Boogie With Stu
Club Supporter
I bought WE7 (US version) a while ago, and now that I've finally figured the game out somewhat I can really compare it to Fifa 04. This is for the PC versions.
Graphics: I think Fifa looks better, but WE7 has better animation. WE7 has some slowdown issues, which I've mostly but not entirely been able to overcome. Playing with a Geforce2 MX, which is way below the minimum spec requirements, doesn't help. Fifa runs better with fewer requirements, so it gets the edge.
Sound: WE7's commentary sucks. Fifa 04's is pretty good, if repetative. I like how they improved 03's commentary by adding little mistakes and stutters by John and Ally. However, Fifa 03 is better than both, because the crowd chants are more audible. The EA Trax are great in both games, unlike the cheap techno in WE7. None of the games give the rush of being there like, say, the NHL series.
Licenses: Out of the box, Fifa wins. But after downloading a very nice patch, WE7 is just as good with the teams it has. Unfortunately, Fifa simply has more teams and players. It would have been nice if either game had a Create Team feature. As far as other features like boots and balls, I've never understood why people are so obsessed with details that you don't even notice when playing the game.
Interface: WE7 is somewhat cumbersome and too much like a console game, especially when changing team or player names. Come on guys, Keyboard support! Also, it seems like there are just too many menus, although there are plenty of options and things to edit, which is good. All in all, not the greatest interface, but not terrible. Now we come to Fifa. 04's interface is simply the worst I've ever used in a PC sports simulation (well, except for an old game called Total Control Football, but we won't get into that...). It's slow, poorly organized, and illogical. You can't see the entire starting 11 at once. If you accidently click on a player name you can't "unclick" it easily, which can lead to unwanted substitutions and changes. You can't sort tables. You can't see a list of match results. The list goes on and on. You get the sense that EA hates you when you try to navigate 04. World Cup 02 had an epic feel; Fifa 03 was simple and effective. Why the change, EA?
Editing: I enjoyed tinkering with Fifa: editing gameplay files, creating kits with Photoshop, and things like that. And with all the Raptors and things, installing the changes was easy. I haven't really done so with WE7, but I've found that dealing with AFS explorers and .bin files is kind of a pain. Mabye I'll get used to it eventually.
Gameplay: Fifa's AI is good...until you figure out how to unlock it. Since the whole game is heavily scripted, you can always count on certain sequences once you figure them out. I have to resort to forcing myself not to do certain things in order to make the games more competative and realistic. It works the other way too...the computer attacking AI, especially when enhanced by patches, has a knack for scoring whenever it wants to, regardless of how good my defense is. So if I'm up 2-0 at the break, I can pretty much count on the computer equalizing eventually. WE7, on the other hand is amazing. I'm still no pro at the game (3 stars is tough enough!), but the difference is huge. It's rare to see the same goal scored twice, and you can score some really spectacular goals (my favorite: USA vs Mexico, Reyna performs an overhead flick after a lob, then turns around and scores from 35 yards). Also, if you concede in WE7, it's because you either made an error or the CPU outclassed you. It doesn't cheat (although the automatic switching is annoying at times, and led to a few conceded goals when I was getting used to the game). I wish you could call fo runs like in Fifa, but the attack settings work well enough, just differently. There's another thing I like about WE7: If you're playing as Costa Rica vs. Brazil, you can really feel the gulf in talent. And then playing on the same difficulty level with Brazil instead, you can tell right away that your team is more dominant. And after playing around with formations and strategies, Arsenal plays like Arsenal, Man U like Man U, Real like Real, and so on. Fifa simply doesn't match that; every team feels the same.
Overall: No question. Fifa 03 is better than 04, and Fifa 95 for the Genesis is better than both of them (I loved being able to hold down a button after scoring and hearing the announcer yell "GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL." Fifa 2004 the big budget and enough extra goodies that you might be fooled into thinking you're playing a good football game, but WE7 has the depth and gameplay to make you forget you're playing a game at all.
