Spurs4Life
Starting XI
Ok, this will be an honest and unbiased review on Fifa 2005.
When I first played the demo of Fifa 2005, I immediately regarded it as yet another poor attempt by EA at a football sim and every second I played it, all I could think about is how much better PES is. But, my mate who is a Fifa fanatic lent me his Fifa and said if I give the game a try for a good few hours he will promise that he will give PES a try too. So I did. The only way I could give this game a fair go, is if I didn't judge it by comparing it to PES, but to judge it on it's own merits.
I've had 20 odd games in career mode with Celtic and below is a basic review with some negative and positve aspects of the game.
First thing I noticed about the game that really impressed me is the stadiums. They are beautiful and when the camera pans out and shows a long shot of the stadium while showing the starting lineups, the stadium just looks like you are watching it on a TV screen. I also love the idea of having the bigger more glamorous stadiums for the big teams and the smaller stadiums with houses and tress in the background with very little crowd noise for the lower league teams.
The next thing that really impressed me is the passing. This is one aspect I really did enjoy about the game and I definately think it's better than PES in ways, but not in others. It's better in the sense that the passes don't fall short of the player you are attempting to pass too and the passing just feels very crisp and natural. There also isn't a set time limit unlike PES of when you are going to lose the ball. But the negative aspect on the passing is that all players, no matter what skill level pass the ball exactly the same as each other. But on the whole I really enjoyed the passing aspect of the game.
One feature that I have always liked about Fifa is the camera views. Their are so many different variations of camera views and you can set the height and zoom of the chosen camera view and that is something Konami should take notice of for future PES games. My favorite camera view is the Broadcast one with low zoom and height, very realistic and gives me the illusion that the match I'm playing is being shown live on TV. I also love the team names being displayed as the scoreboard and I absoloutely detest the flags used in PES and how the flags change around at half time.
I really like the commentary. Most of the time the commentators keep up with the action and actually talk about what is really going on on the football field and where you are in the league table. I definately love the commentary and is a big plus to the games atmosphere. EA have always been bang on with commentary in all their big sports titles.
Lets not forget about the chants in the game. This is the one aspect of the PES series that lets it down big time in my opinion. When I patched PES3 for PS2 and it had all the real crowd chants for most teams, I was really impressed and it blew me away, it creates the necassary atmosphere needed when playing a football simulation and Fifa once again got it spot on. I love playing as one of the big teams and hearing the crowd chanting there teams on, it gives you a buzz and a feeling that you have to score for the fans.
Now onto the negatives. After 20 odd games you suddenly start to realise a pattern in the way you're team and the opposition plays. Once again as in previous Fifa's, 90% of the goals comes from the strikers, which is totally unrealistic and wrong. Also, the game is still very scripted, I mean I can't remember how many times I've picked the ball up with the attacking midfielder, do a through pass to the striker, then do another through pass to the other striker, twine a few players then shoot. That's just one example. But there are so many repetitive aspects of the gameplay, but I wont mention them all, you get my drift.
Another thing I REALLY disliked is the player faces. Seeing as I'm not a graphics whore, I don't really mind about how good or how bad the faces in a football game are, but all the players that wasn't lucky enough to have their real face get given another real player face instead. I've seen like 20 Robbie Keane and Neil Lennon lookalikes running around and this is just pure laziness by EA and definately takes away the realism. They should have just done what Konami do and just create 5 or 6 default heads and distribute them randomly to the players without there real face.
Shooting is still a long way behind what it should be. The other day I picked the ball up at the half way line hit the shoot button and it went like a rocket and smacked the post within 3.5 seconds, I didn't know I was shooting with Superman (R.I.P). The power and lack of aiming where you want the ball to go is still wrong.
But the daddy of all cock-ups is 15 years only in career mode. That is the main reason why I was very reluctant to try this game and seeing as you can't even start with the team you desire makes matters worse. 15 years only?, not good enough EA. The Madden, NHL and NBA series get longer seasons than that, even then I think it should be like PES because football never stops it evolves. I suggest patchers think of a way to combat this and try and get an extended career mode. If someone can do that, it would make this game ALOT better.
I also don't get why "first touch" created such a big buzz. I never use it and it a total waste of time. I can cope perfectly on the top difficulty and win without using it at all, that gimmick is completely useless im afraid
The Freekick and corner kick system is a total joke to be honest. It's all scripted and pre-determined and most of the corners you take ends up in the goalies hands. PES has that aspect spot on. I also don't like how ALL players take freekicks exactly the same, no tradmark kicks from Beckham, Figo or Carlos.
My basic overall opinion is that Fifa 2005 is a decent football game and I have had fun playing it. The crowd atmosphere, the passing, the commentary and camera views definately hides away alot of the flaws in the game, but I still get the nagging feeling that it just doesn't feel "right". It definately isn't better than PES3 or PES4, but it is a very good attempt by EA overall and I will definately continue to play it. I do have alot of fun playing it and I wont denie it, Fifa is definately getting there and I will continue to play this one until I get bored.
