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Home >
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Video Games
> Results: FIFA Soccer
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by Simon Windmill
July 06, 2005
If it's in the game - it's in the game right? The problem here is that there might be too much in this game.
Reviewed for PSP.
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Gamers looking for a soccer title on the home consoles will generally gravitate to two popular series: FIFA Soccer from EA Sports, and the Winning Eleven series (also known as Pro Evolution Soccer) from Konami. Winning Eleven is generally regarded to provide superior gameplay, whereas FIFA has always boasted a much slicker package and fully-licensed teams and leagues. As Konami hasn't yet announced a Winning Eleven game on the PSP, and Sony's own World Tour Soccer being a disappointing also-ran, we're left with FIFA.
The FIFA gameplay has certainly improved over the years, borrowing ideas from Winning Eleven but still keeping the faster pace and easier difficulty level that purists hate but which probably provides a much more accessible experience for the casual player. Gone is the "ball-attached-to-your-foot, run the length of the field and score" feel of early FIFA games, replaced with fluid through balls and crosses, back and forth action between the two teams much more akin to the real sport than a videogame. Winning Eleven fans would do well to revisit FIFA and not automatically paint it as a poor game, something I myself have been guilty of before. While I still feel Winning Eleven is the best representation of "the beautiful game", I now find FIFA an acceptable substitute.
The greatest strength of FIFA on the PSP is that EA have managed to cram the same game you'll find on the bigger consoles into this little handheld system. All the licensed leagues, teams, kits (uniforms) and stadia from around the world, a full create-a-player mode, the licensed music by artists from Paul Oakenfold to the Scissor Sisters, all the game modes from exhibition games to custom tournaments to full seasons to special challenges that set up situations for you to beat, and the best-of-breed commentary by John Motson & Ally McCoist - it's all included. Like other EA Sports games, you amass a number of points by playing the game, which allow you to "purchase" things like extra game balls, stadia, and music. It even offers features not found in the other versions, such as Pocket Trax, a music player that allows you to play any of the soundtrack songs along with a little visualiser display that moves along to the beat. Two of the songs even have their own music videos included. A new mid-season mode has been added, that allows you to pick up in the middle of one of the big European league seasons complete with accurate standings from last year. Wireless multiplayer (ad-hoc mode, not over the internet) is included, too. You simply cannot find fault with the presentation of the game – it's EA's strongpoint, and they certainly keep it up with FIFA Soccer.
The problem is that it seems they forgot to polish the soccer game itself. There is a considerable load time at startup, and before and after each match – not a great thing on a handheld. While it is very nice to look at with lots of different player animations and fairly detailed textures, the frame rate is quite poor, with everything feeling like it is being played in slow motion. It can apparently be even worse in multiplayer mode. At times, even the fancy interface elements lag as they slide in and out. And practically every time the ball goes out of play, there is a brief pause as it loads up the next animation – this can only add to your frustration when you miss a shot on goal. It's as if they put too much in the game, and the PSP just can't keep up.
The control scheme has also changed for the PSP version. With no right analog stick like the big console controllers, something had to go. The controls are okay, but the much-vaunted first touch system introduced in the 2005 series has been rendered virtually useless by moving it to the directional pad. When you're using the analog nub to control your player, it's very hard to move your thumb up to the d-pad for a quick shimmy or to control the ball as you receive, so I'm sure most players will just not use these features. A personal complaint is that you are forced to use analog control to move your players, and I just don't like the position of the analog nub on the PSP as I find it uncomfortable for long periods of play compared to the d-pad.
FIFA Soccer is not without bugs, either. I had to briefly pause the game for a couple of minutes, and when I went to continue play, the game's camera was fixed at the center of the screen instead of following the ball. The match continued regardless, but of course I couldn't play properly that way, and the other team scored. Only then did the camera return to normal.
Despite all this, it's a decent effort and it is still the best soccer game on the PSP at the moment. The problems with the title are all technical and limited to the PSP version, and don't reflect on the gameplay itself. I have a lot of fun with the game, and the widescreen format of the PSP is a perfect match for team sports games, but I do have to wonder if I would enjoy it quite so much if I were only a casual fan of the sport and not a rabid fan of an English soccer team. Unless you're a real fan of soccer, it's hard to recommend buying the PSP versions at full price – wait for the bargain bin, the next version, or buy it on the bigger consoles without the technical problems.
Being a sports game, there's nothing objectionable in the gameplay itself, and I can't find anything in the soundtrack to point out either. The closest you'll come to objectionable is possibly The Streets' mildly amusing "Fit But You Know It", a song about observing a self-obsessed woman, but even that has been edited to remove any reference to drugs and alcohol.
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> Results: FIFA Soccer
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