FIFA 07

Objection, your honour!

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The coming of Autumn-time heralds many things; the start of the conker season, ridiculously early Christmas ads, and of course, the fiercest derby clash of all; the coming together of the football game titans. This year it seems that Konami obviously they were in the driving seat with the Pro Evolution Soccer franchise, only making subtle changes to their highly acclaimed gameplay formula which served so well in last years Pro Evolution Soccer 5. EA on the other hand are slowly learning from Konami's rival football series, and with the added advantage of the fully licensed teams and kits, along with the predictably delightful presentation EA look to ensure 'This is the season' to make FIFA a massive hit. Our very own Stevie Smith was highly impressed with the Xbox version and gave it a whopping 95% in his review, hailing it as "The only complete football package in existence". Naturally I couldn't wait to play the Xbox 360 version, and put my views about the game forward in the following review...

Right from kick off you can tell the hefty gameplay improvements have paid off. As far as attacking is concerned it's finally possible to get past your man with pace, rather than coming up against impossibly strong defenders who win the ball with little difficultly every time. Also, when a defender is even just slightly out of position, the game (as with real life) allows you to capitalise in a realistic fashion. Sadly the through passes in FIFA 07 are now much less effective than in the recent 2006 FIFA World Cup, especially considering your players are seemingly only allowed to run a set path once the ball has been released by the previous player. Even if you switch players manually, you cannot change the direction of the receiving player to pick up the through ball early. This often results in a frustrating moment where you can do nothing but watch the opposing team's defender pick up the loose ball, and strangely this isn't the case with the current gen version.

Defensively the game has its merits, such as the way your AI players automatically intercept loose balls and the tackling system finally feels a lot more like Pro Evo. You can now hold the A button to apply pressure on the player with the ball and the directional button to guide your player into making the tackle at the right time. Sadly there is little transition from defense to offense meaning you will often win the ball then inadvertently give it away because you accidentally pressed the pass button (which used to be the tackle button) without aiming your pass. That's not the only problem with the game's defensive system, its biggest problem area is definitely the sliding tackles. Even the most skilled players will most likely concede a free kick (or worse, a card), but on the rare occasion the ref decides to play on and you win the ball, your player will not be able to get back on his feet quick enough to get the ball which was rightfully won by the sliding challenge, making the act rather pointless.

Free kicks have been known in the past as a way to get goals easily in FIFA games. This time the free kicks seem more challenging but at the same time more realistic. Now if you score a goal from a free kick it will feel more rewarding as a result of this. Corners have also got a more realistic feel to them. You just kick in the direction of the player you wish to receive the ball and hold down the cross button to control the power. The goalkeepers like to command their box well and any corners too close to the goal line will, like in real life football matches, be collected by the goalie. Throughout the game the goalkeepers act like their real life counterparts, unlike the lazy keepers of FIFA 06 who struggled to venture outside the six yard box.

FIFA 07 on Xbox 360 only features the very top divisions of football. The premiership is obviously included, as is the Spanish La Liga, the German Bundesliga, the Ligue 1 Orange of France, the Mexico Primera, and Italy's Serie A. There are also 37 International teams included, adding up to a grand total of 117 teams. This may come as a major disappointment to many fans of the FIFA football series wanting to play as their local lower league club. Many previous FIFA games (including the Xbox version of Fifa 07) would allow this, so the decision to include only the very top teams feels like a huge backward step, as well as a waste of the partly exclusive license. FIFA 07's main single player campaign is now called Manager Mode. Your objective is to take over a team and gain success by playing through seasons with that team. As you win games you will gain the respect of your team's fans, as well as fortifying the trust of your club's directors, giving you a more stable job position at your club (and even offers for jobs at other clubs elsewhere). If you continuously lose games then the fans will dislike you and your job as manager may be threatened, this being the case you would be forced to leave your team and join a new one. The general idea behind Manager Mode is promising but would work considerably better if lower league clubs were included in this version the game. Also, real weekly match fixtures are still not used in season one so you can't track your performance against your real life team, which has always seemed bizarre.

Throughout your seasons in charge you have a certain amount of money to spend on a number of things such as player contracts, coaching staff, scouting staff, and stadium upgrades. This helps to give the feel of RPG elements to the game, but would benefit from being deeper and more realistic in places for the hardcore footie fan.

The Challenge mode featured in 2006 FIFA World Cup makes a welcome return to this title. Rather than a typical match, Challenge modes sets up a scenario for you to play where your objectives could from winning a game, to scoring a late equalizer with a substitution. These challenges, as the name suggests, are far from easy but they are good fun and are a fine alternative to the lengthy Manager Mode. With 85 to complete they will also keep you going for a fair few hours, adding a good bit of extra lifespan to the game.

In addition to the main modes you get the standard quick match mode (labeled in the game as Kick Off) for single and multiplayer action. On top of this there is also Xbox Live support for single and co-op online gaming, and a neat new function for online football news and ESPN radio.

Graphically FIFA 07 is very pretty indeed. It doesn't quite boast the silky smooth animations of Pro Evolution 6 but it's a clear improvement on previous FIFA titles. The players are well modeled and despite looking a little too clean and glossy, compare very well to their real life counterparts. The stadiums also look fantastic, and the game holds a steady frame rate throughout play.

The sound in this title is something of a mixed bag. While the commentary can be interesting and even informative in places, some of it is mumbled and can a really struggle to hear what's being said. In other places it is just plain inaccurate. You could be dribbling the ball though midfield when the commentator randomly shouts 'Ooo should have done better' or you could be taking a corner and you play it too close to the goalkeeper who easily collects it, the commentator offering 'he should have scored from there' as if you are somehow expected to score from a corner kick directly. Thankfully despite the inaccuracy of the commentary, we are greeted with the familiar voices of Sky Sports commentators Andy Gray and Martin Tyler who sound considerably more professional and lively than the Pro Evolution Soccer commentators. While its clear most of the commentary has been borrowed from 2006 FIFA World Cup and its prequel FIFA: Road to World Cup, there are a few new samples to keep things fresh.

Elsewhere the sound is also a variety of good and bad. The good points are most notably that the more established teams have their own crowd chants, which is a very nice feature, and the menu music suits the game well. Sadly it has its bad points to, like the fact you can rarely hear when a player has kicked the ball, and every time a substitution is made the whole crowd suddenly goes completely silent. In real life a player is often clapped off the field, but not in FIFA 07, where instead a strange hush insues.

Overall FIFA 07 on the Xbox 360 is a good, but not brilliant game. It's a vast improvement over last year's FIFA 06 and plays slightly better than 2006 FIFA World Cup. While gameplay wise it's still not quite up there with Pro Evo 6 it comes closer than ever before this time around. Sadly a few things let this version down dramatically, such as the severely reduced number of teams, uninspiring sound and a general corner cutting approach that has been made to get this game to market. It is a shame considering this is the third FIFA game on Xbox 360. It's about time EA take advantage of the superior next gen hardware and produce a game that stands head and shoulders above current gen versions. Sadly, this clearly is not the case here. Anyone looking to purchase a new footie game this season on the Xbox 360 would be better off looking at Pro Evolution Soccer 6. FIFA fans should look towards the current generation version for a better value and more complete package.

81%

By Steven Embling