Customer Reviews

FIFA 2001 Major League Soccer PS2 DISC ONLY

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I've been waiting a long time for the "perfect" soccer game but alas, my wait is not over. I've been purchasing the FIFA Soccer games since 1994, when the game started becoming popular. Since, then, I have purchased the FIFA 96, 97, 98, 99 and now 2001 series. I actually bought my ps2 really just for the FIFA soccer game. I awaited the arrival of this game at my doorstep with such anxiety. I visited the EA Sports site, downloaded the mpeg of the game, read all the reviews and prepared myself for the thrill of a lifetime.

Today (27th November), the game arrived at my doorstep thanks to Mr. UPS. I tore apart the amazon packaging, switched on my ps2, grabbed a beer and some chips and started playing for what I thought was going to be an all night event. The beginning sequence was marvellous. The graphics were the best I've seen from EA Sports. Then I decided to play a game... Manchester United vs Qatar. Here is where my hopes started to dash. First, the camera angles are very poor. You have a choice of tele, action, tower and end-to-end ... none of which give you a really good playable view. I chose tower with a bit of zoom as that gives you the best coverage of the pitch (action is great for other people watching the graphics as you play, but it's very difficult to really know where your other players are). There is a radar function that gives you a map of where all your players are but honestly, when one is engorssed in the game, there is no time for such distractions. The game play is not what I expected, the players are a bit sluggish and sometimes slow to react. The pace is not quick enough to get my blood racing. True, you can increase the game speed, but if you do, it goes beyond the pace the game should be played at. The artificial intelligence is very good though. The computer realizes what you are about to do most times and performs a good counter move. It's also much easier to control the ball at the byline without the ball getting knocked out.

Overall, to me, this game is not as good as FIFA 99. The graphics are much better but at the expense of the gameplay. I would choose gameplay over graphics any day. If you're new to the FIFA soccer series, then you will most definitely enjoy the game. Otherwise, if like me, you've played FIFA 96 or FIFA 99, then you won't be missing too much if you don't have this in your collection. However, in saying that, if you're a die-hard fan, it's impossible to resist owning every single FIFA Soccer game.

p.s. on a side note, this game is not geared to MLS as one might fear eventhough "Major League Soccer" is printed on the cover. This game has all the professional european leagues and even the K-League.

After buying Fifa 2000 for PSX I promissed never again to buy a game from the Fifa series since I was SO dissapointed by it. I broke my promise bought the PS2 just for Fifa 2001 and am I mad. I must admit that the graphics are the best I've seen on a Football game, but again couldn't expect more after having paid over (well over retail) for my PS2. When it came to gameplay there is where my worst nightmare came true. It is ridiculous how the guys from EA portray a football game. I bet they have not even seen a real game the whole 90 minutes. In my whole life being a football fan, I have perhaps seen on tv no more than 10 bicycle kick goals. On Fifa I have scored 5, in the same game, and with the same player, in world class. Well I don't know for the rest, but for me is enough to get rid of the game. From now on I will only buy ISS games from Konami. Perhaps they don't have the real names and the graphics are not that good, but oh boy, they really know how to make a game so close to being REAL. I recommend to everybody out there thinking in buying this game to think it twice and probably rent it first. By the way I gave it one star only for the graphics.

When a first generation sports game comes along that shows us exactly what a system is capable of, presenting gorgeous gameplay along with astounding graphics, we can't help but quietly awe at the television screen as we play the game over and over with nary a complaint in our minds. We hold it high, establishing new unimagined standards that future sports games must at least match, as it becomes the trophy game to show off your console with.

Sadly, FIFA 2001 is not such a game. Instead, FIFA is rather disappointing, especially compared to EA's supreme launch effort, Madden 2K1.

I'm not a huge sports fan, so this review will concentrate more on technical acheivements than strict gameplay - and technical acheivements is where FIFA is sadly lacking. From the badly compressed low-resolution FMV introduction, to the grainy, pixelated turf under the player's feet, this game has peeved me to the point of no return. Here are my top peeves about this game:

FMViolations - I think I've seen better FMV on a PSOne. Not only is the introducion in lo-res (you can tell by the jagged edges on the circular EA FIFA logos), but the main menu's constantly moving background seems like it was done in 16 colors and at a frame a second. I'm sorry, but after watching Madden's beautiful DVD-quality intro, this is just not satisfactory.

Where's the Estadio Olimpico? - I own the PC versions of Fifa 98, World Cup, and Fifa 99... and I'm pretty sure you can choose what stadium you're going to be playing in, temperature, weather conditions, etc. After watching Madden letting you tweak things like humidity and 4 general times of day, I can only sigh at the complete and utter lack of stadium tweakage in FIFA. I don't even know if the stadiums in the game correspond to the appropriate home teams or not.

