Not very good, the speed has been toned down a little and of course the usual graphical update but it could be fifa 2003 if you squint hard enough.
Ok, here’s my review of fifa 2004 demo. By now, people should realize EA always base the current FIFA on the engine from two years ago. So each FIFA has a development process of two years instead of one. There are a lot of things we don’t get in the demo, but here’s what I think of the stuff we do get to see. First, EA went back to a lower polygon engine (2002 I believe), which makes the game load much faster than fifa 2003. However, the lower polygon engine loads only one or two body shapes so everyone’s body looks exactly alike. Of course, EA added many new player face textures, but the all players’ heads are just one big polygon. The stadium looks nice and the mandatory lighting and shadow are effects are there. The interface is simple and clean, the textures are ok, not much difference between the 32 bit and the 16 bit. 2002 graphics engine means all the camera angles are back. Now to the game play, I will break it down into several sections. Over all control --- First thing I noticed about FIFA 2004 is you need boatload of buttons to control the game. I tried both my new Logitech Dual Action gamepad and the keyboard, and it’s taking me a while to figure out all the keys. I need to use eight buttons and two analog sticks on my gamepad or 9 keys plus directional keys on my keyboard to control all the actions. On the keyboard, besides lob, pass, shoot, through ball, trigger run and sprint, fifa 04 has a shift + arrow keys for freestyle, c + arrow keys for close/standing still control and z key for trigger off the ball control. Individual player control --- Hugh improvement but still not perfect. Since there is standing still moves and running, you can really feel the speed change. Controllable headers are back, and since the game has a lower polygon count and new animation, movement feels looser. There are few tricks you can pull off, and I still need time to figure all of them out. Team Control --- Also improves. You can now change formation and tactics on the fly by holding z + c. From telling your defender to pressure to changing to wing play, now you don’t have pause and go to the team management menu. On defense you can also tell one of your teammate to pressure by pressing C while you cut down the passing lane. Off the ball play is an interesting idea, but I don’t think 10 figures are enough to pull it off successfully. I like the new tackles and fouls much better. Now any tackle from behind is a foul, even a slight push. This makes both the foul count and rhythm of the game more realistic. Animations of fouls are excellent and refs give out cards more realistically. I still can’t figure out crossing and shooting. Crossing still has the feel of scripted gameplay, especially when stupid EA decides to put in a feature of a diagram being illustrated on the replay of how you scored from the cross. You can score from long distances, many think it’s because the shooting is too easy, but I don’t think so, then why? Which brings us to the goalkeeper. Goalkeeping in fifa 2004 is certainly questionable. Goalkeepers can't stop certain long distance shots on goal, and won’t make an attempt at gathering crosses that are right above their heads, I think it’s time for EA to make it so players can control goalkeepers instead of letting AI do the work. Set plays --- Set plays in FIFA 2004 are all scripted. I still haven’t scored on a direct FK yet, because I haven’t figure out how. Corner kicks are better than 2003, you can add some variety to each scripted corners (but not by much) and I do hope retail version gives us more scripts we can execute. Things not in the demo. Sound and licensing – both strong points of FIFA, I’m sure both will be excellent. Internet play. --- Internet play is what will make or break the game. If the internet play is excellent, I’m sure many people will buy it just because of that, nothing beats playing against another human being. Team management, strategy and tactics --- more is hoped from the retail version, don’t know how much EA is going to put into FIFA and how much they going to leave for TCM 2004. Oh, get the demo expander which let you play on different speeds and difficultys and 45 min halfs. Questions?
When preparing for a goal kick or a free kick (not on goal) can you direct where the ball will go with a moving arrow or movable disc on the ground?
No you just move the keeper. I still haven't official figured out crosses Either. Do you use 'Off the Ball' Control or just Cross by lobbing and pressing perpendicular from the field. The game is Plenty Hard. a Demo Expander helps you learn the game in fewer attempts.
