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FIFA 2003 Review
Chris Leyton
30/10/2002
FIFA 2003 arrives with the usual promises of improvements and enhancements.
Apparently thereās only two things that are certain in life; death and taxes, however Iād like to add something else to that list, you can always guarantee that come Christmas a new FIFA title will be on the shop shelves ready for you to pick up.
You may have realised from our coverage over the last few months that Pro Evo rules the roost in the TVG office, to even consider booting up any other football game would be blasphemous. However FIFA 2003 has arrived because of itās recent push up the release schedule to try and steal some of Pro Evolution Soccer 2 thunder.
As with every FIFA update, EA are promising a stack of improvements including a completely reworked AI engine, which is based on three primary enhancements ā“ team play, tactics and real player attributes. Ball mechanics have also come under the spotlight, resulting in a game that moves away from the pinball nature of previous titles allowing for such features as deflections, scrambled gaols and missed headers. Finally the Free Kick system has once again been revamped to allegedly allow for more skill and strategy and greater control over swerve, power and the angle of kicks; have EA ever been happy with their Free Kick system??? Of course the traditional visual update has been implemented and the game now features a new Club Championship mode, giving you the chance to re-enact those classic European games over and over again.
But do these new additions make FIFA a worthy contender to Pro Evo 2? In a word no, however itās certainly an improvement from what weāve seen in the last few years.
On to the pitch and you canāt he but marvel at the visuals, everything from the spookily realistic character models to the amazingly accurate renditions of the stadiums are nothing short of breathtaking. FIFA 2003 represents the first time weāve been impressed by the crowds, it actually feels as though youāre playing in front of thousands of fans thanks to them having more then two frames of animation. A very neat touch that will amaze you every time you see it, is the way that the camera pans to something like cut-scene when anything happens; score a goal or commit a foul and the camera will instantly pan to a close up view showing all the splendid detail, whilst depth-filtering is used to great effect to make it look just like the real thing, absolutely amazing.
But on to the actual gameplay where FIFA usually disappoints, but on this occation actually managed to surprise us. Thankfully EA have decided to remove the useless dotted through ball system that cluttered last yearās version, instead weāve got a slick interface without pointless icons and lines that looks and feels so much better.
The new additions have improved FIFA immeasurably; the game now plays like a game of football rather then a videogame trying to impersonate the sport. The main reason behind this is the improved AI engine which is immediately evident, players make intelligent runs and play almost as youād expect them to in real life; itās not up to Pro Evo standards but its certainly an improvement on it predecessors and youāll find it harder to score the cheap goals that FIFA is infamous for. The improved ball mechanics certainly helps to enhance the realism, however the game still has that pinball feel and the controls still have that floaty feeling. Unfortunately itās still next to impossible to place long passes where you want to, players usually hoof the ball into the air when you hit the long pass button instead of the 40 yard cross field curving pass that you want to, if EA could put more precision in the long passing then FIFA would be a good game. As it stands youāll find that ground passes provide the most success and Beckhamās ability to put a ball wherever he wants to, goes sadly missing. Thatās the main problem with FIFA 2003 and the other games in the series, the controls just donāt feel as instinctive as they should, both shooting and long passing are often hit and miss affairs because youāre not given enough precision.
The main allure of FIFA has always been its authenticity, in this respect 2003 doesnāt disappoint. As Iāve said before the character models and stadiums look amazing, but it goes a lot further, select a club from the Club Championship mode and youāll hear all the clubs chants, when youāre bursting down the wing with Giggs to the chants of āGlory, Glory, Man Unitedā itās nearly enough to convince you, nearly but not quite!
