FIFA Football 2004 (PC)

To begin with, the graphics have improved a little, not much, but it is noticable. It's just little things like players' kits getting dirty during a match, and better detail of players' faces. Much of the commentary (provided by John Motson and Ally McCoist) is taken from FIFA 2003, and that commentary is very good compared to that of most football games. However, the new commentary is often very inaccurate. John Motson once described my beloved Darlinton as being arch-rivals of Wimbledon F.C. and similarly of Doncaster, which certainly isn't true. He also seems to have great difficulty in pronouncing the name "Wainwright", he says something that sounds like "Skrupskriss". Don't ask me why, I really don't know. Overall, the general atmosphere of the game is pretty good compared to such rivals as Pro Evolution Soccer.

Now what about this off-the-ball system that the critics have been raving about? Well, it takes a lot of practice to master it, and you'll occasionally wonder why you bother, but once you have really got the hang of it and know how to work it into your game, it will come in very useful. I think this feature was mainly designed for the PS2. The dual analog pad would work much better with this feature, i feel.

With FIFA 2003, I don't think I will be met with much argument when I say that the realism of the gameplay was somewhat lacking in presence. Players were often very unresponsive to the commands of the "12th man" (or woman as the case may be) and frustration was commonplace. FIFA 2004 generally feels much better to play, with more realistic tackles, shots and set pieces. There is, however, still some unresponsiveness (is that a real word?), but much less than in its predecessor. It looks like EA Sports are trying to make up for the under-par gameplay often shown in its releases and they're making a better job of it than I had expected.

I am very glad to see that it is now possible to control clubs in the Nationwide League, something which the game has lacked in previous titles. Whilst most of the real players are included in the game, EA Sports do not appear to have made any sort of a reasonable attempt at accurately defining their positions or their skills. Some players who left Darlington months before the game's release are still at the club in the game, and all of the players they signed during the summer have also been left out. This has spoilt the experience, somewhat. One of the biggest disappointments is, once again, that the Creation Centre has been omitted from the game. Surely if they are going to make the lower division players so inaccurately, they should include a tool with which the gamer can rectify these mistakes. With any luck, a Creation Centre will be available to download in the near future. In Career mode it is a little too easy to sign premiership quality players with a 3rd Division team, often seeming rather unrealistic. Overall, Career mode is a good feature, but EA Sports need to work on it and make more of an effort to get it right next time.

There are one or two less important things, which I am going to mention. It's good to see the return of "Training Mode", which you can use to perfect your set pieces or even to have a training match, perhaps to practice working the off-the-ball system into your game, or just to mess about and make as many malicious fouls as possible. Either way, it is a welcome addition to the game.

There are much more songs, or "Trax" as EA Sports call them, most of which, to my taste, are pretty lame. There are some good songs included in the game, however, "Red Morning Light" by "Kings of Leon" being the best of them. For some reason beyond my knowledge, only about one minute of each song is played, before the next one starts. I would much rather hear the whole of "Fools Gold" by "The Stone Roses" than just the intro. Most people are unlikely to be too bothered about this, however, so I won't say any more on it.

A free demo of Total Club Manager 2004 comes with the game, and allows you to test the new "Football Fusion" which lets you play your matches from Total Club Manager on FIFA 2004. I expect it is a very useful feature for those who have both of these games, but to be honest, I am not at all tempted to buy the full version of Total Club Manager.

This is, clearly, a vast improvement on FIFA 2004, and I am enjoying the game more each time I play it, having disliked it to begin with. I was tempted to give the game 4 stars, but there are far too many inaccuracies to warrant this. I would recommend this, especially to Nationwide League fans, but do not be misled by the so-called improved tactics and management. For the management side of things, I am happy sticking with Championship Manager.

FIFA 2004 is a very playable game, and has variety. Play it short along the ground, gently lob it to another player, switch the play with a raking cross-field drive, balls over the top and of course, through passes.
I am also impressed at the way in which defending is not too simple like in FIFA2003. Pressing D for a conservative tackle won't always win the ball cleanly, but it is a very nice addition, as you have shirt pulling, pushing and it feels and looks really great... even if you are unsuccessful in the tackle!!
But surely the most welcome feature has been the extensive tactical features available. You can see which 3 players are in the best position to recieve the ball, trigger player runs, and even control where you're player goes. I have triggered many a run from an attacking player and been able to quite often put him through and clear on goal.
The other good points of the game I think are the corner kick options, the direct free-kicks (I have scored many a pearler and with swerve too into the top corners!!), and also how well the attributes have been nicely integrated into FIFA this year. You can really tell the difference between a World Class star and a 3rd Division defender. The 3rd Division defender's first touch will often go a bit astray for example.
But for me, it is the realism of the gameplay that really makes playing worthwhile..jostling for the ball on the ground and in the air, player reactions, goal celebrations, on pitch scrambles as well as all the other essential parts is all there.
And of course, you have the usually fantastic graphics, sounds and visual AI that EA often produce for FIFA games!

However, there a still a few glitches I can report on.
Firstly is that a few too many long shots go in, and I think it might be something EA will look to improve on. Also, I think the CPU's tactics at kick off need to be look at, as the CPU often just goes into the player's half 100% of the time they kick-off, but in real football of course, they will pass it back or pass it wide to the wingers.
And finally here is a smaller possible glitch..the variety of crossing. Most of it, even from players like Beckham, the crosses hang in the air mostly 100% of the time. There needs to be some more variety. In wide situations, maybe you could be able press the shoot button to send in a more driven cross, and also have the option to use curve on the crosses as well.

Outside of the game, the menu interface looks smartly done and reasonably easy to use, there's loads of sound tracks to pick from (Junior Senior, Dandy Worhols etc, all very nice most of it), team managements etc.

I'll report a little on the career mode now.
Personally, I think this is a nice option they've put in. Not as good as Total Club Manager 2004 for management by a long shot, but it is still nice to play with.

The only other points now left really are the training mode, which has great sounds (player shouts, cars being heard or birds tweeting if it's a country setting, atmosphere, surroundings etc.), nice selection of stadiums (though admittedly there are some really big ones missing), and finally how nice it is that EA have brought Football Fusion in (I haven't tried it yet see!)

The overall impression is that this is not just a 4 star, but a very solid 4 star and nearly coming on to a 5 star. Realistic, easy to pick up and play, and easy to get to grips with, by a little practice.

It really is worth buying....no really!!

good graphics
online play is good
generally good gameplay
off the ball is good

Bad points-

menu interface very bad to use- mouse very jerky-
online play- takes a while toget an opponent
most nationwide grounds are not accurate at all
eg. Edgely Park home of stockport on he game has 1 end with no stand which is not realistic as there is a stand there
some players look very like they should but others do not at all

OVERALL

Good game- need a playstation type controller to play it- i recommend the logitech dual action gamepad.