FIFA 07
He shoots! He misses! He shoots again!
Tags: FIFA 07 Categories: Reviews, Xbox 360 Reviews
Posted by Mark "MadMup" Zwolanek on Nov 29th, 2006
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| FIFA 07 (title page) | 1 - 2 | ||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Sports | Yes | ||
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Sports games can be difficult to review. The very nature of a game that’s released every year begs comparisons to its previous incarnations as well as to any other versions offered by competitors. On top of that, in this one game alone, FIFA 07 Soccer gives players the opportunity to manage or play as any of the 117 clubs or 37 national teams included. There are six leagues and licensed characters are included, as might be expected from an official FIFA game. Game modes included are Kick-Off, Manager Mode, Lounge play, and online play via Xbox Live.
It makes you tired just thinking about all the virtual soccer our there.
The game looks fantastic. Player movement is realistic, the stadiums look real – the whole thing looks like a television presentation, actually. On top of that, the ball moves, well, “realistically” is the best way to describe it. It curves, it bounces, it slows, it reacts to player movement. In short, the physics in the game are believable and affect how the game is played.
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Lounge Mode is a great way to set up competitions with friends. It’s basically a mini-league mode where two or more teams are set up and stats and victories are tracked just within this mode. This is a great idea, as it takes a lot of the hassle out of human competition.
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Manager Mode gives players almost total control of a team, from hiring to training to almost any mundane team-related task you can think of. As games are played and won, more points are earned which can be spent on upgrades. It’s a bit RPG-like and, frankly, gets a bit too bogged down in all the details. There doesn’t seem to be any way to automate any of the processes, making career play more hassle than it’s worth if all someone wanted to do was take a team through a season or two. It seems like there should be different levels of career play, rather than an “all or none” mindset to it.
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While “complicated” is on the table, the controls need to be mentioned. While a person could jump into the game and successfully make passes and maybe even shoot a goal, becoming proficient in the game requires learning all of the convoluted controls. Trigger buttons combined two button presses, analog sticks, d-pad presses – controlling the game calls for almost as much dexterity as actually playing soccer. It’s a daunting task to try to remember that a “One-two pass (second pass is high pass)” is “pull Left Trigger + A +X.”
Online play is easy to jump into and easy to play. Ranked or unranked matches are available, as well as co-op (on the same console) against co-op. The game also allows for roster updates via Xbox Live (requires them, in fact, for online match play) and for ESPN news updates via a streaming radio channel.
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Overall, this is a solid outing. The graphics and gameplay physics are the first things players will notice, and their enjoyment of the rest of it will depend on the individual.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
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+ The graphics are of TV-presentation quality. + The ball moves and reacts realistically. + Lounge Mode is a great way to set up friends-only tournaments. |
8.0 |
| What Doesn't | |
|
- Manager Mode is overly complicated with no way of automating mundane tasks. - Controls can be daunting, with multiple buttin presses needed for some in-game tasks. - Crowd audio inexplicably cuts out completely every so often. |
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| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| A solid effort. The one-on-one shooter vs. goalie during loading screens is enough fun to warrant this one a rental all by itself. | |
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Tags: FIFA 07
Posted by Mark "MadMup" Zwolanek on Nov 29th, 2006 and is filed under Reviews, Xbox 360 Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
