Customer Reviews

FIFA 2001

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

After waiting with great anticipation for FIFA 2001, I found myself somewhat disappointed after it arrived. Anyone accustomed to previous FIFA versions will be instantly familiar with controls and the majority of gameplay. In its' favor, 2001 has fantastic graphics-much improved over earlier versions. Most International and club sides are present, the most notable exclusion being Portugal. Players are realistic looking and vividly express emotion. Stadiums are also done well, with pitches that seem larger than in the past. One other subtle plus is the audio. Player celebrations, fan chants and cheering are well done. Unfortunately, these good points are somewhat offset by the gameplay. ...long passes are ridiculously difficult without a lob pass or through ball. Switching players has also become a major difficulty if a player is taken down or has the ball stripped. This is extremely frustrating as the ball will often sit begging for someone to take possession! Also, the tackling can be atrocious. Tackles that would be certain penalties or red cards are frequently let go even at the strictest setting. One last problem that may be isolated to my system (1 yr old 500 mhz pentium III), is that the game freezes occasionally requiring the computer to be powered off to be reset. It is frustrating if it is a close match or previous matches are not saved. ... Overall, I recommend FIFA 2001 for true soccer fans who should love the graphics although gameplay is less than perfect.

I was watching a football match on TV... on wait, it's just the new fifa game... they made the pitch bigger, they added the linesman... on each side :), the players look like their respective real life counterparts (and move like them as well), the stadiums (not many though) look stunning, they brought back the great commentators back... good lord people, even if you're not a gamer, get yourself this game, so when they're showing golf on ESPN, just load this game up and watch some football!

This game is great. It's got good graphics like Fifa 2000 and the gameplay is still the same. There might be some flaws but hey it would be hard making everything all accurate. The sound is excellent and now there is a different commentator. Who is John Motson. Also there are tons of leagues and teams. I've been hearing this game is missing some teams and leagues such as Portugal and the Argentina league ...

But overall I think this is a good game.

FIFA 2001 is flat out awesome. Who needs a Playstation when you can hook up a gamepad in a USB on the back of your computer and get very similar results graphically on your PC?

Modes: Start by selecting your favorite club or international team or making your own team (kind of a tough option to find but it is in there). From here, take your team into training (great to get a hold of the controls), a league season, a world cup or a customized league season, playoffs or cup.

Gameplay: As realistic as it gets. Movement is nearly flawless. You can play games from about four or five different camera views. I highly suggest the six-button gamepad (like Sidewinder) as the extra moves help with more difficult opponents and levels. You can make your player do bicycle kicks, jukes, dekes, etc. Commentary is almost as the players perform their actions and this adds a huge aspect to this game. Huge plus if you have speakers/sound capabilites to go with this game, in fact this is a must if you ask me.

Options: Many different stadiums and a variety of weather options available. The change in difficulty between levels is challenging but not impossible. Trades possible.

Dislikes: No reconfiguration of the controller. You are stuck with what they give you. Tough if you come from other EA Sports games where you like shoot to always be one button, speed burst a certain button, etc. One other dislike is that often there's a slight lag between when you can get a hold of the player to move him, especially if you are close to a defender. Tough to get your player in position to head the ball.

Other general comments: This game loads much faster than all other EA Sports games I've seen. One other fun suggestion for those of you that already have the game or play to get it: play around with scoring on yourself. The commentator reaction is hilarious and look for the instance where your own player kicks the ball out of his net after the own goal and sort of hurts himself in the groin or leg on the play in doing so.

The only thing that is a bit better in FIFA 2001 compared to previous versions are the graphics. Otherwise it has gotten worse: The game is slow, if you pass the ball it goes in slow motion and stops after just a few yards. The teams are not complete: Portugal is simply not there despite the fact that they played extremely well this year. European championships are a simple playoff. No groups to qualify for the next round, ...

In my opinion, a typical game that was created by people who might know a lot about graphics, but have never touched a soccer ball in their lives.

It's a pitty, because you could make this game a lot of fun with some minimal work. Instead the main focus seems to be on the stadium advertisments.

