FIFA INTERNATIONAL SOCCER (IBM PC) from EA Sports

Reviewed by Marc G. Haddad


          Computer        Graphics        Memory          Disk Space
Minimum   386/25          VGA             4 MB            8 MB 
Max/Rec.  386/25+

Control:  Keyboard, Joystick (2 button)
  Sound:  Soundblaster (SB); SB Pro; SB 16; Waveblaster; AWE32; Adlib Gold;

          Roland LAP C-1; Pro Audio Spectrum 16; SFX Classic 3000.
  Notes:  MSDOS 5.0+ required; 580K conventional and 3.4 MB XMS required;
          4MB PC Owners may need a specific boot disk.  Supports Gravis
          PC GamePad and Doublespace hard disk compression.

Reviewed version 1.0  on: 486/66, 8 MB RAM, SB Pro, 386 MAX v 7.0
     Reviewer recommends: 486, SB compatible sound card, Joystick

With the World Cup mania still raging, several PC soccer games hit the store shelves this summer, but perhaps none was more anticipated than FIFA INTERNATIONAL SOCCER (IBM), hereafter referred to as FIFA, from the team at Electronic Arts that brought us the Sega Genesis version. Hot on the heels of their successful hockey game NHL HOCKEY '94, the folks at EA Sports have become an authority on sports games with the IBM PC crowd, and with the Sega Genesis version of FIFA being very well received by the game cartridge players (see GameBytes issue #19), the PC release was all the more anxiously awaited. EA Sports further whet the appetites of soccer fan[atics] by releasing a playable demo of the game that can still be found on some of the popular Internet ftp sites. The final product lived up to the high expectations in some areas (graphics, sounds, playability), but fell short in others (realism, depth), though overall it comes out a definite winner. But first, let's kickoff with the game mechanics.

After a quick 10 minute installation, the program correctly identified my sound card settings (a big relief!) and I was ready to go. For those who have not seen the demo, FIFA is an arcade soccer game pitting the national teams of 48 countries in typical soccer competitions. The player takes control of the members of any one team on the field, and assumes the responsibilities of scoring with attackers, passing with midfielders, defending with defenders and even saving goals with the goal keeper. The ultimate objective of winning a match or a tournament is made easier or harder with the many options offered in the game. The interface is very user friendly, and I found most options to be self explanatory, rarely needing to refer to the manual. The main menu offers some setup options such as choice of language (English, French, German, Italian or Spanish), music and sound on/off, and even a demo for first time players. Other options typically affect game length or game play. Game time can be as quick as 4 min. and as long as full time (90 min.), with the option for a continuous or an out of play clock. Game play is affected by a number of factors, allowing for endless combinations of difficulty levels. This is where I found FIFA to be the most innovative. The field type (grass or artificial) and the weather (hot, dry, damp or drenched) not only affect the way the field looks, but also how it plays. Thus, game flow is much quicker on dry artificial turf than on a drenched grass field. Some more options such as off-sides (on/off), fouls (none/intermediate/full) and goalie control (manual/computer) can also speed up or slow down the flow of the game. But the most dynamic aspect of FIFA is the choice of game type (action/simulation), with the simulation setting allowing for fatigue effects on the players' abilities.

With all options set, I was ready to compete. FIFA offers exhibition, tournament, playoffs and league play. While a practice mode would have been nice, one can always use exhibition games to try out new strategies against those hard to beat teams before taking them on for the cup. The tournament mode in FIFA is modeled after the current World Cup tourney, with 24 teams randomly selected in 6 groups. I say current World Cup because the rules have changed for the 1998 cup to be played in France, where the number of finalists has been increased to 32 teams.

Unfortunately, the game does not allow for customization of any of the competitions to account for changes such as the one mentioned above, or to simply let the user create his own league. This would have normally limited the replayability of the game, but for the fact that the teams are randomly selected each time from a pool of 48, which means that no two tournaments are alike. For those wanting a quicker trip to the cup, the playoffs option lets one jump into the knock out stages with only 16 teams left. Here all tied matches are decided on sudden death, with no option to use penalties as the tie breaker. This again limits the player in that it does not allow one to recreate older competitions, as recent as last summer's World Cup final. League play is the longest, comprising 8 teams playing each other twice for the most points. All teams are rated in 7 different categories, such as running, passing, shooting...

