Fifa 2004 - my GC reveiw

Tellox

After the long-anticipated wait for fifa2004, I finally received my copy for the gamecube today. So,with much excitement, I remove fifa2003 from the gamecube, insert fifa2004, and begin playing. One thing I was looking forward to seeing was Robbie Keane's unique face, so I go to start an international cup tournament.

The only problem is, There is no international cup tournament. Theres no world cup, no european cup. No international tournaments at all. The only pre-set way to play as an international team, is through a friendly match. Im sure there'll be a downloadable world cup patch for fifa2004 on the PC, but there sure as hell wont be for any consoles.

So, Admist dissapointment, I start a friendly match between Ireland and Switzerland. The first thing I notice is Robbie Keane's unique face, and how they still have his hair flat. But onwards we go...

First thing I try to do,is use off the ball control, by pressing the Z button, or so the manual told me. But what the manual really should have said is "Hammer on the Z button constantly until off the ball control appears, and then hammer some more until it selects a player". Sometimes by pressing Z once, off the ball appears. Sometimes, by pressing Z once, it switches the player you wish to control with OTB. But the majority of the time, the Z button either does nothing, or makes you start dribbling. By the time you get the player you want to be controlled selected, you'd be tackled,and you'd lose the ball. Oh dear.

Next on the agenda, is the passing system. All your team still do the same old thing, where they stand and stare at the ball while it travels towards them, and the other team are free to intercept. In order to cross correctly from the wing, you have to activate OTB and quickly decide who you want to cross the ball to, and then hold down the X button. Once again, OTB control more often then not, fails, and you end up slamming a ball off into the crowd, forcing a goal kick. Through balls are generally a better idea then passing, but with all passing techniques, you usually pass the ball straight to an enemy player, unless you use OTB control.

Now, Shooting. Fifa tried to emulate ISS/PES's shooting system for fifa2004, which is a generally good idea. But here's the problem, in ISS/PES, you watch the power gauge carefully, and you release the shot button when it gets to the desired amount of power. In Fifa2004, you hold down the B button for more then half a second, and its a full force shot into the distance. Theres an option to decrease the speed of power gauges, but this seems to only take effect for crosses and through balls. Shooting really is a lottery in this game, as its near impossible to stop the gauge where you want it to. Its either barely tap it for a 0-90% full gauge, or press the button for a 100% full gauge. There is a low shot button, which would work as say, a 10% full gauge, keeping the shot firmly on the ground,and relativly slow, but they're just as hard,if not harder to put in the back of the net. A harder scoring system was just what fifa2003 needed, but skill really was removed from shooting in fifa2004. Long shots also tend to go in much more often then close-range.

One thing I cant complain about, is the quality and selection of the stadiums. One thing I can complain about, is how the bigger of them cause a horrible stutter motion on the gamecube, which rises to an unplayable level at times. More then once I've been scored on during a 2/3fps slump. And there really is nothing more annoying then conceeding in the 90th minute in the final of the FA cup against Manchester United, due to a poor fps.

So I decided to bring some friends around, and try out a league between us, to see if that brings any life to this title. But yet again, somethings missing. And thats the custom league. Infact,its impossible to play any league, as more then 1 team. Yet another nail in the coffin for Fifa2004.

Now, on to Fifa's player stats,or as I like to call, the popularity contest. Beckham gets 94/100, John O'Shea gets 76/100. Ronaldo gets 98/100 (nuff said), And kewell gets 90/100 while Duff gets 75/100. Di Canio doesnt even make an appearance in the game. And heres the killer - Van Nistelrooy gets 97/100. Sure, Ronaldo,Van Nistelrooy and Beckham are great players, but there is absolutly no way they're even remotely deserving of these stats. Another let-down...

Graphicly, the game is outstanding. Theres many unique faces, and just about everything looks beautiful. The AI is improved over last years, but isnt really anything to write home about.

Overall: 26/100
The concept was flawless. The execution was terrible.
I've never played PES in my life(bar the demo), but something tells me its time to give it a go...

KdjaCL

You left out that the players dont run around the pitch but have to be driven.

Looks great tho is a bad bad bad game back to ISS3 for me.


kdjac

Big Ears

the thing is people are still going to buy the game because of its name and when they do ill chucle away with my £18 (sterling) iss pro evoulution 3.