I've read tons of reports on this game and i still think is the best game on pc. two days ago i was playing FIFA 2000 and it looked stupid compared to fifa 2001. trust me there's no better game than this out there. i think the only part missing EA.sports should have a Online tournament and keep all the players records, besides tha, this game is the best ever. i cant wait till the end of this year to get the 2002. Great game have fun

This is a great new product by ea sports. I am just going to go over it in 4 catogories

(Out of 100)

1. Sound- 99 - When your in the game, you will first notice the incredible sound feature of the game. The sound effects are incredible. The sound of cheers after you score, the sound of the bone crunching hits really add to the games perfomence. The commentry is very detailed and they hardly say the same thing in the same game. The theme song of the game is a new FIFA is Bodyrock by Moby. You hear songs more in the game. For example, while you train, you will hear music as you train. But the only doubtfall is that the cheers from YOUR PLAYERS after you score seems to loud and out of place. That happens too with the announcing sometimes when they are agree on someting.

2. Graphics- 98 - Now there is no doubt about it, this is one pretty game. So each of the moves performed are exceptional. But if you really want a even somehow better looking game, you need a 3D accelerator. Without it, you don't have the exact shadows in place, but with some good hardware, it will make your 3D graphics brilliant. Also new, you finally have linesman referees and new stadiums. In the stadiums you have some animated coachs, people, and even camrea men.

3. Gameplay- 95 - The controls are about exactly the same with previous versions of FIFA. Though you can't change the controls, after a while, you get used to them. The moves of the players are each from 6 top players from holland. Another new difference in it you will definently see is that the field is much larger then previous versions of FIFA. This allows more time to think of your next move.

4. Power- 85 - Besides everything, in order to have a decent game. You must, and i mean must, have a decent computer. There have been cases where the game just doesn't start because the processer to low. You need to have a processer with at least 400 mega hertz. Even that will have a couple of freeze frames. Many times everything will be just too slow to deal with. Freeze frames can occur a lot during the game. Just overall, make sure your computer is in fine shape.

OVERALL- 94 - Buy this game

More questions about the game? EMail me at KigD@hotmail.com

In my opinion, the Fifa series has been on the downhill. From fifa 99 to 2000, I have found that the Fifa series has become worse. Well this year, I have been completely impressed and I consider Fifa 2001 to be as good as Fifa 98 as it was in its day.

The Fifa series is the only good choice for you football needs. There has been no serious competition for EA Sports in the genre. All the competing products have mostly been flops. Microsoft tried in 96 and again in 2000, both of them have been failed attempts to emulate a football match.

Fifa 2001 features many internatal teams and leagues. Leagues include the English Premiership, Italian Seria A to the Turkish first division. Looking at the league listings show an obvious missing league, the Argentine league. With the likes of teams like River Plate and Boca Juniors, the Argentina league should be there way before the turkish league.

You are able to play as any team for any league and complete a season. During the season, you also play in the corresponding cups, like the Champions league. E.g. For Manchestar Utd., if you play with them in the english premiership, you get to play the regular english season, champions league and the FA Cup. Also, at the end of the season, you can play another season and see some of the newly promoted teams in the fray and the demoted teams disappear. This really adds to the realism to the game.

Other modes of play include friendlies, penalty shootouts and training matches. You are also allowed to make your own custom cup or league. In the friendly mode, you can put any of the leugue teams or international teams against each other. There are near 100 international teams, with everything from Brazil and France to the USA. Noteable missing teams which SHOULD have been included are the Ukraine, with big players like shevchenco (I know I mispelt it), Jamaica, who made it to World Cup 98 and Trinidad and Tobago who have great players like Dwight York, Shakka Hislop and Russel Latapy.

In the actual game, you will be surprised by the amount of detail in the stadium and grounds. The crowd is constantly jumping or clapping with all having a unique look for each person. There are also flags in the crowd. There are security guards, camera men, players and managers on the bench with some warming up and even a linesman. The players themselves look great and most people resemble their human counterparts. This is still a problem of the Fifa series but alot has been done to try and improve this. Also, users can make their own faces and download them.

The pace of gameplay is very adjustable. Some people prefer a slower ball movement, more of a simulation while some people prefer fast arcade play. The game speed is easily changeable. Playing fifa 2001 is very realistic. The movements of the players look real. You can do all kinds of moves, from long passes to bicycle kicks.

You cannot adjust the key setup for the game, so if you are unsatisfied with the keyboard setup, well, tuff luck. The layout for the keyboard is great in my opinion. I also use a Gravis Gamepad pro and that layout is superb also. I would suggest using this gamepad for fifa as this is one of the most common for the game (The other most common pad, the Microsoft Sidewinder Gamepad 1 was stopped in production from Microsoft so luck of getting one is slim)

The sound is Fifa is excellent. People who have played Fifa 2000 have complained about the annoying American commentators so ea has reverted back to the old english duo, John Motsen and Mark Lawrence. I don't know what it is, but football ain't football unless you have english commentators. The commentators are excellent in their comments, they are very accurate. The talk to each other alot and they correct their own mistake. E.g. If I have a player making a solo run, John might say " Here he goes and no one can stop him now " and if I loose possesion immediately he says " I spoke to fast there." The ambience of the crowd is well presented as the chant, scream, clap at the appropriate times.