What do you mean by Scripted? Do you mean it's like Madden Football where you need to select a play? IMO, if people have played EPL Manager games and TCM and think FIFA 2004 will have the same capabilities, they will be VERY disappointed. FIFA has always been and arcade type game. I don't think they'll be able to combine two Quality game features (Arcade & Team management) into one awesome all comprehensive game. IMO, EA should have left the arcade style to the FIFA series and totally focus on improving game play and features, and leave the Team Management to a seperate title game. I mean if EA has a hard enough time improving FIFA as an arcade game without screwing up other features, what makes them think they can get them both right and do it all in one game? Focus EA, FOCUS!! I used to think that every year certain features were removed and others added to the FIFA series because of a limitation of disk space on the CD. But, if they can combine Arcade play and Team Mgmt into the FIFA series, then I know disk space is not the issue and I wish they would bring back the Creation Center so I can modify my players. Nothing annoyes me more than not being able to play quality players (like Pope and McBride) on my national team because they have unrealistically low capabilities/skills (like 54 and 40 for example). Give me a break! If you guys are not going to take the time to seriously evaluate player skills, at least give us the ability to fix your mistakes!
For Corners you select what type of Corner..then Aim for a Player then work on moving a player to the spot. Much different than WE7. I like how FIFA has finally added a Close-Down/Double Team button. Also, the Short pass button allows u to play the ball into Space and the AI will make the player run to the ball. However, crossing the ball has become a quagmire.
Last few thoughts before the game comes out. Few things stand out during the last few times I played. First, the opponent's AI is questionable. They pass a lot, attack down the middle, and that's about it. I hope this is not true in the retail version where more formations and strategy should be involved. Now, to the set pieces question. For corners and indirect FKs, they give you four plays (scripts) in the demo to choose from. For corners, it's Far post, near post, center, and driven. For indirect FKs, it's Far post, near post, lay off and shoot and driven. Lay off and shoot is same thing as direct free kick, which I'll talk about later. After you pick, let's say, far post, a circle appears on the ground. You can't move the circle, but you do choose one player and try to run to the location of the circle when the ball arrives. The defensive player either try to stop you from getting there or get to the circle before you to head the ball out. It's not very easy, but I did score twice on corners. I hope there are move plays you can execute in the retail version, like play short or to the edge of area for corners. EA claims you can make your own play (script) in TCM 2004 and import it into the game, but we'll see when TCM comes out. Direct FKs are much better than 2003. It's like a golf game control. You press once to set the power, and when the arrow goes back, you have to press it again to set the accuracy. It's hard since the bar moves fast. Of course you get to choose where to stike the ball and where the target is. I scored once from like 30 FKs, it was an amazing shot from 30 yeards out. Too much power means the ball will miss, and too little power means the goalkeeper will gather. Goalkeepers try to make a save on every FK on goal, and they make good saves. Once I put the target in the upper corner, and my accuracy was right on, but my power was little low, so it wasn't as fast as it could have been, and the goalkeeper made a great save. (If this was 2003, it would have been a goal) Of course more power more bend on the ball, and further you are from the goal, the more power you need. The C button (R trigger on my gamepad) is very important in this game. If you just hold the button, you'll face your defender. This is where all the special moves hapeen. C + movement is dragging the ball under you feet and move slowly in all directions. C + shift movement (or right analog stick) is fakes. For example, press left is step over left, press right is step over right. Press Left Left is fake left go left, press left right is fake left go right, and so on. You can do other special moves with these combination. (This include special moves for special players) C + A (lob) is to lob the ball in space, with out holding C, it's lobbing to a player who will then either head the ball or chest trap it. I'm still testing other functions of the C button. Crossing. I do this to cross. Run on the wing, beat my marker. If I think I am close enough to the endline to whip it in, I press A, other wise. I press off the ball control buttom and press A to lob it to the player. BTW, TCM2004 isn't the editing tool for FIFA, creation center still is. In conclusion, if the online play is good (and free), I'll buy the game, since playing against computer is no fun.