I think people are sensitive about this because for anyone that's played, say, Winning Eleven 6 International, and also faithfully watches football on Fox Sports World (here in the States), it's confusing and strange how anyone could want to play FIFA. Winning Eleven to me is addictive because it so faithfully represents the game that I watch on t.v. The animations, the way play develops, how, on harder levels, the more you play the game like real football the more success you have. These are the reasons WE is so addictive to play.
I went to a Premiership game in England (Derby vs. Arsenal) and I was amazed how tense the game was from start to finish, how every posession mattered, how easy it was to recognize that Arsenal were dominating, despite the game being even for most of the first half. You didn't want to turn your head, for fear that you might miss something. Every pass, cross, tackle, goal, mattered. It's something that had to be experienced to fully understand why football is such a wonderful sport. Winning Eleven comes very close to recreating that sense of passion and tension, and you can feel yourself getting nervous everytime you lose posession in a big match. And you feel very rewarded for hard work and precise execution when you score. So, as much as I liked FIFA in the past, I'm sorry, it just never gave the sense that the games...mattered.
I know, I know, "licenses". But it doesn't matter how many teams and players you have if they all play the same way, have no preferred foot, etc. Now, this year, FIFA promises to change all of that, plus add a Championship Manager-like career mode. Hopefully this will be a good year for FIFA. I will hold out discussing FIFA 2004 until I actually rent the game and play it myself. Hopefully it can attempt to bring some drama to the game.
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