EA usually surpasses itself on visual quality every year and FIFA 2004 is no different from its predecessors. The quality of the field, stadium, and players is great, especially when the camera gets up close. The animations are plentiful and also very fluid, with little to no slowdown even when close to 20 players are on the screen at the same time. This is by far one of the best, if not the best, looking soccer games on the market.

The audio is also nothing shy of the quality we've been exposed to in the past. All the music is licensed from popular bands out of Europe, Mexico, and South America. During the actual gameplay, however, you're going to be treated to excellent commentary, despite it being delayed by a couple of seconds from time to time, as well as solid sound effects. Slide tackles, kicks and especially the cheer of the crowd when the home team scores are all spot on.

FIFA 2004 has discarded some of the older features of the franchise and adopted some very different features tht will hopefully be kept in the future. The first notable absent feature is the Create-a-Player option. No longer can you customize the look, skill and worth of any player or create any team. However, the new Career mode allows you to sign a contract with any team offered in the game and take them through their league while also training and trading your players. In between every game you play, you can spend your prestige points, which grow as your team does better, on things like training the team, training individual players or trading players who are listed.

Another big new feature is the online play. Here you can get into EA's lobbies and take part in online tournaments or just play against a friend or two in an exhibition match. These online capabilities in the sports titles are getting better every year and taking FIFA 2004 online is a thrill.

All these new features would be for naught if the leagues weren't there to back them up. Every professional league in the world is accounted for (that's over 350 unique teams), as well as every major cup tournament sans the world cup. So if you feel you've got what it takes to lead an MLS team to victory in the America's cup, or want to see what would happen if Real Madrid played the Brazilian national team, then more power to ya.

FIFA 2004 is by far not an easy game, but it's also not too difficult that it will take all but the most hardcore of soccer fanatics to get good at. There are many mechanics to learn and master, but it is not necessary to get them all down in one day. A little practice is necessary before you dive head-first into the fray, though. Once you get the hang of each difficulty level, you will start having to learn more tactics and skills to compensate for the AI's growing intensity.

Always on the cutting edge of game mechanics, FIFA 2004 has been given a few new gimmicks that are sure to keep soccer fans on their toes and help them translate their physical skills into the techniques needed to claim victory on the console. The cool new thing this year is Off-The-Ball control, where you can run your player with the ball down the field and then choose to control a second player for precision passes and one timed shots. This is probably the most difficult part of the new system to get a hold of, but also the most rewarding. It does actually come in handy once you know how to use it, but isn't essential to know to be able to have fun playing the game.

Shots, passes, lobs, all are pressure sensitive and all travel relative to the where the analog stick is pointing. This eliminates the easy passing of most games where the ball seems to find another player on its own. This time around, it is difficult enough to actually make the game look more realistic while keeping the challenge high.

FIFA 2004 is a great soccer game. EA is definitely not letting this series fizzle, and there couldn't be a better time for soccer fans, old and new, to jump on this wagon. Plenty of teams, great control, tons of replay value and all the bells and whistles you could hope for make this game one of the best of its kind.