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FIFA 07 Soccer
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Graphics & Sound:
FIFA 07 Soccer comes to us from the venerable EA Canada studio at EA Sports, makers of NBA Live and the NHL series. With the popularity of soccer expanding more and more into the U.S., coupled with the already ravenous fans of Europe and elsewhere, this game should once again sell some serious units. Personally, I played a wee bit of soccer in my days of youth, but fell away from the game for American football and other pursuits (like video games...). But recently, I found a new flavor with the aforementioned resurgence in popularity, most notably at my university with a few hardcore fans, and away I went into yet another hobby tacked onto my agenda.
Visually, this title exudes polish and expertise, from the smooth character animations, to the fully modeled arenas and fans. Sinewy calf and thigh muscles bulge across every player, from the stout defenders, to the speedy forwards. Facially, some may say there isn’t a lot of detail, but I found there to be enough to distinguish some of the bigger stars out there. Sometimes the emotions aren’t as vivid on the faces themselves, but usually make up for it in the wildly flailing arms and legs after a big goal. The physics and life-like animations run into the realm of off balance passes, jukes, ball fakes, and knocking the ball off various body parts. On the performance side, frames seemed to hold steady for the most part, but had occasional hiccups, but I didn’t notice much clipping at all, so good marks in the technical department when it’s all said and done. Finally, little touches like the sun glinting over the rafters, banners wafting in the stands, and various colorful ads around the pitch, help to accentuate the quality work put into this game.
If you think the graphics were keen, you will be absolutely floored by the audio. This has to be the best announced game out there; nothing quite like Clyde Tinsley and Andy Gray, two blokes from the UK who heighten the tension at every opportunity. They really let their emotions fly and are crisp in their calls and color commentary. Add in the resounding crowd roars, boos and chants, and you just can’t match the atmosphere of international soccer.
The soundtrack is an interesting mix of world music, mainly European flavored, with a mix of Latin-influenced peppy beats, as well as a host of Celtic chants and anthems. Rounding out the sound department is your usual solid compliment of effects, like the subtle sound of dribbling the ball up the field, the “thump” of a nice header, and the blaring tweet of a whistle for yet another red card.
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Gameplay:
FIFA 07 Soccer returns with many familiar gameplay modes, like Manager, Lounge Mode, Create-A-Club, Practice, Interactive Leagues and more. Most of your time will probably be spent with Manager, Lounge Mode, or the Interactive League (more on that in the online portion…), so let’s begin with these. Manager mode pits you in the seat of a football club manager, and are tasked with a myriad of financial goals, as well as success on the pitch itself. Be wary of the national team commitments, which can rend your team apart if not played carefully. Ultimately, as long as you keep tabs on your fans, the board of trustees, and your ever-important key to it all: your players, you can’t go wrong. In this year’s installment, there is a new caveat to personnel moves, whereby you must carefully nurture upcoming players, at perhaps the cost of bringing down your overall effectiveness. They aren’t doing anyone good collecting splinters in their arses though. Also new is the visual sim feature, that allows you to step into play if anything goes awry during the match, even down to the control of a single player at a crucial moment.
The other big time-vacuum is the Lounge Mode, which is a beefed up version of a buddy tournament, that tracks stats across matches, and allows some neat options for competition, such as the “cheap shots” cards that are won and can be played to even the score. Some of these “cheats” can be as simple as a few points bonus to start, or fatigue/bench certain opposing players - even more incentive to play smart and well, lest you get the backlash of one of these power-ups.
After you fiddle around with the various modes, you will of course get into the heart of the gameplay - the on-the-field action. You can pull off an assortment of moves, from a myriad of dribbling fakes and stunts (knock ons, dummy, fake shot, 360 roulettes, step-overs, etc.), passes (lobbed, headed, early cross) and the ever important, shots on goal (finesse, chips and more). The sheer amount of fancy dribbling maneuvers is pretty amazing - over 15 in all. Deciding on when to be risky, or to just set-up the placid, slow-paced assault, using quick passes and a lot of dribbling, comes down to how soccer savvy you think you are. You can’t just rocket the ball up field and catch a streaking forward, because the A.I. reacts too well for that, and besides, that isn’t entirely realistic.
The momentum meter is something pretty interesting as well, and plays a fairly important role in determining the outcome, although it doesn’t seem to match up with certain events, a la a fumble in NCAA 07 which will always lower the opposing team’s morale, and up yours. Still, if you are a few points ahead, chances are your players will be confident and finish out with pride. Setting up the strategy is also critical for matching up well in FIFA 07. A simple one-touch control scheme enables you to pounce upon attacking players, such as the zone defense, offside trap and more. Once you get the other team on their heels, you can perform a few attack moves like third man release, wing play and the box overload. The action on the pitch is pretty varied with all the tricks, special finesse shots, strategic plays and more, and should prove worthy of even the most diehard fan’s appreciation.
Once you have your fill of single player action, you can jump online in the brand new Interactive League feature. Here, you follow the real-life matches of your favorite teams, deciding the fate of your virtual club one way or another. This is a pretty slick system, and maybe we can see something like this in other EA titles down the pipe. The various divisions are the German Bundesliga, Mexico’s 1st Division, France’s Ligue 1 Orange, and F.A. Premier League. If this sounds a little too complicated for the more casual gamer, you can always just find a regular ‘ol game in the lobby, and duke it out like usual.
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Difficulty:
Initially, it seemed like FIFA 07 Soccer was rather easy to score on. Now this struck me as a little odd, because 99.9% of soccer games I have seen resulted in a combined score of usually 4 or less. But apparently, the base settings allow for a bit more ease of scoring, however improbable this is. Luckily, you can adjust many difficulty options, until your find your perfect balance of realism and fun. Veterans of the series should pick up on the schemes and game plans rather quickly, while beginners may need to spend some time in the Practice mode to hone their game.
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Game Mechanics:
The controls and overall presentation of FIFA 07 Soccer are pretty well done. Utilizing the various special moves and even the basic ones is fairly fluid and intuitive, although at times, the button combinations can get you a bit flustered. This is ironed out with a little fine tuned honing, of course. Also, the camera angles do a nice job of delivering the action, and can be modified to your heart’s content.
Overall, FIFA 07 is another classic edition in the long standing Electronic Arts series, combining solid visuals, enthralling audio, and a slew of options sure to please the most rabid of soccer (football) fans out there. It also retails at most stores for a decent $40 bones, so do yourself a favor, and check this title out today. |
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-Tybo, GameVortex Communications AKA Tyler Whitney |
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