I have come to the conclusion that it's probably one of the finest football games EA have ever produced, and i believe that the engine and features in this should have been in Fifa 2005 from the start.
The graphics are breathtaking, absolutely wonderful, so much better than PES4's bland blue sky, at night you get a sky awash with lights deep into the night sky, swirling rainclouds, flags waving wildly on all sides of the stadium, the ball itself looks amazingly realistic, catching the light as it rolls around the stadium.
The player models are a lot better than in previous FIFA's but some of them are still not quite right, but that's a minor niggle, I currently am only playing the 'Season' mode so i haven't had time to check out the multitude of other options yet.
The AI for the players is exceptional, and it's very hard to just pop a guy through the back four of the opposition and slap a shot in like you could easy in Fifa 2004/5, on top of that the goalkeepers reactions and realistic behaviour has gone through the roof, goalies now try and save EVERY shot, even if they have to throw themselves from the floor to the ball three or four times until they catch the ball, or it goes in the net, it's like watching David James in real life!
The commentary is a bit stale, some lines are still used from Fifa 2004 and the 'Talksport Radio' is quite good, and funny too, especially since EA seem to take delight in taking pot-shots at the 'Prawn Sandwich Brigade' where a guy calls in and rants about multi-million dollar companies being high and mighty, how ironic for EA.
The controls are also many more times responsive than before, and its quite natural feeling now to tap the stick at the last second to jink round a player before unleashing a shot on goal, the new power meter and freekick setup is very welcome, double tapping the shoot button just didn't cut it anymore, in fact only today i scored a blinding free kick by just battering the ball into the bottom left corner of the net, through the gap in the wall, you couldn't do that in FIFA 2005!
Overall I think this game is worthy of a gold star, it's converted me from PES4 as my main 'Realistic Football Game', but i will still love PES and play it many times still, but for that little spark of ultra realism and graphics as well as a fantastic game engine, this version of the FIFA engine will be in my heart for a long time!
The graphics are breathtaking, absolutely wonderful, so much better than PES4's bland blue sky, at night you get a sky awash with lights deep into the night sky, swirling rainclouds, flags waving wildly on all sides of the stadium, the ball itself looks amazingly realistic, catching the light as it rolls around the stadium.
The player models are a lot better than in previous FIFA's but some of them are still not quite right, but that's a minor niggle, I currently am only playing the 'Season' mode so i haven't had time to check out the multitude of other options yet.
The AI for the players is exceptional, and it's very hard to just pop a guy through the back four of the opposition and slap a shot in like you could easy in Fifa 2004/5, on top of that the goalkeepers reactions and realistic behaviour has gone through the roof, goalies now try and save EVERY shot, even if they have to throw themselves from the floor to the ball three or four times until they catch the ball, or it goes in the net, it's like watching David James in real life!
The commentary is a bit stale, some lines are still used from Fifa 2004 and the 'Talksport Radio' is quite good, and funny too, especially since EA seem to take delight in taking pot-shots at the 'Prawn Sandwich Brigade' where a guy calls in and rants about multi-million dollar companies being high and mighty, how ironic for EA.
The controls are also many more times responsive than before, and its quite natural feeling now to tap the stick at the last second to jink round a player before unleashing a shot on goal, the new power meter and freekick setup is very welcome, double tapping the shoot button just didn't cut it anymore, in fact only today i scored a blinding free kick by just battering the ball into the bottom left corner of the net, through the gap in the wall, you couldn't do that in FIFA 2005!
Overall I think this game is worthy of a gold star, it's converted me from PES4 as my main 'Realistic Football Game', but i will still love PES and play it many times still, but for that little spark of ultra realism and graphics as well as a fantastic game engine, this version of the FIFA engine will be in my heart for a long time!
