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FIFA Soccer 2003

FIFA Soccer 2003

List Price: $14.99
Your Price: $14.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: FIFA 98 still the best game of this series...
Review: ...which makes it pretty sad that every year, EA continues the folly of improving the graphics at the expense of gameplay.

everyone who was lucky enough to play it knows the graphics of FIFA 98 don't measure up to what's around nowadays. yet in the 98 edition, you could take (for example) the cook islands, and starting with the regional qualifiers play them all the way into the world cup, first against similarly pitiful island nations and getting progressively tougher over time. passing was risky, headers flew all over the place, defenses converged with rapidity and precision, goaltenders flew all over the pitch.... in 98, the game was truly breathtaking. and it is still fun - to play as a tiny island nation, or juventus, or crystal palace - all the big euro leagues were in the 98 edition.

the last edition of fifa i paid for was 2001. the graphics were unquestionably better, but most of the international teams were jettisoned, and you didn't play qualifiers anymore. the korean league and some others had been added... but why? as for gameplay, there were NO, NO, NO headers, defense was an absolute joke, the commentary was shrill and lifeless compared to when andy gray ruled the booth...

2003 adds to the eye candy but continues to pile on the lifeless game play. player attributes are inaccurate, the defense and passing still aren't what they were in the '98 game, and there is still not the depth of gameplay the game had five years ago.

i'd love to give EA a better rating for this, but the truth is they are killing this franchise. i hope someone does for footie what high heat did for baseball - make EA take a year off to reconsider what they're doing, and come back with a much better product after an overhaul of the system. fifa 2003 is a tremendous disappointment.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Its difficult to explain how bad this game is.
Review: A fitting punishment to the creators of this game would be to play this game in hell. I'm not even going to talk about the lack of realisitc player stats (Darius Vassell faster than Michael Owen? Claudio "Piojo" Lopez slower than EVERYONE on his team??) and that you can't adjust them. I'm not going to mention the persistent lack of the Argentine and Dutch leagues (but we do get the Swiss league! YES!...) or other minor errors. What truly sets this game apart is the playability.
Its horrible. Absolutely horrible. The game's "one touch" system rarely works. Your players NEED to dribble with the ball no matter what. Of course, the game also delays things so badly, you might have passed in ten seconds. If you want to run forward, and keep hitting forward, you will not be able to stop. Period. The game assumes that if you hit forward 8 times, you will do that no matter what. This creates incredibly stupid results - you can't shoot when you realize the keeper is coming out, because you've committed yourself to dribbling. So what's the choice? You lose both ways.
You also can't head the ball - I've yet to win a header off a corner after playing for about 8 days. Not one. Defensive or offensive. The system for switching players is awful - you rarely get the player you want, or even the one closest to the ball. It once took me 5 switches to get the player closest to the opponent's striker (who had the ball). By that time he had scored.
Oh yes, defense. Quite cleverly, your team won't play it. Lets say your man beats you - there will be no help. 3 opponents could be running down the middle of the pitch with the goal at their mercy, but your fullbacks will not move. They have to protect the flanks, you see. Very clever.
The passing system is terrible. Half the time the passes go nowhere, or to completely bizarre locations. I've passed the ball right/forward, and it went left. How? Oh, and the nice idea of "runs" that fifa 2002 came up with? Well, its really gone. Your players will never make runs on their own. Yes, you can tell your player to make runs, but only one, and by the time you wind up for a through pass (as if it will connect) your opponent will have had the ball for seconds. In a game that moves this fast you simply can't afford to control more than one player at once.
Its difficult to describe the frustration this game creates (there are angles from which you can never get a shot on goal, but the opponent will score regularly) or the things that go wrong. For instance - here's a fun idea. You're trying to tackle an opponent using the D button. That's also the shoot button. Once you tackle him, because you hit D twice (trying desperately to make up for that awful defense) your player will shoot. No matter where. One would assume you want different things once you have control of the ball, but you'd be wrong. The game knows better, you see.

Before I lay this to rest, I have one final complaint. Why is outrunning anyone impossible? I played a game where Owen was on a breakaway and was caught by Laurent Blanc. From about 10 feet behind. I, meanwhile, lost a footrace as Marcel Desailly, to Jan Koller. Yes, the same Jan Koller who's 6'6 and 250 pounds. I guess he's faster than one of the best defenders in the world.

