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It’s been a busy year for FIFA. Last year, around this time, EA released FIFA 06. The publisher followed that release a few months later with FIFA World Cup and now with its latest release: FIFA 07. FIFA 06 was widely considered the pinnacle of the series. Does FIFA 07 improve on its predecessor?
FIFA 07 includes all of the expected and by now standard game modes. In FIFA 07, you can become the manager of any team you want (or create). You’ll be tasked with making a number of managerial decisions like selecting a sponsor and pleasing this sponsor by playing well and leading your team to glory. Once you do this you’ll receive an email from the board telling you what they expect from you this season. If you select a superstar team, your requirements are going to be fairly intense which balances out the plus of playing with such a team. The actual requirements aren’t simply about winning games, either, since sometimes you’ll have to convince a star player to play or make the team more profitable.
You’ll have to manage several people including a scout, stadium manager, negotiator and several coaches. The coaches are of variable quality, though you can make them better by spending money. New to this year’s mode is the ability to have players gain experience points and get better as you play with them. Also new is virtual sim mode where you can watch games with play-by-play commentary and jump in if your team isn’t performing up to standards. The mode is actually ripped almost directly from the PlayStation 2 version of the game, which makes sense since you can transfer saves between the platforms.
The gameplay will be familiar to fans of the series, though some improvements have been made compared to previous years. The game makes better use of physics when running so that players can’t easily do a 180 and run in the other direction, which places additional emphasis on the passing game. On that note, the passing game is a little less forgiving with more skill required to pull off the cooler looking passes. The same applies to goals which are harder to pull off, yet make them all that much more rewarding when you finally do. The game balances this out by including a finesse shot which lets you pull off insanely accurate yet less powerful shots. The ball physics are improved from last year’s game and when combined with the new animations make FIFA 07 almost as exciting as watching a real game. Another changed feature is the game’s momentum system which is displayed on the screen. If you keep your momentum up, your team will play better, allowing you to sink in more goals and complete more passes.
FIFA 07 includes online and local wireless multiplayer. The game features intuitive menus and a well-made lobby system. We experienced some lag while playing local wireless, although playing online had more significant lag. Although not quite game breaking, it was somewhat annoying, especially since we had a fair share of disconnects. FIFA 07 only included ranked and unranked matches online, which is disappointing since the console versions made good use of the tournaments and league systems of FIFA Lounge. Aside from soccer, FIFA 07 includes last year’s ball juggling via local wireless multiplayer. Basically, this is a rhythm game where you’ll have to tap the directional pad according to what is on screen. When playing, you’ll slowly fill a meter, which will let you unleash tricks such as limiting your opponents viewing area once full. It’s a fun distraction that works well.
The game’s visuals are great. The biggest players are easily identifiable and all players are reasonably well modeled. The animation is unbelievably good in this game. It was considered impossible to improve on last year’s game but somehow EA has done it. The replays look amazing thanks to a neat visual effect that lets the player stay in focus while the background gets blurry. The stadiums look great, as do the fans that populate them.
Where FIFA 07 really shines is in the audio. Andy Gray and Clive Tydsley still provide commentary but they have a number of new lines that makes their announcing seem fresh. The soundtrack is very vast in scope, encompassing songs from a number of countries. It fits very well with the international focus of the FIFA series. Lastly, the sound effects are impressive, particularly the way the crowd explodes when something interesting goes on. This was something that we applauded the game last year for and it has been made even better this time around. It’s particularly cool that the biggest teams have their own chants from the crowd which really brings the game to life.
FIFA 07 manages to improve on last year’s great game. Many of the new features are well-received and while the others will take some getting used to, this is undoubtedly a move forward for the franchise. If you didn’t pick up last year game, you have absolutely no reason to not pick up this version. The PSP version of the game is a faithful adaptation of the console versions, which is to say, very fun.
-- Jose Liz & -- Adam Nunez, PGNx Media
---- Oct 25, 2006
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