Title: FIFA 07
Genre: Sport - Soccer
Platform: Xbox 360
Developer: EA Sports
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Release Date: October 27, 2006
Image Gallery
Will we be ever able to have a decent soccer simulation game in our next-generation gaming experience? Is it possible that neither Konami nor EA Sports are interested in a Killer Application? Is the old-generation version of their soccer games to prefer?
The answer is probably very simple: development takes every year longer and what can be graphically tolerable on a low-definition television set is not as great on an HD-Ready set.
However, the question still remains. Why should we buy a game for new platforms instead of for the old ones? After PES6 false move, let's see is FIFA '07 is able to pass our tests.
The mystery of quantity
No game, except for the sports ones, can boast a new edition every year. No game, except for the EA Sports ones, can boast 2 releases per year. No game, except for FIFA, can boast 3 (yes, three!!!) new versions every 12 months.
EA Sports has often highlighted its full commitment on the next-generation experience: unfortunately, I think that this is a sort of fanaticism more than a commitment as it goes well over the market saturation. Moreover, we may sum the fact that the American publisher always promises to write the game from scratch while, punctually, we find ourselves playing to "always the same FIFA".
However, going into FIFA '07 details, it is undeniable that the game is a step beyond every other EA soccer simulation ever made, but it suffers from the enormous mass of software created by Electronic Arts: thus, the game is the best could be developed in 5 month time (this is the time gap since the last FIFA release), but nothing more. It would be advisable for such great and huge software houses to slow down their delivery in order to enhance the quality of the ended products.
Power is nothing without Control
This new FIFA episode, more than any other one, represents the nemesis of Konami's soccer simulation: the first excels were the other fails and vice-versa. Hence, inserting FIFA '07 game disk, it will be possible to admire well done menus that fit perfectly both low and high definition panels; moreover, loading times - during which it is always possible to play a mini-game with our favourite player - are short and stadiums are perfectly reproduced. However, let's focus on the main topics: graphics and game-play that, unfortunately, fall slightly short respect to our initial expectations.
The game graphics is difficult to judge: stadiums seem very realistic from far with a very well designed crowd, but they are ugly from the field; in the same way, the excellent players in-game graphics is often interrupted by not-so-well-realised cut-scenes. Generally speaking, the game suffers from a bad colour palette choice and from an illumination that does not help the title realism. Even so, FIFA '07 is graphically the best the market has to offer and only the more meticulous ones among us will have the "heart" to complain about the previous described issues: the only regret is that few more months and we would have had a photo-realistic title.
Unfortunately, the game-play is, once again, probably the Achilles' heel of the title: going over the fact that FIFA fans will be able to do whatever they want - take the ball from the goal keeper and score - with a player like Ronaldinho from the very first match, the main defect of the game is that it does not offer no other real solution.
One of the first things coaches teach to soccer players is to "go toward the ball" in order to fast the play and avoid defender tackles: FIFA '07 lacks completely of this fundamental rule. Once you've passed the ball to a team mate, he will remain still in his position waiting for the ball to arrive: hence, after some practice, in almost every situation we'll prefer to play alone with a player avoiding passes.
Thus, all these plus the impossibility to score a goal with a direct shot can be catalogued as classical issues of the series or, maybe, classical features intentionally inserted by EA Sports. Thus, what have changed in FIFA '07 game-play? Not so little, but especially the main enhancements focus on the player animations and the ball physics.
The formers are very well realised with movements that are almost perfect with realistic direction changes: the only problem is that every time 2 players will run one into the other, they will fall and lay on the field for 2-3 seconds (!)...every time. However, this bug - no other definition fits it better - is able to highlight the real FIFA revolution: the ball. Greatly advertised, the title can worth the money spent even only to see the ball rolling on the field away from the place were the 2 above players crash. Clearly, that is not the only situation in which we can appreciate it: crosses, shots and corners are only the main examples in which the ball physics enters.
Unfortunately, here we are with the first FIFA '07 downgrade respect to its previous editions. The use of the right analogical stick to dribble and to control the ball has been limited and now it is only possible to execute a pretty useless lateral dribbling.
When the side dish becomes the main course
What we have described till now is some-what "always the same FIFA", with its pros, cons and only a couple of novelties. However, all these are only the tip of the iceberg of what EA Sports has realised: FIFA '07 is a game in which the side dish is better in quantity and quality than the game main courses - game-play and graphics.
The first thing to notice is the numerous stats that FIFA '07 is able to track for every team and every player: besides, there is after every match also the best player election and a newspaper page in which the match is described.
Furthermore, every player of the 120 teams included in the game has its own personal file with real photos and stats: it's worthwhile to underline that the next-gen version of the game contains more or less ¼ of the total number of teams respect to the old-generation one and that the only European player not present in the game is one of the world championship winners: Marco Materazzi.
However, there is not time for such smallness, not when we have a complete and powerful editor thanks to which we'll be able to create and modify players and not when there is a "Coach" mode that contains RPG elements - after every match we are asked to spend time and money on enhancements for the stadium, etc. -, 2vs2 matches and almost no online lag.
Eventually, let's dedicate some lines to ESPN. The world-greatest sport television continues its collaboration with EA Sports and FIFA '07 now includes always updated stats and results from the real leagues and teams. Moreover, you can set your favourite team and player, and the game will track and highlight for you the main news about them, all while playing and enjoying our time.
Final Comment
FIFA '07 is not a Killer Application and it is probably not the better soccer simulation ever made as it suffers from always the same FIFA issues. Even so, thanks to all the game is able to offer and all the new features EA Sports has included, FIFA '07 can be considered the best the market has to offer right now in this genre.
Evaluation
Presentation: 9
Excellent both in the menus and in the loading times: mini-games and ESPN options are the icing on the cake.
Game-play: 6.5
In spite of all EA Sports announcements, FIFA '07 is "a" FIFA game: insuperable goal keepers, arcade-style game-play and a really static goal net.
Graphics: 7.5
The in-game graphics could be evaluated as 8-8.5, but cut-scenes are not so well realised.
Sound: 8
The sound during the match is good and the sound-track has a couple of excellent musics.
Longevity: 9
Several off-line modes among which the "Coach" mode with some interesting managerial - RPG elements.
Multiplayer factor: 8.5
1vs1, 2vs2 and co-op matches. FIFA '07 multiplayer is complete and easy to use.
Overall Evaluation: 8
FIFA '07 can be considered the better soccer game currently available for Xbox 360. This does not mean that it's the best in every aspect, but only that it is the game the most will appreciate more in a direct comparison. If EA Sports will decide to slow down to once every 2 years FIFA releases, in the 2008 we would have a probable Killer Application for our next-generation console...
...it's a pity it will probably never happen.