Customer Reviews

FIFA Soccer 07

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm a huge soccer (football for UK readers) fan, but this is my first FIFA game. I've owned several versions of Madden, NBA, and NHL games. All were fun, but eventually got pretty bored with them, in that you could only play as or against the same 30-odd teams, with the exception of EA's NHL games, where you could play in a couple European leagues. However, those players were so bad, it wasn't much fun at all. In FIFA however, you have access to over 200 teams, in 40(?) leagues. It's actually pretty overwhelming. The depth is one of the best atributes of this game. Not only does it have all the players for all the teams, it's got all the stadiums, beautifully recreated. The manager mode is great. You can take over powerhouse teams like Chelsea with budgets of 65 million, or take over a division II team and try to work your way up to the premiership. The graphics are great, the audio is even better. The crowd chants are great and the commentary is very detailed, in comparison to say.. John Madden who still says the same 5 things every game.. for the past 5 years. The gameplay is pretty simple, but I'm only playing at the semi-pro level. Which leads me to the controls. I'm playing with just my keyboard and this is my first FIFA game and I'm managing fine. The only thing I have a problem with is doing tricks, but that's kind of a luxury i can do without. I still win most of my games (playing as Chelsea). With the exception of a 6-1 blowout of Tottenham, all my games have been pretty realistic regarding the score. As far as I know, there's none of those loopholes where you can always score from the same spot or set-up, which is nice. For soccer fans, this is a must-have, for sports fans generally, this is a great pick-up.

I had been waiting for this release for months. When I got it, I was ecstatic. After playing, I was even happier, until I got farther in. The gameplay itself is good. It's fun to play, even if some of the players' faces look like they are melting (Diarra, Ronaldinho...). The length of time for throw ins is unrealistic, but ignorable. In addition, the defenders are a bit lazy.
Created clubs were something I have been emailing them about since FIFA 04, and I am glad to see they have finally added them in. Fun, but when you are playing, your club crest does not show up where you would like it to.
Manager mode my favorite part, unfortunately the most flawed. To begin with, it will not let me play 3 or more seasons with my team unless I release some players first (don't know why, REALLY frustrates me sometimes when I have to sell the star or favorite player for free). It crashes if I don't. Spelling errors are all over the place, from the interviews to the newspaper headlines. The most annoying bugs, however, are in the scouting section of manager mode. I sign the player I have just found to be the next Ronaldinho. He plays brilliantly, scoring a hat trick in his debut. When the post-game screen shows up, however, there is a giant blank where his name and xp should be, and 0 shows up in all detail columns. I go to the player growth charts, and all of his graphs are level, gray question marks. I have to sell him because he is now useless to me. These kinds of bugs are more common as you go on in manager mode, as they only impact game-created players (that the game creates automatically to keep the talent pool going as real-life players retire). As I am writing this, the game is minimized. I had just had to sell 5 of my most promising players because of this bug. The problems take all of the fun out of manager mode.

Final Verdict: I seriously think that EA did not have beta testers for this release. They should be embarrassed about the number of bugs, crashes, and spelling errors that are rampant in the game. A few pros, but not enough to unsettle my thoughts from the above.
Gameplay: B+
Manager Mode: D
Overall: C

I've been playing EA sports FIFA games since 98 and have played every edition untill 2005. For some reason I didn't get 2006, and now I bought 2007, so my review will be based on the comparisons between 2005 and 2007.

What a superb upgrade!!

GAMEPLAY - The game play has changed radically(from 2005). It is a little more tougher even in the amature level. Free kicks are tougher, but once u get the hang of it, are more accurate and realistic. Special moves are plenty and need some time and practice to actually do a "Zizou's Roulette" while playing a game. The challenges are tougher, and watch out for the fouls. The Refs are "card happy" and the AI won't shy to give you a card the first instant it gets. Heading the ball is more realistic and kicks need some practice.