Edit: For some reason, I kept typing "WI7" when I meant "WE7." All fixed now, I think!
Graphics: I think Fifa looks better, but WE7 has better animation. WE7 has some slowdown issues, which I've mostly but not entirely been able to overcome. Playing with a Geforce2 MX, which is way below the minimum spec requirements, doesn't help. Fifa runs better with fewer requirements, so it gets the edge.
Sound: WE7's commentary sucks. Fifa 04's is pretty good, if repetative. I like how they improved 03's commentary by adding little mistakes and stutters by John and Ally. However, Fifa 03 is better than both, because the crowd chants are more audible. The EA Trax are great in both games, unlike the cheap techno in WE7. None of the games give the rush of being there like, say, the NHL series.
Licenses: Out of the box, Fifa wins. But after downloading a very nice patch, WE7 is just as good with the teams it has. Unfortunately, Fifa simply has more teams and players. It would have been nice if either game had a Create Team feature. As far as other features like boots and balls, I've never understood why people are so obsessed with details that you don't even notice when playing the game.
Interface: WE7 is somewhat cumbersome and too much like a console game, especially when changing team or player names. Come on guys, Keyboard support! Also, it seems like there are just too many menus, although there are plenty of options and things to edit, which is good. All in all, not the greatest interface, but not terrible. Now we come to Fifa. 04's interface is simply the worst I've ever used in a PC sports simulation (well, except for an old game called Total Control Football, but we won't get into that...). It's slow, poorly organized, and illogical. You can't see the entire starting 11 at once. If you accidently click on a player name you can't "unclick" it easily, which can lead to unwanted substitutions and changes. You can't sort tables. You can't see a list of match results. The list goes on and on. You get the sense that EA hates you when you try to navigate 04. World Cup 02 had an epic feel; Fifa 03 was simple and effective. Why the change, EA?
Editing: I enjoyed tinkering with Fifa: editing gameplay files, creating kits with Photoshop, and things like that. And with all the Raptors and things, installing the changes was easy. I haven't really done so with WE7, but I've found that dealing with AFS explorers and .bin files is kind of a pain. Mabye I'll get used to it eventually.
Gameplay: Fifa's AI is good...until you figure out how to unlock it. Since the whole game is heavily scripted, you can always count on certain sequences once you figure them out. I have to resort to forcing myself not to do certain things in order to make the games more competative and realistic. It works the other way too...the computer attacking AI, especially when enhanced by patches, has a knack for scoring whenever it wants to, regardless of how good my defense is. So if I'm up 2-0 at the break, I can pretty much count on the computer equalizing eventually. WE7, on the other hand is amazing. I'm still no pro at the game (3 stars is tough enough!), but the difference is huge. It's rare to see the same goal scored twice, and you can score some really spectacular goals (my favorite: USA vs Mexico, Reyna performs an overhead flick after a lob, then turns around and scores from 35 yards). Also, if you concede in WE7, it's because you either made an error or the CPU outclassed you. It doesn't cheat (although the automatic switching is annoying at times, and led to a few conceded goals when I was getting used to the game). I wish you could call fo runs like in Fifa, but the attack settings work well enough, just differently. There's another thing I like about WE7: If you're playing as Costa Rica vs. Brazil, you can really feel the gulf in talent. And then playing on the same difficulty level with Brazil instead, you can tell right away that your team is more dominant. And after playing around with formations and strategies, Arsenal plays like Arsenal, Man U like Man U, Real like Real, and so on. Fifa simply doesn't match that; every team feels the same.
Overall: No question. Fifa 03 is better than 04, and Fifa 95 for the Genesis is better than both of them (I loved being able to hold down a button after scoring and hearing the announcer yell "GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL." Fifa 2004 the big budget and enough extra goodies that you might be fooled into thinking you're playing a good football game, but WE7 has the depth and gameplay to make you forget you're playing a game at all.
Edit: For some reason, I kept typing "WI7" when I meant "WE7." All fixed now, I think!