FIFA Soccer 2004

by EA

Product Features

• Complete, authentic FIFA soccer action
• Off the Ball control system
• Very smooth player movement and control
• Build your franchise and guide your club to the Championship
• For one or more players using LAN or Internet connection

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B00009V3KK
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: October 28, 2003
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #30,849 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #15 in Video Games > PC Games > Sports > Soccer
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Platform: PC

FIFA Soccer 2004 has deeper soccer action with all-new graphics and a Career Mode, for the truly devoted soccer fan! Face all the slide-tackles and hard charges you'd find on a pro soccer field Try out the new Career Mode -- you'll play up through the lower divisions and fight your way into a starting position with a premier club Total realism and industry-leading gameplay return with the true authority in soccer gaming!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars For better or worse, the game is closer to real soccer, November 12, 2003

By 

checkurhead (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: FIFA Soccer 2004 (CD-ROM)

A lot of reviews here say they don't like the game because it is not soccer/football but I think they have it wrong. They have gotten closer to actual soccer play than they have in the past, and this may make it less fun for people (thus the comments about poor gameplay). They have gotten away from an arcade type of game to more of a simulation. They probably did this do get away from existing arcade type games like Winning Eleven which is pretty popular.

Gameplay-
Players have momentum and so they won't turn on a dime, and they also can't dribble the ball for very long unless there is nobody around. It is all about passing, and even passing won't work unless you thread them through defenders and make sure the player getting the pass moves toward the ball to avoid being tackled right away. When your striker is in or near the penalty box, don't expect a lot of time to shoot either, defenders will swarm on him. You can also lead other players to start running to open field so you can pass to them as well, to rely less on the AI. On defense, not much problem, you will obviously get a penalty if you tackle from behind, or if your tackle doesn't get the ball but the player's foot. Overall I found it pretty fair but it's too bad you can't adjust these settings. All of these factors make the game a lot closer to "real" soccer, except that they have gone too aggresive on the no-dribbling issue.

However real the gameplay has gotten, the game still needs better balance. Basically the point of the game now is to pass around until you can connect to your striker, and the game sometimes feels like hockey, trying to set up a one-timer. Once you get the ball to him, strikers can score from outside the box with ease, not too realistic here. Headers are weak and hard to connect since the defenders will be pulling you and pushing you (this is realistic). It is pretty much impossible to cut into the box from different angles to shoot from close as well.

Other-
Graphics are amazing (players really look like their real life counterparts) and the number of teams available is dizzying. Menus are very counter-intuitive, and hard to navigate through.

Conclusion-
I played the demo of Pro-Evolution Soccer on PC (same as Winning Eleven) and found it to be more fun. More ways to score (more headers, cutting into the box and scoring from close, etc...) with a more arcade feel that I prefer. It's good that they try to get the game close to the real thing, but they just haven't gotten the balance right. I found the older FIFA games (99 or 00 don't remember) more fun.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Moving in the right direction, November 29, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: FIFA Soccer 2004 (CD-ROM)

Fifa 2004 is a soccer/football game that is moving in the right direction. Its gameplay has moved away from the arcady feel of previous versions, and is now a pretty accurate representation of real-life soccer. The depth of the game is awesome, featuring a ton of leagues, teams, and players. The graphics are very good, continuing in the tradition of previous fifa games. And the new career mode enhances the replay/continual play value of the game.

However, Fifa 2004 is not without its faults, small and large. While the gameplay is more realistic than in previous years, it can become too static and frustrating. The new momentum and dribbling parameters create a realistic feel that prevent the game from resembling basketball more than soccer, but these same parameters can make controlling players physically and mentally tiresome. Much of the time it feels as if you're fighting against the controller in order to move players the way you want.

The single biggest drawback to this game, in my opinion, is the extremely poor menu design. I cannot stress enough how frustrating it is to try to navigate and organize these menus. I can't help thinking that this aspect of the game was ignored entirely. In fact, the menu design is so poor that it takes away much of the enjoyment of the career mode, where players are called upon to set up training regimes, make player deals, and assess team and player output--mostly through scrolling menus for statistics. If this part of the game design is improved for the next version of fifa, then this will most definately be a game to reckon with.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Wish it was better, November 3, 2003

By 

Adrian (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: FIFA Soccer 2004 (CD-ROM)

You know you want the players to shoot like in a real soccer game. But here, it feels like its the gameplay and graphics of FIFA 1997. There is nothing great to the game unless you want to murder your hand while you try to press all the buttons. wasted too much time making the franchise soccer mode while forgetting that the game is waht we want

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