Review - FIFA Football 2003

With all the money they'd spent on the official license, you'd think the developers would have taken the time to note which foot Roberto Carlos uses to strike the ball

FIFA games have been around for as long as I care to remember. When they started off they were a pretty embarrassing attempt to cash in on the license during the '94 World Cup. Since which time the series has developed to the pinnacle of football simulation with World Cup 98, only to slide back down the table as fast as Leeds United and most recently spawning the dire FIFA 2002 (reviewed here).

And while the 2003 update improves on it's closest sibling in many respects, it still suffers from the same fundamental flaw - the control system. In the last game the producers decided that instead of a logical system where a tap on the 'pass' key would pass to the nearest, available, unmarked player, and pressing the 'shoot' key would launch a shot towards goal at a sensible velocity, they would have a system that now required your player to actually be facing the direction in which you wanted to kick the ball and judging an over-sensitive power gauge. Of course it was designed to increase the level of skill required to play the game, but what actually happened was gameplay about as advanced as Sensible Soccer.

In FIFA 2003, EA Sports have redeemed themselves somewhat by improving the system to an extent, reducing the number of times you accidentally hoof the ball into the crowd when you meant to play a delicate tap-in. But it still doesn't work well enough.

In fact at times it doesn't work at all. The game has a habit of getting confused when the player presses more than two buttons at once. This would have gone largely unnoticed in older games, but seeing as you have to aim all your passes carefully, being limited to pressing two keys at once soon forces you to play football at right-angles.

They also decided to muddle around with the key allocation. For five years the 'W' key has been 'Sprint', but now you have to tap 'E' to get extra speed. 'W' now operates headers, but it also activates the 'keeper charge' function. So, should you miss your crucial defensive header while furiously hitting the 'W' key, your keeper will then rush out into no-man's land, meaning a goal for the other team is certain.

There are encouraging plus sides to the gameplay. For instance, control of the ball realistically lessens while a player is sprinting meaning the price you pay for your burst of pace is that defenders can stick a foot in easier (if they can catch you up) and shooting will require a slight delay to get the ball under control.

There is also a new free-kick system, replacing the 'giant banana' of old with a system that will be familiar to fans of golf simulations, forcing you to hit 'shoot' as a marker passes through an ark, ensuring realistic difficulty levels and satisfyingly spectacular set-pieces.

But none of this trickery makes up for the basic faults of the game. Frankly, because the control system is so hard to master (or even understand), it makes the game very hard. To the computer's team it, obviously, comes very easy and they often beat you, not from having more skill than you, but from just being able to get the game to do the things they want at the right time.

In terms of graphics, it is as stunning as you would expect a FIFA game to be (they've never got that wrong). The stadiums are exceptionally detailed, as are the player's kits. Matches feature multi-angled replays, not just for goals but for controversial refereeing decisions and near-misses. There is also a highlights sequence at the end of each game.

But tragically and disgracefully, EA have left out their team and player editing facility from the game. With only top flight clubs available to play with, it is vital that people are allowed, as before, to create their own favourite club in the game.

And it is this unforgivable omission that just about confirms that FIFA 2003 is the worst of the series since '97's laughable offering. It may look pretty, but the beauty is only skin deep. Overall the game is hugely unsatisfying and frustrating - a pretty embarrassing attempt to cash in on the license, I would say.

Reviewed by Alex Walker.

Print this page

Published by: EA Sports

Website: http://www.fifafootball2003.ea.com

Price: £39.99

LTLF Rating (out of 10):

Available from: MVC

Minimum Requirements: PII 350 MHz processor, 64 MB RAM, 16MB Graphics Card

Multi-player: 2-8 players; shared machine, Internet, Network, Modem, Serial Link