Overview

While it’s true that the Xbox 360 version of FIFA 07 has been built from the ground-up with a brand new game engine, the current-gen versions weren’t ignored and received much more than the customary mild improvements to the same old FIFA formula.

Graphics 78/100

While FIFA 07’s gameplay received an impressive make-over, the graphics, unfortunately, did not. When the players in FIFA 07 first ran onto the pitch my initial thought was; “Huh? Does this look crappier than last year’s version, or have I been playing too much 360?” After going back and checking out last years version, FIFA 07s visuals definitely aren’t as clear and vibrant as FIFA 06. The bloom lighting has been greatly toned down yet the graphics still maintain a fuzzy appearance and as a result everything looks a bit dull.

Player models, however, are pretty much identical to FIFA 06 i.e. muscular zombie midgets. There was a time that FIFA had much better player models than Winning Eleven but that period has definitely passed as WE 10s players look far more proportioned and realistic. It’s as if everyone in the FIFA universe is on steroids; even beanpole players like Crouch and Kanu still look buffed! Player faces are also a disappointment and though you can still identify the big names they don’t look nearly as realistic or detailed as the faces in WE10.

On the positive side, the game’s animations have been improved which is no doubt to accommodate the new gameplay additions. The animations have received upgrades in both quantity and quality. There are a lot of new animations for the new ‘skill’ moves, player jostling, passing and shooting. All of these animations are impressive and the all-important transitions between them are, for the most part, smooth. There are still some clipping issues which particularly stand out on replays, but to be fair, they’re not as bad as those in World Cup 2006 for the Xbox 360.

As expected, FIFA 07 features an impressive number of different stadia and this year the census is up 2 to 46 (FOURTY SIX!!) different grounds;

Of note are Arsenal’s new Emirates Stadium and the yet-to-be-finished new Wembley Stadium! The stadiums are all modeled nicely and are instantly identifiable during the intros to matches. Unfortunately, the pitch textures are definitely worse than last year’s game – I don’t know who the groundskeeper is but these pitches are ugly as sin. Speaking of the pitch, a major difference in FIFA 07’s visuals is the size of the field – the pitch is noticeably smaller than last year.

As you’d expect from a FIFA game, the TV style presentation is top-notch with score overlays, highlites, instant replays and solid player celebrations (including Peter Crouch’s ludicrous robot celebration!). Another nice addition is the choice to have the radar ‘disappear’ when the ball goes near that part of the screen. Regrettably, there is some noticeable slow-down and stuttering during some instant replays, particularly when there are more than 5 or 6 players on-screen.

Sound 88/100

As expected, FIFA 07 excels in the audio department. Andy Gray returns to do the color commentary (replacing Andy Townsend, present in World Cup 2006) alongside Clive Tyldsley. Both do an excellent job of following the play and also providing good insight and contextual awareness. That said, there are problems with repetition and some inconsistency when describing scoring chances – I’ve hit the post from 35 yards out only to have Andy Gray tell me I should have done better!

FIFA 07 features a solid soundtrack with a wide variety of international artists. I like FIFA 06s selection of music to be better but that’s strictly a matter of personal preference and I’m sure there something for everyone here.

My favourite part of FIFA 07s audio comes from the improved crowd sounds and crowd reactions. If you score a goal away from home the home fans are instantly silenced and its really neat to experience. Another of my favorites comes when you’re at home and three or more goals up – if you start to pass the ball around the home fans start to do cheers/olés! I wish there was more work put into the 5.1 surround (particularly the localization of the away fans) and a few more crowd chants, but for the most part the crowd sounds are great.

Options 90/100

Just like last year’s edition, FIFA 07 features a staggering number of game modes and options. The major modes of play are;

The Interactive Leagues feature is new to the series and entails online versions of the EPL, Bundesliga, French First Division, and the Mexican First Division. Basically, gamers select their favourite team and play online fixtures that correspond to real-life fixtures taking place in the same 2-3 day window. For example, if Tottenham are playing Arsenal on Saturday then in the few days leading up to the fixture Tottenham and Arsenal fans can log on XBL and play each other. At the end of the allotted time period the results are tallied up and the team with more fans that were ‘winners’ receive 3 points in the virtual EPL. Its neat idea though I’ve yet to try it out myself.