Underacheiving grass - In Replay mode, one can really appreciate the detail in the turf. Or rather, the lack of detail... up close, the turf has huge multi-colored pixels that look fine from afar, but are really just an illusion similar to looking at a magazine photo under a magnifying glass. Again, Madden looks fine - but since FIFA's grass seems to be a huge bitmap instead of texture, it shows up close.

Shadows of the Umpire - I can understand the lack of realtime shadows... but do the shadow objects they use have to be so jaggedy? Most shadows seem like they're being cast by players wearing zoot-suits, and when a player is handling the ball, you see a double shadow - the shadow of the ball intersects the shadow of the player and overlaps it! I had no idea flesh was transparent to light.

Replay schmeplay - Again, I am spoiled by Madden's beautiful replay mode; any angle you want, as close as you want to be, from anywhere on the field. Yet FIFA's FreeCam replay mode was married to the ball in a church that praises the god Myopia. The ball is the only thing you can center, and you can zoom in and out rather limitedly. 360 degree spins around the ball are nice, but never will you be able to watch the game from any viewpoint you want. You can't pick a player to follow, nor can you effectively control the replay speed to slo-mo around the details you want. It's touch-and-go, and careful with pushing the analog stick too far, or you'll zip right past the play.

So their hair moves, so what? - Ok, so the players are made up of thousands of polygons. Ok, so they look like their real-life counterparts thanks to their digitized faces. Ok, so when they throw their heads back their hair moves in a way that invokes memories of hairspray commercials. But you can't tell a bloody thing during normal gameplay! Automatic replay is so scarce that you only appreciate those details during the few times you goal, yet I feel other things are terribly sacrificed in order to catch the glint in the eye of the goalie from Brasil. The cardboard crowd is something to squirm about, and since I end up playing in Tower Cam mode, I can do without the extra player detail and would rather have better looking scenery.

Gameplay is exactly the same - If given a choice, which in fact I am, I'm sticking with the PC versions of the older games. There is nothing new offered in FIFA 2K1 which improves on the gameplay, and it's not more fun.

In conclusion, I had to double check to see if I was mistakenly given a copy of the Playstation 1 version of FIFA. The game might be better than its previous console incarnations, but it really isn't much compared to what I know the PS2 can do. I hold Madden high, and the technical standards the game sets are something I now expect from all future sports games on the PS2, especially if they're from the same company. FIFA is a disappointment, and will not remain on my shelf. I'm trading it in for something better.

IF YOU SEE IT: Rent it! (Sorry, Amazon)

Let me first just say that I have had a lot of experience with soccer, having played it myself since I was a little boy in my homeland, Norway. And in my humble opinion I would say that this is by far the best soccer game made so far. It was a great joy to start the game and see that many of the smaller things that had caught my attention (negatively) from the previous FIFA games had been improved greatly, especially the graphics. But beside that it was quite exciting to see that even the little soccer team from my tiny hoetown was included in the lineup of Norwegian teams. I am talking about Bryne, and I was also happy to see that the faces and features were more or less similar to the real thing as well. However, there is always a thing or two to point the finger at, and one of these is the flaws when it comes to the positioning of the players. It might not seem like a big deal to some people, but when my town's beloved striker is put as a defender, and a backup midfielder is the starting striker, one can get a little annoyed. Even so, these are mistakes one can fix in the "customizing" part. But there is one thing that I wish had been done a little better, and that is the skill levels. After only a week, I was winning the whole season with an average win of 6-0 in the 2 minute halves, and at world class level. That makes the game a little boring, wouldn't you say... So hopefully the next FIFA game will be a little more challenging, but with that said, I recommend the game with all my heart, and it will be a fun game even when you master the toughest skills!

There seem to be complaints of lack of innovation in the series, but then again, how much innovation can you bring to a title that has the best control around for a soccer game and incredible graphics.

Sure the largest improvement in this release is in the graphics, but the controls in my opinion are improved as well. The analog sticks respond well to commands and I've been able on numerous occasions to maneuver around and perform plays that I never would have been able to in other games.

The multiplayer is fantastic, and I especially like the customize team option. You can change the faces, hair, etc. of players and name them after your friends. It's then hilarious to see them in the replays that go on.

I notice absolutely no slow down that I have in other titles such as NHL2001, which definately makes the game flow better. Highly recommended game for anyone with a PS2.

I have this game and if you've played any version of FIFA before, you've played this and know exactly what to expect.

The replays are impressive but that is only 1% of the time you are playing. When you are playing from normal views the characters are much smaller (maybe 2 cm tall) and you can't even tell them apart from each other. That's at maximum zoom!

