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A game that meets all expectations."

There are only a few certainties in life – death, taxes and a yearly remake of the worlds most popular (according to sales at least) football/soccer franchise. FIFA 2004 is the latest in a long, proud line of EA Sports FIFA titles and for years now it has been a top seller for the company. Of all the soccer games on the market FIFA can easily make claim to be the most authentic of the lot with the game making full use of over 500 soccer licenses. The game is packed full of official stadiums, players, teams and uniforms and with the games extensive list of play modes gamers can simulate matches between their favourite teams and mix up the team rosters as they see fit. It's got some stiff competition this time around with Pro Evolution Soccer 3 hitting the shelves this month and its going to be an uphill battle for the folks at EA Sports to deliver a product that can compete with Konami's latest Pro Evolution title.

Most of FIFA 2004's on field gameplay remains untouched as the developers continue to slowly evolve the series adding in various elements each year preferring to avoid radical changes on such a successful formula. Possibly the most noticeable improvement is with the revamped animation engine making the players move in 'organic motion'. Basically, the game looks even more like the real thing. The defensive artificial intelligence (AI) has also been tweaked and this extra challenge will be welcomed by players who complained of the exaggerated score lines in previous versions as the game leaned heavily in favour of big score lines as opposed to realistic ones. Of course if you wish to go back to the good ol' days of FIFA's double digit scoring you can alter the huge amount of options available as needed.

The stats are also stacked in FIFA's favor with more than 500 official licenses, including 16 leagues, 350 teams that include over 10,000 players. With all these options you can 'build your franchise and guide your club to the Championship by making calculated front-office decisions with Career Mode. When one season ends and another begins new challenges will present themselves'. There are also plenty of ways for players to get in on the team management side of things during the game with gamers pretty much able to change anything they want about a team in the middle of a game.

It takes a while to get into. This isn't because the controls were complex it's just that I am so cultured to the Pro Evolution series that anything else takes a bit of an adjustment. However once I got back into the FIFA zone I was quietly surprised at just how far the series had come since I had played it last. I had ignored FIFA after the Pro Evolution series began hitting shelves but it looks like the development team is on the right track with solid gameplay that flows a lot better than it used to back in 2002 and 2001.

The new off-the-ball controls let players control runners off the ball (with the right analogue stick) and put them in gaps for silky through balls and accurate passing maneuvers. This extra control takes a bit of time to get used to because you still have to coordinate the player on-the-ball at the same time. Goals are also a lot harder to come by and the new defensive AI adapts quickly to offensive threats and players have to use all of the soccer know-how to get the ball in the back of the net. My first couple of games went to penalty shoot-outs as the nil all deadlock could not be broken. This didn't mean that the action is lacking, there were many exciting goal scoring opportunities with quick counter-attacking play as well as structured offensive movements. Whatever your football style you can be sure to use it in FIFA 2004.

Visually FIFA 2004 is quite flashy with nice FMV sequences for fouls and goals but even with my limited play time it was obvious that these would be more of an annoyance with their repetitive nature already noticeable and I much prefer the real time goal celebrations included with Pro Evolution Soccer 3. The stadiums look nice and the new player animations are accurate and believable. However the resolution of the jerseys is a little blurred and at times it can be hard to make out player numbers. After playing both the Xbox and Playstation 2 versions at EA Play it was clear that Microsoft's videogame system had a clear advantage with a better graphical package. Apparently the GameCube visuals are in the same league as the Xbox whilst it will depend on what type of computer you are running is you choose to pick up the PC version.

In the end FIFA 2004 is just another tidy update to the popular FIFA juggernaut. Updated rosters, new stadium chants, a tweaked animation engine and better AI are all reasons for FIFA 2003 owners to upgrade and whether they do or not will depend on how much they love the series. With so many alternatives on the market Soccer fans are spoilt for choice and FIFA 2004 could well be the pick for many gamers. As well as an Xbox version FIFA 2004 will be making its way to GameCube, PC and Playstation 2. It's important to note that the PC and Playstation 2 versions will include online multiplayer provided for free by EA. Consider your options carefully before diving in on one though, you could be missing out on a version that better suits your gaming needs. Proceed with caution.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/06/03