In the franchise's 11th season, er… year, EA's FIFA 05 is totally on the ball with improved Off The Ball Control and brand new First Touch features. And that's good, because the competition in the console soccer arena, while fewer in number, is tougher than ever.
Last year's FIFA included Off The Ball Control; it was supposed to allow the player to create his own runs with players of their choosing while still maintaining control over the timing of passes. Because other aspects of the game were not quite up to snuff, OTB was perceived as part of the problem with FIFA 04, not as part of the solution.
A year and many refinements later, OTB rocks large. The reason is that EA has improved and refined the game in numerous critical ways, including ball physics, player controls, and character animation. They're all interconnected, so hang on. It's a wild ride.
Physics: For the first time, the ball is its own separate entity with realistic physics of its own. This is good and bad. It's good if you're a real soccer fanatic, because you'll go nuts when you see a realistic deflection of one of your shots or passes, react to an unpredictable ricochet, and find yourself having to think and work much more along the sidelines. Conversely, if you're borderline good at soccer games (or just plain suck) then you'll probably suck much more for a while until you get used to the game.
Player Controls: Control is where the aforementioned First Touch system comes in. First Touch brings a sense of "player's intuition" into videogame soccer that was sorely lacking before. FIFA 05 the player can flick the right analog stick just before receiving a passed ball and the ball will be played in that direction for just a few feet. This seemingly insignificant amount of control allows the player to fake out an opponent, sometimes in dramatic fashion. First Touch is especially effective when passing to ball to a player who has his back to the goal. It's also makes online opponents vulnerable, since the player passing the ball maintains split second control over where it will ultimately end up.
Character Animation: The character animation in FIFA 05 is superb. All characters move fluidly and are believable, which isn't to say that they are realistic. However, they're realistic enough! Anyone experienced with sports game development knows that there is only so much motion data that can be loaded into a console game, and the PS2 is still one of the stingiest of the lot. EA deserves kudos for defining a motion list that encompasses the actions that people need in a soccer game, then creating, blending and tweening the motion data so the results are as seamless as they appear to be. Fluid and timely animation makes the player feel more satisfied when they've actually maneuvered their character to the right spot and executed the proper button moves (something that couldn't always be said about past games, FIFAs included).
All this physics and control are good, but what does the player do with them? FIFA 05 includes the standard single-player modes, as well as online play, but the game's Franchise Mode is – am I sounding like a broken record – much improved over last year's fluster cuck of info, fonts, and menus. The menu system has been redesigned from the ground up and it provides information to the player in a much more streamlined fashion. The new menus cater more to the average player, providing color codes for the various player positions (so they're much easier to identify while setting up the team and prior to each match). EA has absolutely gotten the simulation aspects of its sports games down and FIFA 05 is no different. There is enough depth here to keep the most ardent fan going for weeks and weeks.
In keeping with the overall tone of this review, FIFA 05's graphics (player uniforms, faces, stadiums, etc.) have undergone the requisite improvements. The game's audio and sound effects are also thoroughly engaging, though the amount of repetition found therein leads one to wonder whether developers will be able to eliminate overused sound bytes by the time PS4 debuts in 2012. While FIFA 05 still has flaws (what game doesn't?), they are very minimal. And at its worst, FIFA 05 still leaves other publishers like Sony and Konami picking grass out of their cleats as the derisive chants of the assembled multitude rain down around them…
-Tom
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