Fifa 2005- 8.4/10
PES4- 9.5/10
When I first played the demo of Fifa 2005, I immediately regarded it as yet another poor attempt by EA at a football sim and every second I played it, all I could think about is how much better PES is. But, my mate who is a Fifa fanatic lent me his Fifa and said if I give the game a try for a good few hours he will promise that he will give PES a try too. So I did. The only way I could give this game a fair go, is if I didn't judge it by comparing it to PES, but to judge it on it's own merits.
I've had 20 odd games in career mode with Celtic and below is a basic review with some negative and positve aspects of the game.
First thing I noticed about the game that really impressed me is the stadiums. They are beautiful and when the camera pans out and shows a long shot of the stadium while showing the starting lineups, the stadium just looks like you are watching it on a TV screen. I also love the idea of having the bigger more glamorous stadiums for the big teams and the smaller stadiums with houses and tress in the background with very little crowd noise for the lower league teams.
The next thing that really impressed me is the passing. This is one aspect I really did enjoy about the game and I definately think it's better than PES in ways, but not in others. It's better in the sense that the passes don't fall short of the player you are attempting to pass too and the passing just feels very crisp and natural. There also isn't a set time limit unlike PES of when you are going to lose the ball. But the negative aspect on the passing is that all players, no matter what skill level pass the ball exactly the same as each other. But on the whole I really enjoyed the passing aspect of the game.
One feature that I have always liked about Fifa is the camera views. Their are so many different variations of camera views and you can set the height and zoom of the chosen camera view and that is something Konami should take notice of for future PES games. My favorite camera view is the Broadcast one with low zoom and height, very realistic and gives me the illusion that the match I'm playing is being shown live on TV. I also love the team names being displayed as the scoreboard and I absoloutely detest the flags used in PES and how the flags change around at half time.
I really like the commentary. Most of the time the commentators keep up with the action and actually talk about what is really going on on the football field and where you are in the league table. I definately love the commentary and is a big plus to the games atmosphere. EA have always been bang on with commentary in all their big sports titles.
Lets not forget about the chants in the game. This is the one aspect of the PES series that lets it down big time in my opinion. When I patched PES3 for PS2 and it had all the real crowd chants for most teams, I was really impressed and it blew me away, it creates the necassary atmosphere needed when playing a football simulation and Fifa once again got it spot on. I love playing as one of the big teams and hearing the crowd chanting there teams on, it gives you a buzz and a feeling that you have to score for the fans.
Now onto the negatives. After 20 odd games you suddenly start to realise a pattern in the way you're team and the opposition plays. Once again as in previous Fifa's, 90% of the goals comes from the strikers, which is totally unrealistic and wrong. Also, the game is still very scripted, I mean I can't remember how many times I've picked the ball up with the attacking midfielder, do a through pass to the striker, then do another through pass to the other striker, twine a few players then shoot. That's just one example. But there are so many repetitive aspects of the gameplay, but I wont mention them all, you get my drift.
Another thing I REALLY disliked is the player faces. Seeing as I'm not a graphics whore, I don't really mind about how good or how bad the faces in a football game are, but all the players that wasn't lucky enough to have their real face get given another real player face instead. I've seen like 20 Robbie Keane and Neil Lennon lookalikes running around and this is just pure laziness by EA and definately takes away the realism. They should have just done what Konami do and just create 5 or 6 default heads and distribute them randomly to the players without there real face.
Shooting is still a long way behind what it should be. The other day I picked the ball up at the half way line hit the shoot button and it went like a rocket and smacked the post within 3.5 seconds, I didn't know I was shooting with Superman (R.I.P). The power and lack of aiming where you want the ball to go is still wrong.
But the daddy of all cock-ups is 15 years only in career mode. That is the main reason why I was very reluctant to try this game and seeing as you can't even start with the team you desire makes matters worse. 15 years only?, not good enough EA. The Madden, NHL and NBA series get longer seasons than that, even then I think it should be like PES because football never stops it evolves. I suggest patchers think of a way to combat this and try and get an extended career mode. If someone can do that, it would make this game ALOT better.
I also don't get why "first touch" created such a big buzz. I never use it and it a total waste of time. I can cope perfectly on the top difficulty and win without using it at all, that gimmick is completely useless im afraid
The Freekick and corner kick system is a total joke to be honest. It's all scripted and pre-determined and most of the corners you take ends up in the goalies hands. PES has that aspect spot on. I also don't like how ALL players take freekicks exactly the same, no tradmark kicks from Beckham, Figo or Carlos.
My basic overall opinion is that Fifa 2005 is a decent football game and I have had fun playing it. The crowd atmosphere, the passing, the commentary and camera views definately hides away alot of the flaws in the game, but I still get the nagging feeling that it just doesn't feel "right". It definately isn't better than PES3 or PES4, but it is a very good attempt by EA overall and I will definately continue to play it. I do have alot of fun playing it and I wont denie it, Fifa is definately getting there and I will continue to play this one until I get bored.
Fifa 2005- 8.4/10
PES4- 9.5/10