In the aftermath of World Cup USA, and after the disappointing loss of my favorite team, the Azzuris, I took it upon myself to change the outcome and win the cup, so I selected Italy and embarked on the tourney. But it wasn't enough to just put on the jerseys of Baggio, Maldini and Pagliuca, I soon found out that I also had to wear the hat of Sacchi the coach, as I was presented with yet another menu of more detailed options. This time it was up to me to decide the team strategy (Long Ball/Attack/Defend...), and in line with Italia's tradition, I chose All Out Defend. I also had to choose a team formation (3-5-2, Sweeper, 4-4-2,...), so pretending that Baresi was never injured, I chose Sweeper. Next I had to decide how much of the field my players should cover, how far ahead they should push their attack, and how closely they should defend their goal. Since I had chosen a defensive tactic, I positioned my players such that they could all assist in defending their half of the field. Now came the last and most important decision of selecting the best players that can effectively carry out those strategies on the field. So I looked under Player Selection, and to my utter horror, my squad was made up of complete strangers! A guy named Joe Della-Savia was wearing the sacred number 10 jersey, and I was stuck with Stefano Bontempi for a goalkeeper. Other players had strangely close names to the ones I was familiar with, but I did not know who any of these people were. I later found out that the opposition had the same problem, but to this day, I still don't understand how a soccer game with FIFA in its title doesn't come with real player names. But the consolation came in knowing that each player was rated for skills in 13 categories, ranging from speed and ball control to stamina and shot power. Once the player introductions were over, the final cut was made based on skill and stamina instead of name and fame. I then changed into my player outfit and found myself on the field. My luck was not about to change soon, however, as I lost the coin toss and with it my chance to kick off play. But the game was now underway, and I was playing, so now was not the time to complain.

Playing in front of crowd of a 80,435 must be thrilling, but when they are as rowdy as the ones in FIFA, it can be downright intimidating. From boos and hisses to chants and cheers, FIFA lives up to the reputation of its predecessor and close relative, NHL HOCKEY '94. While Tom Stone's voice is not heard announcing the lineups a la NHL's Ron Barr, the crowd more than makes up for this in their authentic chants. My only gripes are the referee whistle which, on my SB Pro, sounds like a bird chirp, and the background noise in between crowd chants, which can become quite annoying. Strangely enough, the referee whistle was quite authentic in the demo, but has turned into an irritating screech in the final game. Overall, though, the sounds are quite impressive. As for the graphics, you need only press the F10 key to see how detailed and nicely done they are. Every kick, tackle and dive is accurately animated, which greatly increases the fun of play and makes for some spectacular instant replays. The replay utility can become a game in itself, allowing you to follow the moves of any player on the field, or to just watch the ball make its way into the net. Only the greatest moments can be saved however, as the save replay slots are limited to 10, which seems to defeat the whole purpose of making them.

Finally, and most importantly, a word on game play. As I have already mentioned, the game is quite a lot of fun to play. Especially worth mentioning is the intuitive joystick control, where just about any move can be performed with one or two buttons, no cumbersome combinations to remember or acrobatic maneuvers to perform. In some instances, however, the simplicity can be quite frustrating. The computer goalies always reach for the ball, even when it is clearly going over the cross bar, which makes for an endless number of corner kicks, sometimes up to five or six in a row. Players are ejected for serious fouls, yet no players are ever carried off the field due to injuries from these fouls. The field is way too small, especially in length, which affects both game play and scoring. Instead of having the space to make short passes and dribble the ball, the players are always breathing down each others necks, and the ball ends up bouncing back and forth from one end of the field to the other. Goals are often scored from the middle of the field, which makes scoring too easy for most teams, with final scores reaching the double digits in as little time as a 10 minute game. These unrealistic aspects are clearly inherited from the console version of the game. But if fast action is all what arcade players want in their cartridge games, this is not necessarily true of all the PC sports fans, as some of us look for more realism and greater detail. Which also brings me to the documentation. While the manual does a fairly good job of covering the mechanics of the computer game, the tiny 25 page manual makes no attempt to give any historical background of the game of soccer, and is quite lacking in its explanation of the rules. On the lighter side, I was told by an EA rep. that the soon to be released CD-ROM version of the game addresses some of these deficiencies, as it will include an editor to modify player names (Yipee!), among other enhancements such as digitized voices on par with NHL HOCKEY. As for their future plans on soccer, rumors have it that the EA Sports team is considering a soccer management game, though maybe not in the very near future.

In conclusion, I can heartily recommend FIFA INTERNATIONAL SOCCER as an all around fun game, for what it lacks in realism it more than makes up for in innovation and ease of play. As for me, although I did finally get to take the Squadra Azzura to the top, I can't wait to try it with the CD-ROM version, Baggio vs. Romario all over again.


This review is Copyright (C) 1994 by Marc Haddad for Game Bytes Magazine. All rights reserved.