For all the Fifa veterans, you will immediately realise this is a step foward in the fifa series. EA has finally decided to listen to us instead of doing their own thing. They have starting including the stadiums again but are limited to 5 for now. They have added a shot power bar so it is more realistic when taking shots (it is very easy to shoot over bar), the have improved character faces, they fixed the shot arrow, there is online play, they made the pitch bigger, the crowd sounds bias for home matches, the refreeing works much better, the logos on the shirts are there (The nike ticks are really nike ticks) and they have fixed the commentry. I would say that the Fifa series will only get better from here.

The are only a few problems besides the missing teams. This is mostly some incorrect rosters and logos. E.g. In Hibernian in the Scottish league, Russel Latapy is not there and he almost always starts. The good thing is that people can edit the teams, shirts, pants and shoes (there are third party jersey editors.

In conlusion, Football is the most international sport in the world. With the USA women's team enjoying success, football is growing daily. If you want to play football on your computer (it is also on playstation and n64) then this is the way to go.

I remember playing with my brother, FIFA 95 on my old SNES (funny that I refer to my SNES as old like an Atari)and we loved every minute of it. Sure it wasn't 3D accelerated but it was so fun. But after my brother left for college, I lost track of the FIFA series until he brought to me. He told me that it was unlike any soccer game he had ever seen. I played against him and me being totally new to the new 3D universe, lost to him horriblely. I just liked to tackle his goalie when he had possesion of the ball. My first game with him, I did nothing but aggresive tackles and only got called on like twice throughout the entire game. He was pissed because he said usually the refs call those all the time. It was then I learned that the ref AI was actually impressive. Some games, the refs won't pay attention (like most of the time) and other times they are extremely strict. You can pull off some sneaky stratigies by tackling somebody when the ref isn't looking and getting away with it. After only a half a week I had mastered the game. I love Manchester United and personally I felt they were depicted very accurately. Now some of the reviews you have read so far, comment that the AI is pathetic...well thats mainly because the AI isn't totally dependent of your control. You are the one that controls them most of the game. Now your Opposition's AI can be slow at times but thats mainly due to the team too. Some reviews also comment that this game sucks if you don't have a 3D accelerator...well duh...most new games will if you don't...if you want to have a treat to see fluid body motions and bicycle kicks (ya gotta love the...and they are easy to perform b/c the AI automatically set itself up for them) this is the game. I highly recommend this game! Good music too....it adds to the atmosphere of the game.

First of all the graphics are...well, you've read the other reviews and know how good they are. You can argue that this edition is great graphically but there *is* room for improvement (sky textures, some lighting and large areas of some statiums are disappointing at times). But the player's look and movement are amazing! Better than any other edition; very realistic and fun to watch. My G-Force 2 pro handles them well.

Now, the downside of FIFA 2001. The difficulty level of the gameplay is way too high when using a 4-button gamepad. I own the original FIFA, FIFA 1996, FIFA 1998, FIFA 2000 and now FIFA 2001. Every time I've bought home these footy games I'd set up a game with me as Brazil or England and the cpu team something (bad) like Peru. Well this time that doesn't work. The AI is too good even when the odds are *way* in your favor. I've heard talk of AI cheating and that is most certainly true. The cpu players seem too perfect no matter what country they are being modeled after. Seems the only way to get the blinking ball anywhere near the goal is to go with a long shot and hope one of your little guys is there to shoot it toward the goalie - who is played by Clark Kent in disguise (they are Supermen goal keepers who can stop nearly every shot even if they hail from Peru). To me these are nearly fatal flaws and leave me screaming at the screen in disgust. Now...if you have a 6-button gamepad then the odds tilt more toward the player than the cpu. Still, it should'nd be so difficult to beat a (bad) team controlled by the cpu even if you had a 2-button gamepad.

But my gripes aside, EA continues to make my favorite sports game of all time. For the budget-minded gamer FIFA 2001 is a better choice than FIFA 2002. Eventually, 2002 will be a better choice than 2003...