The excellent Manager Mode returns with a few new additions. Player growth is now more fleshed out and more apparent after each match (much in the same was as Winning Eleven’s Master League). There are also nice graphical predictors and projections of player growth over the years and now every few months your Youth Team will produce a young starlet that you can chose to sign. Team Boards seem to be more demanding this year and are explicit in their demands across a season. The only downside to this magnificent (and still utterly engrossing) game mode is that the front-end is still a bit shoddy and it would be nice if things were laid out in a more logical and user-friendly fashion – in the midst of a grueling league campaign I shouldn’t have to cut through 3 menu tiers just to take a look at the league table!

FIFA 07 features the following leagues for play;

Also featured are a list of ‘Rest of World’ club teams that include Sparta Prague, River Plate, Boca Jnrs, Olympiakos and a few more.

There are also 42 international squads included for play but unfortunately there are some glaring omissions in the roster that include an absence of Holland, Togo, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Iran and Japan! Those absences are particularly baffling since all those teams were in EA Sports’ recent World Cup game!

As you’ve probably heard, the rosters are only up to date till the 27th of August 2006 which means Van Nistelroy is still playing for United and Ashley Cole still ply’s his trade for Arsenal. Fortunately, there’s an extensive player and team editor and you may want to use it when you see a few of the silly player ratings in the game! Wayne Rooney is the highest rated outfield player in the game with an overall score of 92/100 while Ronaldinho and Henry trail him with scores of 91 and 90 respectively. Perhaps that’s just nitpicking but other problems arise when you see that Jesper Gronkjaer has a higher rating than Damien Duff! Meanwhile Watford’s Danny Webber must have a friend in the programming team because he has a rating of 81/100 making him as good as Craig Bellamy and better than Peter Crouch at 78/100!

FIFA 07 also features plethora of ‘Challenges’ to conquer and upon doing so you receive points which can be used in the Fan Shop to unlock goodies. The ‘Challenges’ are not discrete scenarios per-se but rather things that you accomplish as you play in any game mode. For example, winning 10 games in a row completes a challenge and unlocks points. As does scoring a hatrick or winning the EPL. The challenges are divided by region; UK, Western Europe, Southern Europe, The Americas etc. Completing all the challenges from 2 zones unlocks a 5th difficulty level.

The Fan Shop (where you spend your hard earned Challenge points) includes unlockables such as a Classic XI Team, twenty three different types of soccer balls, the Third Kits for 35 different teams (including, funnily enough, Accrington Stanley), EPL and Bundesliga highlite videos, and much more.

Continue To: Gameplay

Overview

While it’s true that the Xbox 360 version of FIFA 07 has been built from the ground-up with a brand new game engine, the current-gen versions weren’t ignored and received much more than the customary mild improvements to the same old FIFA formula.

Graphics 78/100

While FIFA 07’s gameplay received an impressive make-over, the graphics, unfortunately, did not. When the players in FIFA 07 first ran onto the pitch my initial thought was; “Huh? Does this look crappier than last year’s version, or have I been playing too much 360?” After going back and checking out last years version, FIFA 07s visuals definitely aren’t as clear and vibrant as FIFA 06. The bloom lighting has been greatly toned down yet the graphics still maintain a fuzzy appearance and as a result everything looks a bit dull.

Player models, however, are pretty much identical to FIFA 06 i.e. muscular zombie midgets. There was a time that FIFA had much better player models than Winning Eleven but that period has definitely passed as WE 10s players look far more proportioned and realistic. It’s as if everyone in the FIFA universe is on steroids; even beanpole players like Crouch and Kanu still look buffed! Player faces are also a disappointment and though you can still identify the big names they don’t look nearly as realistic or detailed as the faces in WE10.

On the positive side, the game’s animations have been improved which is no doubt to accommodate the new gameplay additions. The animations have received upgrades in both quantity and quality. There are a lot of new animations for the new ‘skill’ moves, player jostling, passing and shooting. All of these animations are impressive and the all-important transitions between them are, for the most part, smooth. There are still some clipping issues which particularly stand out on replays, but to be fair, they’re not as bad as those in World Cup 2006 for the Xbox 360.

As expected, FIFA 07 features an impressive number of different stadia and this year the census is up 2 to 46 (FOURTY SIX!!) different grounds;

Of note are Arsenal’s new Emirates Stadium and the yet-to-be-finished new Wembley Stadium! The stadiums are all modeled nicely and are instantly identifiable during the intros to matches. Unfortunately, the pitch textures are definitely worse than last year’s game – I don’t know who the groundskeeper is but these pitches are ugly as sin. Speaking of the pitch, a major difference in FIFA 07’s visuals is the size of the field – the pitch is noticeably smaller than last year.

