View Full Version : FIFA 2001 review


PolishPower
24-10-2000, 04:55:PM
Click here for more shots!
The FIFA series from EA Sports is one of the best selling sports games on the planet. This is, simply put, EA's bread and butter title. We've been tooling around with a late beta of the latest version of the game and have captured a handful of screen shots for you. The shots are from a build running on a GeForce DDR (Annihilator Pro) video card with the latest Detonator drivers at 1024x768 screen resolution.

These screen shots do a good job in showing how the series continues to push the graphical envelope-the game looks brilliant. From enhanced weather and shadow effects, more detailed kits, to lifelike player models; EA Sports has really outdone itself in the looks department. (Every year we say this, but hey, it's true.)

New features this year include over 50 International clubs and 17 top leagues, consecutive season play, user-selected set plays, and John Motson is back in the booth (thank goodness). EA Sports also claims that the AI has been reworked so that the game reflects real-life "football strategies." What this means, in theory, is that the CPU will attempt to set up plays and counter the play style of the user.

The gameplay (keep in mind we've only played a few games) appears to be improved. One key factor is that you can now reduce the speed of the action on the pitch. Last year, you could select game speeds of Normal, Fast, and Laughably Fast. This year EA has included a "slow" option that makes the game behave a bit more like real football. However, NHL 2001 has spoiled us a bit, and the lack of any AI slider bars is definitely noticeable. The AI adjusters are something every sports game needs to have and hopefully we'll see this adopted as a common feature soon.

FIFA 2001 is slated for release at the end of October, so fans of the series will not have to wait much longer to get their hands on it.

PolishPower
24-10-2000, 05:01:PM
this was off the computer games site www.cdmag.com. It looks promising so far. One thing you can tell from the screen shots: you cannot set up a custom Champions League as to the current format(two group stages). But that is a small quibble if everything else is good. Also, if you go by what they say on the EA web site, it seems that some teams that are in the champions league this year are not in this game which would be too bad. No screen shots of player attributes or tactics screens so can't tell whats up with that. Also no word if you will be able to control more than one team in a season. I guess we will find out soon enough.

FIFAfreak
27-10-2000, 03:30:AM
Yeah, EA better get it right with this next version... although I'm sure there will be plenty to gripe about. I get an email from them to enter to win a Playstation2 and the form didn't even work! I couldn't type anything in the fields! I sent a message to support and of course I have heard nothing from them. If they can't even do a form right right for their website then they are really going downhill... I read some posts in the 2001 forum from people who played beta or warez versions of the PS2 and what I hear sounds promising... at least they got Motson back! We'll see...