Customer Reviews

FIFA Soccer 2004

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(38)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(22)

 

 

I must say, FIFA 2004 is THE most disappointing game of the FIFA series I've played thus far.

Granted, the graphics and gameplay have seen great improvement, but what I cannot comprehend is why FIFA 2004 appears to be going back in time. I mean, FIFA 2003 had a "create a team" option which is ominously missing in this "new and improved" game. Further, THERE ARE NO INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION. For Pete's sake, Super Nintendo's FIFA '98 even had the CONCACAF World Cup Qualification 'tournaments'. FIFA 2004 has none; not even a World Cup. Also, the developers were absolutely obsessed with club teams; they added dozens of teams from Austria and Korea yet they only put in less than 20 international teams.

To make things worse, they managed to leave out international teams like Japan, Holland, Colombia, Romania, Ireland, Thailand, Iran, and Bulgaria. At this rate, they'll probably forget to add Uruguay and Belgium for FIFA 2005.

Also, the refereeing is highly unpredictable. In FIFA 2002, you could actually choose the referee's strictness.

The game could also use more stats and game options. Whats odd is that previous versions of FIFA have actually had more options to tweek with. FIFA 2004 is pretty dry.

In short, buy this game only if you want a graphics update and don't mind not being able to play international tournaments.

Hi guys!

I just got FIFA 2004 yesterday. I played about 10 hours running, until I felt I was exhausted! :) Just before that I played FIFA 2003, borrowed from a friend of mine. You know guys, it's like SKY and EARTH - such a big difference! I can't say that I have already found all the pros and cons, but I found this game as a huge step UP! The graphics are just outstanding! Lots of opportunities to score and scored goals look stunning! The only minor thing which did actually disappoint me a bit was that when you score the croud does not outburst as in FIFA 2003. Somebody might ignore it at all, but in FIFA 2003 audience support was better from my point of view.

DON'T even hesitate! Buy it!!! You will be HAPPY!

Okay first of all I have no idea why everybody thinks this game is so bad.True, it has some flaws , but games are meant to be enjoyed over not stressed over. The graphics are mind blowing and the sound is good as well.Pro Evolution Soccer 3 is a huge rival os fifa but this time fifa has done everything to be better and has succeded.In fifa there is excellent replay value but in pro evo they show a replay for every single shot.The players really look alike to tv.The modes include career,exhibition and practice. In career you get to control the budgets,transfers and substitutions. There are also international teams to choose from.The teams are updated, they even have David Beckham in Real Madrid. You get toimprove your aim in training.Go out and buy this game if you like football.I hope you found my review helpful.

I received this game as a gift, so I cannot comment on the price value. However, I can give my opinion on some of the aspects of this game.

First I went to select my favorite team in the world. Yet they were not there. They left out HOLLAND. How is that possible? When I played FIFA 2002 on my PC, at least they had Holland as a team if not having any of the actual players. It's ludicrous that they would leave one of the most fascinating teams in the world out.

Though I have tried to play with the tool, the off-the-ball runs feature rarely works well. Maybe I am not playing with the right strategy, but I almost never see a wing player making a run. Most of the time it's the backpedaling forward who is making the run. And never into open space. I much rather prefer the old style of passing which was left out.

Why can't I curve the ball anymore? It is much easier to dissect a defense if you could curl the ball into the path of a player making a run. Often the straight line passes are picked off. By the time you do manage to get in a position to pass straight to a teammate, your player is robbed of the ball. I would love to have the option to switch controls to an older model where the trigger buttons can be used to curl left and right.

This game is best played with someone else. With the detriments it has, it can be very frustrating. The gameplay has suffered and the game freezes quite often. I am less interested in stunning graphics (they are quite nice) and more interested in quality gameplay. EA has made a couple steps back with the off the ball runs and the lack of passing control.

Also, I have yet to start a season as manager so I can't comment. No wait, I have started, but it froze up before I could save. It looked like a nifty addition, but it seems that the other playability problems should be fixed before EA tackles something in the managerial realm.

All in all a mediocre effort. Luckily, I didn't buy it.

I got it yesterday. Spent six hours with it. The game is much more realistic now than ever, particularly from the defensive side of things. You can actually produce clean sheets consistently with this, unlike FIFA 2003. Many of the features like the end-to-end camera with zoom and height controls have returned from FIFA 2002 which were missing in FIFA 2003.

