New Game Part 1

Saturday brought with it a trip to the local shops and yes I ended up in a game store. With a bit of trading I got hold of Fifa 07 on the 360 and a second title I’ll discuss tomorrow.

Previously I’ve always been a devoted PES player. Not necessarily brilliant at it, but devoted nonetheless. But something about this current edition of Fifa caught my attention. After playing the demo from the Marketplace I was more than surprised at the way in which EA had actually gone back and reworked on the basic play elements of the game on the pitch. It still feels very much like a Fifa game, but it all feels more weighted, a little more real then previous efforts. Animations flow nicely, the ball bobbles along like it’s its own being, players positively bounce off each other at times, and of course there is the overall next-gen shine. It’s really quite enjoyable to play, until you start looking at the small downsides.

Apart from the International teams, there are only six leagues from which to choose a side. Six!!! That’s fine if you support one of the clubs in those leagues, but what about fools like me who are stuck in the Championship or lower? It’s an odd step for me when in previous editions EA have included the lower league teams. I’m sure there is some big reason for it but I wish they’d take the time to let us know! Or is it the fact that the old micro transactions will kick in over the Marketplace, allowing extra leagues to be downloaded, teams, players, stadiums etc. If that were true, the bigger question would be how much? What you think they won’t charge when EA have been one of the vocal developers/publishers saying they want to expand on the console digital distribution. They already do it loads with PC titles i.e. Battlefield.

Secondly, your teammates AI can be a worrying blend of sublime and ridiculous, often with more bias to the latter sadly. You’d hope they look for space when you’re in possession, push ahead on interceptions for a quick break, hold up the opposition on attacking runs in the final third. Truth it, they do, but inconsistently. However, you don’t notice the real effects of this until you start upping the difficulty level above Semi-Pro.

So you’re reading this without having bought either game yet, and by probably on the lines of ‘ Pro Evo, here I come!’ But bear with it a moment longer.

If it was that bad I wouldn’t still be playing it now, because despite these flaws it does play an enjoyable game of footie. It creates a good atmosphere (just switch off the commentary after a while as the twittering gets a bit repetitive too soon, but is still passable) with fans chanting, singing the name of the home team, and reacting well to the on screen action.

Shooting for goal has always been slightly biased to creating Rugby scores in past versions. Here things are better balanced making scoring a test of you than the Goalies AI. Press the shoot button too early and the player will simply stab at the ball, not getting the best power or direction as desired, same with headers. It’s more about timing and direction, and with the plethora of ways you can manoeuvre the ball about the pitch proper build up play is possible, and makes that top corner belter even more rewarding.

Add in the management options, whilst light compared to true management games, provides that little bit of tweaking necessary to get you more involved in the overall club. Good thing is, it isn’t essential to your success on the pitch, but if you take the time to play with the various options and improvements things do take a turn on the pitch depending what you did. Just don’t expect results quickly from your changes, it’s all about building the club and players up, which is another reason why lower leagues from this country and abroad are sorely missed. Taking a League 2 side from obscurity to European glory would have been brilliant, unless those micro transactions do appear of course!

Sadly I’m yet to try out Live play (if anyone is interested drop me a note or leave a comment. Hey you may just get an easy victory) so can’t comment much on that side yet.

Is it the epitome of console footballing? Well no, I don’t think so, but it does provide a decent experience, and as one of the two first next-gen footy games on 360 it will do well, never mind the Fifa license behind it.

Tomorrow I’ll be taking a look at the second game I got on the weekend; a small-unknown title by the name of Canis Canem Edit.