FIFA 07 (PS2) Review
Posted by Sean Garmer on 10.30.2006
Soccer what a wonderful game it is. Where else can you see a bunch of passes end up with a kick into a goal and a celebration that rivals some football dances. Well EA is back with their newest addition of FIFA. What's new? What's good? Should you buy it? Read this to find out.
22 players, one ball, and thousands of screaming fans. Sounds like football to me no not that stuff Americans call football with pads, touchdowns, and that weird shaped ball. This is the beautiful game, one of majesty, finesse, and rabid fans. FIFA is the head of futbol (or Soccer), it would only make sense for them to have a video game as well. EA has had the license for around twelve years and every year they make more and more innovations. FIFA doesn’t always sell well in the United States but that coincides with the popularity of the sport, which is lukewarm at best, and mainly, only gets attention because of the diversity of this country. However, around the world, it is the #1 sport, and people wait in line to get these games every year. With that much fandom there is always immense pressure on EA to make the best game possible every year. Lately, while coming out with a solid game, they are still a step-behind their competition in realism. Can EA find a way to compensate for that this year? Is there enough in here to warrant a purchase? Keep reading and you will find out.
Graphics: Again, like I’ve said in the other EA games I’ve reviewed, people should be happy with how the graphics look because they aren’t going to get much better. These might be the last EA games made for the current consoles. I will say that the stadiums all look great and this time they actually used real ones like Man U’s Old Tafford. The players themselves look awesome. They really upped the facial animations this year. You can almost instantly tell who’s, who in this game because they look very similar to their real-life counterparts. The ball physics are a lot better this year as well. The ball actually seems like it moves by itself instead of being pegged to the players foot and moving only when the player runs. Also the improvement in how the ball hits off the goal post and the goal keepers shows it as well. The only thing that was a problem comes with the camera angles making the players look too small. All the camera angles are a little far away from the pitch and for some it can be difficult to judge where your other players are. Other than that, the game looks good, as far as regular console play goes.
Gameplay: For the most part FIFA is still the fast paced high scoring game you would expect from EA. They do make some key changes to the gameplay this year to help move it more towards a simulation. Starting with a different way of passing the ball around, now, you have to be looking at the player you want to pass the ball to, or the ball will go to the wrong guy. Not only does this make sense realistically, but it stops the random passing that plagued the other games, where you would just press the pass button and it would go to the player closest to the goal. This also makes the crosses and long passes a little harder to perform. Mainly it adds more difficulty to the game, because you have to think about where all your players are as you move down the field. With the different kinds of passes including the modifiers (holding L1 and R1 as you pass), there are many different ways of hitting your players either on the run, through the air, or slowing it down, so however you want to get down the field is up to you. Also on long passes, players will jostle each other for the ball. An arrow shows up on the screen to tell you where the ball will land and the player has to find a way to get the header. You can step in front of the other player, stay behind your opponent, or push a button to elbow the other player. Of course, usually that will cause a foul. In soccer, it’s a battle on the field to get control of the ball and it is nice to see EA find a way to include this into the game, plus it makes it easier for you to take off, after passing or knocking the ball down with your head.
Let’s see, they’ve also changed one thing for the set pieces, instead of having an arrow to tell you where you want to place the ball, you have to move the camera in the vicinity where you want the ball to go. How hard you press the shot button determines whether the ball goes in the net, off to the side, or over the goal. Most of the time this works well for free kicks and again adds realism to the game. On corner kicks it is a little more complicated because the camera angle can be misleading. That coupled with the header battle, make it difficult to score on corner kicks because most of the time, either a defender will win the battle or the keeper will come out and prevent any further problems. If you’re the type that doesn’t really bother with set pieces and prefer to score on the run than this is not a big deal, but for those that use the corner kicks as a means of getting back into the thick of things. Well, you might have to change the way you play.
