amusingly enough, while the move to 3D for FIFA '96 would solve all these issues, it couldn't help but create a whole batch of new ones.
For the time, though, FIFA was one of the best football games available on the 16-bit consoles, and the all-important fun factor is still there - it still stands up to a quick multiplayer blast, even if the one-player game hasn't aged quite as well (you'd be a bit harder pressed to beat Brazil 5-0 on more modern iterations). Given that the game has been made obsolete by around 13 sequels since its release, it's not too easy to track down (although the Genesis-only successor FIFA '95 is very similar and slightly easier to get a hold of), but if nothing else, it's certainly interesting to look back at baby FIFA with the benefit of hindsight, knowing that the series has gone on to become a global gaming powerhouse. Who'd have thunk it?
FIFA International Soccer trivia
Despite the official FIFA endorsement, the first game in the series doesn't feature real player names. How bizarre.
There's a little gameplay glitch you can exploit to win games with ease - simply position a player directly in front of an opposing goal kick, and more often than not the ball will simply rebound off your guy's chest straight into the net. Sweeeeet.
The game was also known as FIFA '94. I'll never understand why games arrive one or two years before the date on the box.
FIFA is an honorable mention in my official all-time Top 100 games.
Splendid visitation possibilities
The place to come for random retro gaming tidbits, links and videos, and general amusing games-related stuff collated from the interweb.
If you want to see the original FIFA in action, take a look at the following video, which features a really rather creepy pair of children in action from some random TV show, with a scary scary host.
If you fancy keeping up to date with the women's World Cup (bet you didn't even know it was on, did you?), you can take a look at the official FIFA website. Just don't pay too much attention to the fact that USA beat England 3-0 in the quarters. You may also notice, however, that the site refers to the sport as 'football'.
We've got something here that purports to be a random videogame name generator. Not sure if is in anyway actually relevant to gaming, but it certainly comes up with some funny word combinations.
Every week in this section I'll endeavour to provide you, the faithful readers, with a fascinating insight into the various forms of entertainment currently dominating my spare time.
This week, I have been mostly enjoying:
Heroes of Might & Magic III, my favorite game in the series. Having just had two fellow geeks come and stay at our house, the joys of network gaming have been brought to the fore. If only Rob hadn't found that neutral wizard's castle to defend, I'd have had him beaten by now...
Swordfishtrombones by Tom Waits, which although not quite as good as Rain Dogs is still one of the legendary granite-voiced troubadour's finest records.
Splinter by Adam Roberts, who is very probably the best science fiction author writing today. Published by upcomers Solaris Books, this is a cracking tale of the end of the world.
and Civilization: The Board Game, a ridiculously complicated spin-off of the classic franchise. My housemates and I dug it out for the first time yesterday, and after assembling the 784 pieces we kicked off - four hours later and we hadn't even finished the first of the four eras. One for a rainy day week, methinks.
And finally…
As always, reader feedback and suggestions are welcome, I respond to everything so just drop me a line. You can also check out my science fiction column "The Flux Capacitor" over at 411 Movies. Next week in "The Wonder Years" - a veritable cornucopia of boss battles. Until then - keep it real, keep it retro.