MANAGER MODE - I like to get involved with the game, and this is the mode that I enjoy the most. It is fantastic!!!.. You are given total power to play around with u r players contracts, youth academy, scouts, and sponsers. The player transfer fee, market value and salary are very realistic. (I haven't checked out Chelsea's though). If you want to be more involved with the game other than just playing it, the manager mode is a lot of fun, but TIME CONSUMING!!..

GRAPHICS - A huge step up from Fifa 2005. THe players look more like themselves. The staduiums and spectators have more life to them. During replays the players do look like cyborgs, but, I'm playing this on an LCD screen. I'm yet to see it on a CRT, and it may help, but over all 2 thumbs up.

MENUS - A lot of options and quite a lot of menus to wade through. A pop up menu for every option. It does get a little too much, but after a while, you tend to ignore it.

OVERALL - I read a couple of guys say, its' better because they've added TURKISH LEAGUE!!..Come on guys, be more realistic !! No disrespect, but who really wants to play the Turkish League. I'd rather have seen Holland in the international teams. That has to be the biggest dissappointment for me. I'm a huge ORANGE' fan, and was gutted to see they've been omitted. They were not there in FIFA 2005 too. I'm sure a lot of dutch fans will be super upset (I'm not even Dutch, and I've rambled on for a paragraph). I'm not sure if there is a download patch, where you can include the Dutch team, but it kinda spoils the fun. I can't imagine what logic was used, to include a whole league with Lord knows how many teams, but omit HOLLAND!!!... EA sports, needs to address this topic.

VERDICT - If you're wondering if you should buy this game, I'd say go for it. This is by far the best EA sports FIFA version out there. You'll definitely enjoy it.

Pro
1. A ton of leagues and team that will keep you coming back for more.
2. Its pretty yet has low requirements.
3. Great game play that you can play over and over again
4. Cool unlockable things (achievements will get you points)
5. Great manager mode

Cons
1. Horrible commentators
2. Your profile often doesnt update your achievements.
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Good gameplay, realistic managerial scenarios. An improvement in a continually improving series of FIFA games.

I found the game pretty excellent in gameplay and its approximity to real life. Though it does have the usual glitches, the gameplay outweighs all the negatives. I would recommend this game to anyone who's a fan of football, not to mention that they could for the first time play in Interactive Leagues, which is an online service that allows players of this game to participate in a virtual competition, play as their favorite team, and boost up their team's status.

This is a great game - the play is very realistic, and the graphics are excellent - it's like watching a game on T.V. (with all the real players). If you control a team and use the keyboard, it will take some getting used to, but is still a lot of fun. The announcing is detailed and realistic as well. This is one of the best sports games I've ever seen - highly recommended.

I have read bad reviews of recent versions of this game. This version is the best ever made by EA. No risks.

um...the only reason I play football is to do the tricks and score. In this game those are the two hardest things to do. I get frustrated so I don't play it anymore. But if your up for the challenge...

These comments are strictly for the football lovers...

(1) I must first admit that i tried all angles and i am convinced the bicycle kick is not available here. The second travesty is yet again repeated, the Dutch team is absent. If 2008 version doesn't include the Netherland team i'll not even bother to comment, ever again.

(2) Secondly, the visuals, gameplay, graphics and commentary are excellent, however the crowd in some games are non-existent. The replays show many empty seats and that is absolutely ridiculous. This seems not to depend on whether it's the El Classico or derby war at the San Siro.

(3) The Ref is sometimes in the same colour as one of the teams on field and that again is a poor software blunder.

Obviously, i deduct a star for those reasons but i still remain at 4* because i enjoy the gameplay so much. Winning titles aint easy and the Manager mode can make your family unhappy as it is so addictive you'll never even notice the hours passing by.

I've been playing since the 95 version and it's the second release that has kept me up all night. If u r a serious gamer and if you love football like i do then you'll understand that i can't wait for transfer season to buy a new star and sell a failure...thus i play two seasons of football in one sitting regardless of time...ie obviously over 80 games....OK, yes i use the simulation feature when win is all too obvious...lol.

Overall a very good game but the cons above need some attention if EA are really serious.