Yeah, I know it's 2007 and all, but I'll be damned if I pay for every new edition of any video game. Really, I don't get enough pleasure out of the things to spend more than $15 per game - and I know the price will come down eventually, especially for us PlayStation 2 owners; I expect the next few years will be a tight-wad bonanza for me with all the platforms coming out. Still, there's something in the soccer-geek mind that compels them to hold onto these games forever; maybe the collect them or something, I don't know such things. Whatever it is, after a two-year wait (literally, it took me two years to find a single, used edition of any EA Sports FIFA game), I finally picked up the EA Sports' FIFA 2004. Here's a quick review:
Hang in there. Holy shit, is this game difficult. I spent the first five hours, screaming at the TV, throwing around the controller, just generally behaving like a two-year-old. The problem: if you play soccer well enough and you know what you would do in a given situation - e.g. if you see a wide-open player surging down a wide-open flank with a clear passing lane between you and he - it is leagues beyond infuriating when you can't make the damned computer act on your wishes; you think you've got the right button, pathway, etc. and, next thing you know, you've managed nothing better than a slow-rolling pass out of bounds.
Returning to what I said at the top, though, the key is to hang in there. I suspect the same applies to all editions of FIFA games, but I'd played a few before and none drove me insane like the 2004 edition. But, to warn the buyer, I'm guessing the experience is triply frustrating for anyone able to play soccer competently.
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2 comments:
The major innovation starting with, I think the 2005 edition, was the ability to seperate "through" passes from other passes (expanded on in 07 to allow for aerial and ground versions). In 07 they seem to have adjusted the defense AI, so breaking down a defense is much more realistic (although there is the problem that you can still do it simply by holding posession forever with dinky passes and moving up about three yards at a time... in real life someone's going to make a challenge at midfield and get that ball off you.)
I like your blog but the black background messes with my head.
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