It’s the time of the year when licensed sports titles begin to appear on games store shelves and Electronic Arts’ FIFA series of games is without a doubt one of the most popular of these sports sims. FIFA 2003 was a big hit with this reviewer and gamers alike, so how does FIFA 2004 measure up?
In terms of gameplay not a lot has changed. The selling point of this year’s title is ‘off the ball play’, an all-new ‘off the ball’ control system that lets you take command of players not in possession of the ball. Call in tackles, jostle for space, lose your marker and send players on runs at the touch of a button. These new features really do add an extra level of realism and fun to an already excellent game. With each incarnation of the FIFA series, the play becomes more and more accurate and realistic.
The animation and rendering is fantastically smooth and realistic. There are now even more stadia for the teams to compete in and each of these is represented onscreen in loving and accurate detail. Players really do look like their real-life counterparts and like FIFA 2003, they continue to have individual AI algorithms governing their playing style.
This time around, there are more teams to play and more leagues to compete in. One of the great challenges available in this game is to take control of an English Third Division team; with a combination of skill and clever transfer acquisitions, you can take your team all the way to the top.
EA have done a great job of making what was already a very successful title even better. There are enough enhancements and improvements on last years outing to make it a worthwhile purchase for any sports sim fan.
FIFA 2004
Specs
Rating: 90%
Requirements: PlayStation2 games console
Price: EUR53.99
Contact: GameStop +353 (0)1-8724305
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