As you’d expect from a FIFA game, the TV style presentation is top-notch with score overlays, highlites, instant replays and solid player celebrations (including Peter Crouch’s ludicrous robot celebration!). Another nice addition is the choice to have the radar ‘disappear’ when the ball goes near that part of the screen. Regrettably, there is some noticeable slow-down and stuttering during some instant replays, particularly when there are more than 5 or 6 players on-screen.

Sound 88/100

As expected, FIFA 07 excels in the audio department. Andy Gray returns to do the color commentary (replacing Andy Townsend, present in World Cup 2006) alongside Clive Tyldsley. Both do an excellent job of following the play and also providing good insight and contextual awareness. That said, there are problems with repetition and some inconsistency when describing scoring chances – I’ve hit the post from 35 yards out only to have Andy Gray tell me I should have done better!

FIFA 07 features a solid soundtrack with a wide variety of international artists. I like FIFA 06s selection of music to be better but that’s strictly a matter of personal preference and I’m sure there something for everyone here.

My favourite part of FIFA 07s audio comes from the improved crowd sounds and crowd reactions. If you score a goal away from home the home fans are instantly silenced and its really neat to experience. Another of my favorites comes when you’re at home and three or more goals up – if you start to pass the ball around the home fans start to do cheers/olés! I wish there was more work put into the 5.1 surround (particularly the localization of the away fans) and a few more crowd chants, but for the most part the crowd sounds are great.

Options 90/100

Just like last year’s edition, FIFA 07 features a staggering number of game modes and options. The major modes of play are;

The Interactive Leagues feature is new to the series and entails online versions of the EPL, Bundesliga, French First Division, and the Mexican First Division. Basically, gamers select their favourite team and play online fixtures that correspond to real-life fixtures taking place in the same 2-3 day window. For example, if Tottenham are playing Arsenal on Saturday then in the few days leading up to the fixture Tottenham and Arsenal fans can log on XBL and play each other. At the end of the allotted time period the results are tallied up and the team with more fans that were ‘winners’ receive 3 points in the virtual EPL. Its neat idea though I’ve yet to try it out myself.

The excellent Manager Mode returns with a few new additions. Player growth is now more fleshed out and more apparent after each match (much in the same was as Winning Eleven’s Master League). There are also nice graphical predictors and projections of player growth over the years and now every few months your Youth Team will produce a young starlet that you can chose to sign. Team Boards seem to be more demanding this year and are explicit in their demands across a season. The only downside to this magnificent (and still utterly engrossing) game mode is that the front-end is still a bit shoddy and it would be nice if things were laid out in a more logical and user-friendly fashion – in the midst of a grueling league campaign I shouldn’t have to cut through 3 menu tiers just to take a look at the league table!

FIFA 07 features the following leagues for play;

Also featured are a list of ‘Rest of World’ club teams that include Sparta Prague, River Plate, Boca Jnrs, Olympiakos and a few more.

There are also 42 international squads included for play but unfortunately there are some glaring omissions in the roster that include an absence of Holland, Togo, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Iran and Japan! Those absences are particularly baffling since all those teams were in EA Sports’ recent World Cup game!

As you’ve probably heard, the rosters are only up to date till the 27th of August 2006 which means Van Nistelroy is still playing for United and Ashley Cole still ply’s his trade for Arsenal. Fortunately, there’s an extensive player and team editor and you may want to use it when you see a few of the silly player ratings in the game! Wayne Rooney is the highest rated outfield player in the game with an overall score of 92/100 while Ronaldinho and Henry trail him with scores of 91 and 90 respectively. Perhaps that’s just nitpicking but other problems arise when you see that Jesper Gronkjaer has a higher rating than Damien Duff! Meanwhile Watford’s Danny Webber must have a friend in the programming team because he has a rating of 81/100 making him as good as Craig Bellamy and better than Peter Crouch at 78/100!

FIFA 07 also features plethora of ‘Challenges’ to conquer and upon doing so you receive points which can be used in the Fan Shop to unlock goodies. The ‘Challenges’ are not discrete scenarios per-se but rather things that you accomplish as you play in any game mode. For example, winning 10 games in a row completes a challenge and unlocks points. As does scoring a hatrick or winning the EPL. The challenges are divided by region; UK, Western Europe, Southern Europe, The Americas etc. Completing all the challenges from 2 zones unlocks a 5th difficulty level.

The Fan Shop (where you spend your hard earned Challenge points) includes unlockables such as a Classic XI Team, twenty three different types of soccer balls, the Third Kits for 35 different teams (including, funnily enough, Accrington Stanley), EPL and Bundesliga highlite videos, and much more.

Continue To: Gameplay