As for the FIFA genre itself, my main complaint is the way you run. They have this nice analog control, and yet they make you tap the button to run fast. It gets very tiring in long matches.

The artificial intelligence is also very weak and easy to manipulate, but where this game shines is in multiplayer. Unfortunately Sony decided to include only 2 controller ports on the console so you might have to buy a ... multitap to play with any more.

It is a decent game, but EA really needs to start innovating more if they expect consumers to continue to buy their games. It is simply FIFA with sharper graphics, nothing more.

Fifa 2001 is the best soocer game out there. If you have playstaion 2 it is a must have. There aae tons of teams to choose from many different leagues. The teams range from D.C. united to Manchester United. There are great gameplay modes, too. There is a World Cup tournament that is quck and easy. There is also a season mode where you can pick from many different leagues. And if you just like to shoot around there is a P.K. mode in the training mode. And with the for player multiplayer mode the game becomes even more exciting as you will find yourself jumping up and down yelling at the TV. As for the gaphics, they are superb. The gameplay is good too. There are great moves, headers, and even bycicle kicks. You will find yourself playing this game over and over again, hour upon hour. There is nothing to it. If you own a PS2 you need to own Fifa 2001.

Nice graphics, nice sounds, but some major problems that you'll need to overlook:

1) 99% of all crosses one of your players puts into the opponents area result in a bicycle-kick by one of your strikers, result: goal!! I tried all buttons, to see if I could get a variation, but I couldn't. So get ready for more bicycle-kicks, and more bicycle-kicks.

2) Even on "World Class Mode" this game becomes too easy, playing the opponents for fools. I played 6 mins per half and was soon wiping the floor with every opponent.

3) Rebounds are scary! Let say one of your strikers blasts a cracker of a shot at the keeper but he deflects it into the air. Now the ball flies in the air for a second or two. Annoyingly a couple of your strikers will now act like brain-dead morons, as they freeze waiting for the ball to come down. The ball then comes to the ground, and all players in the immediate area just ... around like a bunch of old ladies at a rummage sale. If your lucky one of your strikers will snap out of his moronic trance, and smash the ball in the goal, but what usually happens is the goal keeper grabs the ball and you miss out on a easy goal.

4) Here's another one: balls in the air. What I found is that when your keeper kicks the ball out, you can guarantee an opponents' player will win it in the air. Not once did one of my midfielders win the ball in the air. Likewise, your players nearly always win the ball in the air when it's kicked out by the opponents' goal keeper. This is not only annoying, it's unrealistic.

5) The keepers are a farse. You can guarantee that your keeper will let any "star" striker score a goal when the striker shoots in your area. You cannot judge a keeper by the skill numbers they give them in the game. Of course, then there's plenty of games (especially in "World Class Mode") where the opponents' keeper is simply amazing, saving nearly everything you put at him. So what I did is I bought him after the match. Of course, now that I own him he becomes just a regular Joe Bloggs keeper, with the same skills as the last moron I owned.

Great graphics, great gameplay, great fun! I've never been a big soccer fan, but picked FIFA up for the PS2 on the reccommendation of a store clerk. He told me that the graphics were the best he's seen on any PS2 game, and I have to say that I agree. It's extremely easy to get wrapped up in this game. One game leads to two, two to three, and so on. A few minor flaws include replay variations, but the game does feature roughly 6 or 7 angles to view on replay. For those of you who own Triple Play on the PS2, the replay on FIFA is much better. Needless to say it is not as good as Madden, but I try not to get too caught up in it anyway. The game features tons of teams, and has all the players to go along with it. Players run and execute moves very smoothly. In my opinion, it doesn't matter if you like soccer or not...if you like competition and great gameplay, this is definitely a game for you!!

Bieng a huge fan of football(soccer to all u Americans) i couldnt wait to play this.The Fifa series has always taken the more arcadey approach at recreating the beautiful game and this game is no diffrence, it might have the best grafix ever seen in a soccer game but the gameplay is completely shallow, the thing that i always hated about fifa is the proven way of scoring (run down the touchline, cross the ball into the box and double tap the shoot button, a goal is guaranteed)and thats not how soccer games should be played, if u know this technique games ending with double digit score lines shouldnt surprise u, and thats whats is most dissapointing about this game, it's the fact that after scoring ur 100th bycicle kick goal u simply dont feel as u've achived anything, u know that u will score many more like these. So this is why i would choose the vastly superior ISS series from Konami, because unliek Fifa that game makes u work for ur goals and when u do score it means that u have really pulled off a complicated defense beating manuevour.If u r new to soccer games u shoudl check it out, if u know ur soccer and want a game of soccer rather then soccer on steroids then go for ISS