FIFA 2004 (Xbox)

The Beautiful Game.

Yup, that's what they call it. The skill of playing a game without your hands, the precision of the passing and the thrill of the shot, all can be seen on SBS Sunday afternoons. But seeing Manchester United lose on penalties after totally DOMINATING Arsenal in the FA Cup final made me angry, and determined to seek truth and justice, I turned to EA Sports' venerable FIFA series.

I started being a fan of the series back in 1996 when EA launched FIFA 97. Back then, my trusty Super Nintendo got a huge workout in my spare time when I tackled the rigours of the World Game.

Almost 10 years on, technology and EA have advanced to produce a gem of a soccer game: FIFA 2004.

It's a good game. Some have compared it to Konami's Winning Eleven series. To me, they're both very different games. Being brought up with the FIFA series, I have to say I felt more comfortable with it.

AI is decent. I'm fine up to Professional level, easily beating quality opposition by 3 or 4 goals. Move up to World Class and it's men against the boys; I've only ever beaten the computer once in 6 attempts and that win was only by 1 goal: 1 - 0

Commentary by Andy Gray and John Motson is spot on. It's actually quite a feat when they can get the commentators to actually say stuff on what's going on the pitch instead of just generalising and calling out the names of the players. The commentators will actually get all excited when the ball gets shot on goal or when there's a tackle in a dangerous area. However, after you've played it enough it does get repetitive.

There are some niggles though. Sometimes it's impossible to change to the closer player when there's a loose ball. No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to do it and it frustrates me like crazy. And every single lob seems to go to a player no matter how hard you try to get it in space.

Overall, a competent game. I hammered Arsenal by 8 goals in the FA Cup final with Man U. Justice has been served.

3.5/5

-MTC