If you put in the time to be good at FIFA 07 you will eventually appreciate the new shooting system, it makes it much easier to whip your buddy in a grudge match. The passing system is not really new but more like a tweaked version of the past. EA tried to add a touch of realism by making the passes more accurate and boring. They did this by taking away the ability to punch a through ball in between two defenders while at the same time making it go a good ten yards farther than it would in real life. Unfortunately the same problem that plagued the past two versions of FIFA on the Xbox 360 is that player models are stuck once you pass the ball to them. Even after I tried to pass then quickly switch to that guy to move him towards the ball nothing happened. The outcome of this is that over and over again the other team would just quickly step in front of my guy right after I passed the ball making an all-to easy steal. This blunder should really have been fixed this year as it makes for more than a few frustrating situations. After managing my team into a championship I took the game online with Xbox Live and had a blast playing a few gamers from all over the world. Only the basic modes are available for Live play but the absence of any lag made for an enjoyable experience. There are also some offline “challenges” similar to those that were in FIFA World Cup but this time around they are more repetitive and don’t really add any replay value to the game. All in all the gameplay of FIFA 07 is a small breath of fresh air. It may not be the best breath in the history of soccer videogames but I agree with EA, it was time for a change and I guarantee that over the next few years this new FIFA title will be polished and turned into greatness.
The gameplay mechanics were not the only thing EA redid this year. Graphically FIFA 07 is easily the best-looking soccer game I have seen. It is a perfect graphical mix of realistic soccer style and arcade feeling fun. The character models themselves are much better this year and I saw this personally when I checked out my favorite player, Wayne Rooney. I actually did a split screen look of him on FIFA 07 and him on a recent EPL game and the similarities rival anything done in NBA Live or Madden. Of course this amount of detail was not put into every player in the game but the big names are there and honestly those are the only soccer players 90% of the people that play this game will recognize. Easily the best part of the new graphics is the player animations. If you play a lot of soccer you will instantly notice that the models in this game know what they are doing. Never before have I seen such realistic animations in a soccer title. When you do a spin move or do a quick stop and go the model just responds perfectly. Once this is meshed with the new amazing ball physics it really makes it hard to tell if you are playing a videogame or if you are watching a live soccer game on TV. Arenas in FIFA 07 look good as does the grass which is cool because you can change the way the turf is cut, choose from checkered or circles or diagonal cut. The bad collision system makes for some ugly clipping issues when sliding or running into other character models with yours. Other than that small issue FIFA 07 really shines in the graphical area and gave me the next-gen feel that a game this far into the lifecycle of the Xbox 360 really should.
The commentating in FIFA 07 is everything it has been and nothing new. There are a few new phrases that the English commentators use but other than that it’s just your basic play-by-play talking with a few jokes thrown in for good measure. Luckily the insanely loud cheering of the crowd makes up for any boring commentary. Plug into a 5.1 system and turn it up to get the feeling of being at a World Cup game. I know from experience and EA did a great job re-creating that feeling in terms of audio. Other things such as sound effects and grunts are here in all their glory and add to the realism of the game. Unfortunately EA did not take the time with the audio portion of FIFA 07 that they did with the graphical landscape. While the cheering does pull you in there are no more team specific cheers, which was always one of the coolest sounding features of past FIFA games. Another small screw up is that sometimes the commentators say something that happened more than a few seconds ago. There is nothing like scoring a goal and hearing Andy Gray scream something about the ball going out of bounds. The music is also just okay; I guess the music sums up the whole audio experience with FIFA 07; just average.
Considering how many soccer titles the Xbox 360 will have by the end of the year (four) it is really good that they are all so different. If you take into account FIFA 06 being the worst title and FIFA World Cup/Pro Evolution being the best FIFA 07 falls somewhere in between. The exciting thing with FIFA 07 though is that it is built new from the ground up and after a few years polishing the gameplay system this game is going to be not just average but amazing. Graphically the game is simply stunning and the new ball physics make for a much more realistic soccer experience. Team manager is a really fun mode and will take up most if not all of your time with this game and it would have been nice to see a few more modes thrown in. Playing on live or with your buddies can turn out to be a frustrating scoreless experience if both players have not had some hands-on time with the game. A poor audio showing rounds out what could have been the best soccer game of all time and just ends up being another decent addition to the FIFA franchise. EA took a big chance this year and while it may not have paid off in full it is easily the best step in the right direction that I have seen for soccer videogame’s in general. That being said if you are a fan of the series you should defiantly give FIFA 07 a shot, it may disappoint you in some areas but it will please you in plenty of others.