EA, like in every one of their sports games has a trick stick for FIFA as well. I don’t really use it, but it does work, the thing is you have to know the exact moment when to flick the stick, because if not, it will result in a take away. The good thing is the stick is not used, to do ridiculous tricks to totally fake out the opponent, basically, it let’s you get by the defender on your way to the goal. It’s a nice feature for the people that get good with the timing.
Before I talk about the last new thing put into this year’s game, I should probably say that there is one problem. The defense and goalie A.I. are somewhat lax. When you are attacking on offense, you will blow by the defense, and then they will back up all the way to the last third of the field. This causes everything to get clogged up around the goal. What you end up with is no midfield play to speak of, which is really sad because a lot of footie consists of great midfield play. Seriously, I had two of the best midfielders in the game on my team and I rarely used them, unless it was to pass it to my forwards for the goal. I hope they fix this in the next game. The goalie also has its own problems. Sometimes, the goalie is slow to move towards a ball that is shot very close to them, and on a few goals it seemed that the goalie was out of position. It doesn’t happen a lot but it does suck when you see it. The goalie A.I. has always been a problem of the FIFA games, but at least they’ve fixed it somewhat in this year’s version.
Usually, I don’t talk about the online mode for more than a couple sentences, but this year EA added a cool feature to it. EA added Interactive Leagues. Using the FA Premier League, Primera Division Mexicana, Orange League (French league), and the German Bundesliga you can follow your favorite team’s schedule. You have one week to play the game that is closest to the current date, and it doesn’t stop there. You also have the option of playing as any team that is playing against your rival. I hope that next year we get the Spanish and Italian leagues added to the mix. This is all great, but the problem is that the online mode on the PS2 is crappy. I played five games and four of those got disconnected. I’ve also asked around and people are having a hard time playing through one game without some really bad lag. So if you are looking to buy FIFA 07 just for this option, get the game on XBOX or XBOX 360.
Sound: The sound effects and the like, are as great as they have ever been in the current generation games. The soundtrack again is a fantastic mix of songs from all around the world, and really shows the globosity of the sport. If there is anything that EA gets right it is the soundtrack and commentary for these games. Both the English and Spanish commentary are really good. I mainly listen to it in Spanish because they exert more enthusiasm. The English side doesn’t talk much but what they say is right on, and you get to enjoy more of the action. The Spanish side is pretty much normal for a Spanish language broadcast, with constant commentary and frequently saying the player's name on passes. I don’t think you can go wrong with anything from the sound department in this game.
Lasting Appeal There is plenty for you to do in this game aside from Exhibition. There is the lounge mode that provides lots of fun if you have more than one friend playing along. This time the winner also receives awards, so its worth it to get the win. The manager mode is pretty much the same as last year except, there is a better transaction market, and you can also develop players from the youth team. There are over 500 teams and 27 leagues in the game that means there are a huge number of Cups and challenges to do. Also, EA has finally reinstituted the Create-A-Team feature so you can take a created team into manager mode or play in a tourney. The online mode aside from the PS2 version is solid and the interactive leagues make it addictive.
Fun Factor The game is good and fun, you might find yourself playing a few games in a row. There is a lot to do and unless you really wanted to play online I recommend the PS2 version. Mainly because the controls are easier, and the trick stick works best, also the XBOX 360 version isn't as deep as the PS2 version. Bottom Line here is that, FIFA may not be Pro Evolution yet, but then again, it doesn’t have to be. EA tried their best to deliver a good Soccer game and they’ve done just that.
Graphics
8.0
Graphics are solid for the most part.
Gameplay
9.0
Fun, fast paced, and high-scoring. The realism is getting there but it's not quite Pro Evolution yet.
Sound
9.5
Soundtrack and commentary are right on.
Lasting Appeal
8.0
There are alot of things for you to do. Manager, Lounge, Tourney. The Interactive Leagues are killed by the bad online mode.
Fun Factor
8.5
Fun gameplay and lots of options will keep people coming back.