The play is realistic. The UI still stinks (hence the missing star.) It is confusing sometimes. "Waiting for Away Team." Still have not figured out how to get the away team to show up! But the career feature is great! You actually get to earn money, and prestige (not sure what that means yet, but sounds interesting.) By earning money for your budget means you can improve your club over the long haul. In FIFA 2003, you were give X amount of dollars, and that was it. This makes it more interesting.

Hopefully Hull City will extend my contract next season after I get them out of the third division.

What they produce it's not soccer!!!, I bought fifa 2004 just for the online play, (another disappointment the online gameplay) but just like others fifa's games, a complete dissapoint. It's seems like your game it's a merge of soccer and NFL, NOT soccer at all. Everyone who played real soccer... at least once in it's life, could tell you that fifa series it's not soccer, or it's what EA team think soccer it's.. or should be, but not way of play. Fifa have good grafics, but you don't feel the emotion of the soccer seen graphics, soccer it's passion, not graphics and tactics of NFL games. I won't purchase any fifa game ever!. See what Winning eleven 6 or 7 does, or Word tour soccer 2005 does whith the gameplay.

If i were one of the programmers for this game, i would be embarrassed. EA ought to feel that way for putting out a game that is still in development.

There are numerous programming deficiencies.
- in career mode, player ratings can change from screen to screen
- in career mode, you can't save the game at the end of a season until after you've gone through the preseason training and acquisitions
- It is practically impossible to sell players in career mode; if you can and the player is good, you won't ever get their value
- prestige points you win for winning the FA cup, League cup, and EFA Cup don't transfer over to prestige points during the season

AND THE WORST ASPECT OF THE GAME PLAY

- there is no free control over players. If you're losing a game and want to get a red card, you can't control a player to go and slide tackle the opposing goalie... it's an extreme example, but the computer has too much control over game play.

Perhaps if EA had an option to turn on/off computer assisted play it would be better - however, that would require competent programmers.

and another attempt by EA to take our money wowing us with eye candy while trying to slip by us the fact that this is essentially the same garbage as last year. Off the ball control is unusable and a joke, there is no difference neither among players nor among teams, as you can take on Real Madrid with Yeovil and dominate, for example. Avoid and buy Winning Eleven 7 instead. It's coming out shortly and will blow this garbage out of the water.

The following reasons make FIFA Soccer 2004 a piece of crap:

1. No button configuration available. You can't configure your keyboard or gamepad to have a set of buttons that suit your preference, so you have to adjust to its default configuration. Note: button configuration is available with FIFA Soccer 2003, so it's a regression.

2. Poor control. As many other reviewers point out, the off-the-ball function is crap, your strikers could hardly get the ball if you use the off-the-ball button. This is a very serious problem in soccer game because most of the shooting chance in real life come from the collaborative movement and passing of players; with the off-the-ball function this ineffective, you're left with many fewer shooting chances, which makes scoring very difficult, even when you're controlling strong teams like Real Madrid or Juventus. Also, passing is inaccurate which sometimes makes you feel frustrated because the ball is lobed to somewhere you never intend. Direct freekick is another crap here, it's just impossible to do both the shooting power and accuracy right (it was possible, though with some difficulty, with FIFA Soccer 2003, so I'd consider it another regression). Movement of your teammates behind you is basically non-existent, so you're sometimes left with no support from behind; this situation is particularly clear if you are controlling a striker who is essentially at the forefront of offense with no other teammate ahead of him.

3. Fewer modes of game available. With FIFA Soccer 2003, you could choose a team and play a league season, just like what you do with NBA Live. With FIFA Soccer 2004? Sorry, you can't; you either play friendly games, tournament games (all being cup games like FA Cup in England), training sessions (which comprise training match, freekick and cornerkick practice, etc.) or a new mode dubbed 'career.'

Though there are such weaknesses with this game, it does have its strength:

1. Excellent graphics. Let's face it, no other soccer action game has got the level of graphic quality as FIFA Soccer series does; FIFA Soccer 2004 actually widens the margin even more.

2. Updated player information. Well, the crap new features aside, new player information is the only justification for releasing a new version of FIFA Soccer every year.

Conclusion: If you have FIFA Soccer 2003, as many FIFA Soccer fans do, just stick with it and don't buy the 2004 release, it's a waste of money.

damn...this game is really really bad...the gameplay is SLOW..you cannot change the speed of the game...and the graphics were better on fifa 2003...they delete the "tower" camera..and the players are VERY FOOOLS!!!!when they run with the ball...really dont waste 50.00 on buying this game...after a few days you will get bored with it..IT IS MUCH MUCH BETTER FIFA 2003..im angry with EASPORTS because they suk it up with this game.