Don't buy this game. Unless you LIKE torture. In that case, I couldn't reccomend anything better.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Finally, EA made it!
Review: Accurate Data!
Great action!
This is the game that I was looking for!
FiFA is the best for PC soccer game...
IT really improved...
Get it if you need some soccer fun!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: pro evolution soccer rocks fifa
Review: after playing this game i am definitely going back to ISS... good improvements tho... winning eleven 6 is still the best soccer game out there

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Fifa 2003, not a game that seems to be in 2003...
Review: Alright, I will tell you a lot of things about this game. I dont think anyone would like this game, as it is a much lower ranking than Fifa 2002 World Cup. I mean longer loading, less goal celebrations, less crowd clapping, etc. The only thing this game has that the older soccer games dont have is somewhat better commentary. If you want a good soccer game, turn to Fifa 002 World Cup, and you can go on there and also read my review for that game (its the somewhat long one), trust me, you will like it a lot more than this game.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Bomb
Review: Bill McRay is wrong this game will be better because it will have better graphics. The only drawback I think is that the European cover is better then the American one because there is actually world players such as Roberto Carlos (Brasil)while the American cover has Donovan McNabb. I have nothing Agaisnt Mcnabb becase he is good but the problem is that he is not better then Roberto Carlos. Even If I think this game will probably do better becasue you can choose the ball you play with and better graphics I think EA sports should put world players on hte cover not only Americans. I know last year they put Therry Henry but the only reason was that it as to qualify for the world cup. since Mls got added its been Americans. We Americans did good in the World Cup but I think that World players should be on the cover because their better. Infact I believe that Argentina and France who were the favored team but got kicked off the first round can shut us out because France has Therry Henry, David Trezeguet, Zinedine Zidane, And new goaly Pegguy Arphexad. Argentina has #9. Other wise from the cover I think this game will do very good becasue you can choose your ball and hopefully the jerey too.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Bill McCray might mean FIFA 2002 world cup edition...
Review: but even if he does, WC is an overall better gaming experience my only gripe was that it does not have the club teams that FIFA 2002 has but is the same price. ;)

Now on to FIFA 2003, I recently downloaded the demo and let me tell you that this game will revolutionize soccer gaming. I urge all soccer enthusiasts to download the demo and see for yourself you won't regret it.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Control Bugs Ruined It For Me - BAD game
Review: Configuring the controls is bugged. I am used to FIFA 2002 controls, and I tried to reconfigure the controls in this game to mimic FIFA 2002, but controls are basically bugged. It SAYS that the "W" is for sprinting in the settings screen, but in the game, it's actually "E".

When you can't even control the game, you won't be able to play it. That's the case for me at least. I will not be buying FIFA 2004 unless I find some indication that they fixed this annoying problem.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Control Bugs Ruined It For Me - BAD game
Review: Configuring the controls is bugged. I am used to FIFA 2002 controls, and I tried to reconfigure the controls in this game to mimic FIFA 2002, but controls are basically bugged. It SAYS that the "W" is for sprinting in the settings screen, but in the game, it's actually "E".

When you can't even control the game, you won't be able to play it. That's the case for me at least. I will not be buying FIFA 2004 unless I find some indication that they fixed this annoying problem.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Better than FIFA 2002, but...
Review: FIFA 2003 is a great game, but falls short in a few places, like these:

-- GRAPHICS (5/5) --
Some of the players on FIFA 2003 look identical to what they do in real life. They have the correct kits for most teams, and I think the graphics are amazing.

-- GAMEPLAY (3/5) --
I would call the gameplay better than FIFA 2002 for a few reasons, although I have found a few problems. On the plus, the players can actually cross the ball, bad either, and you can score from outside the penalty area, and they have changed the free-kick gameplay, and I like that better, but the problem with the gameplay is the computer. When they are three feet away from the goal with the easiest chance to score they put it wide. And also, when you are playing a bad team, when you start attacking, the defenders run back to the goal giving you an easy chance to score.

-- SOUND (4/5) --
I absolutely despise the FIFA 2003 soundtrack, what is wrong with it? In FIFA 2001 and previous versions, the soundtrack consisted of good music. It had Reel Big Fish and Fatboy Slim, but now they are playing a lot of dance and techno music. Even Avril Lavigne's song, (who I don't particularly like anyway) Complicated was a remix. On the other hand, the commentry was excellent, gave you random facts about certain players like the real commentators do.

-- REPLAY (4/5) --
FIFA 2003 might get boring after a while, but it certainly has a lot of competitions to play in. It has the league which you can play from 16 nations including the English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, Italian Serie A and American MLS. It has the Ladder Tournament, a tournament where you have to climb a ladder of teams; if you win you go up and if you lose you go down. It has a reigonal challenge, where you start off playing teams in your area, but then play national, continental, and finally the world, the UEFA Champions League, and a lot more.

-- OTHER PROBLEMS --
1) There is no editor on FIFA 2003, but you can download one at http://www.soccergaming.com.

2) I get really annoyed with the sponsors and numbers on the team's kit. It always goes really bright.

3) Whenever you have a shot, and it is going slowly towards the goal and hits the post, it always comes back really fast.

4) The game is over 1GB, so some computers won't have enough memory to play this game.

- E d d y


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