Another year, another FIFA title and EA have been quite busy recently with their footie titles. In total they will have created three new football games within a year and the latest instalment FIFA 07 looks set to blow all its predecessors away. EA only revealed that FIFA 07 would be released on the 360 a week ago at the German Games Convention, then came the controversy over whether it would be an Xbox 360 exclusive title or not. Well now 360 Monster takes a first look at the new FIFA title for the Xbox 360.
Now the first feature this new title offers is the fact that not only will you have to control your player but you will also have more control over the ball itself. Unlike previous titles the ball, in a sense will have a mind of its own and won’t always need a player to control its animation. The improved ball mechanics also means that using things like step-overs, cruyff turns and nutmegs will not only look awesome, but will also become a necessity, especially in the online world of FIFA 07. Like in previous games the skills will take a good week or two to master, but once you do learn how to use them you will become unstoppable (unless you meet someone else who has mastered the skills).
The next thing about the game is the fact that you won’t be able to do a Beckham [Ed – if you don’t know what I mean by that you need a slap] for example in FIFA 06 on a few occasions gamers were able to quite literally shoot from the half-way line, it would then fly through the goalies hands hit the crossbar and go in. Of course the chances of that actually happening in a football match are about 1 in 18203.35 [Ed – I wonder how we worked that one out] so in the new game you will find that simply shooting at will won’t work, instead the game wants you to use your players to cut through the oppositions defence and score. If you don’t work as a team you will find that the ball will spend more time with some huge drunken fan than at your feet.
Like all FIFA games it is really easy to simply pick up and play with a few mates and no doubt the new title won’t lose that aspect. The games new engine means that simply picking up the pad and scoring within 5 minutes will be a thing of the past. You will undoubtedly find that even four minute halves won’t be long enough for you to show off your skills and score as putting together passes and taking that perfect shot will be a lot harder than previous titles.
The game will have the star player system like in the recent World Cup title. So if you like to take wild shots from 40 yards the best players to use are the Lampards and Gerrards of the footballing world, if you like skilful players then you will want to use Duff, Cole or Ronaldo. Although nothings been confirmed we are guessing that there will be star players for Speed, Playmaking and Defending and choosing your team will usually end in you choosing the one with the most stars in it [Ed – Chelsea anyone].
Of course we are not forgetting the fact that you will be able to choose just about every football team in existence from Newcastle United to Eredivisie and you will be able to use countless stadiums like Old Trafford, St James Park and the new Emirates Stadium. Then there’s the unlockables like classic shirts, footballs, training pitches and other stuff to.
The visuals on the new title look better than the World Cup games and if you compare it to the Xbox version of the game you will see a huge difference in quality. Gone are the days of players looking like polished bowling balls, or pixelated blobs. FIFA might just finally be brinking on the most sacred of titles, ‘next-gen’.
One thing to note is that the 360 title won’t have the rather cool online interactive league, but do not fret as EA have promised to include some exclusive online features for the 360 version. We also hope that lag won’t be as bad as it was in FIFA 06 online.
The new FIFA title will hit store in October and no doubt will be an instant hit with the FIFA crowd. The game itself will be a lot more realistic, look more swish and have tons more features, so maybe it will finally knock PES6 off its perch, although we doubt it. Keep an eye out for the full review of FIFA 07 coming late October.
Originally Written By: Lee Matthews
