Fifa '97 DEMO

Fifa '97 DEMO
Type of Program: Sports Simulation
Supported Platforms: Win '95 / DOS
Company Name: Electronic Arts
Installed Size: 2MB min, 60MB max (Full version) / Demo runs from CD
http://www.ea.com

How nice - it's not even '97 and the new game's come out already. EASports have released a
whole new series of new sports simulations - Triple Play, NHL Hockey '97 and of course what I'm
reviewing now Fifa '97, plus a whole lot more. Perhaps some of you might follow the general
rule of upgrading: buy every alternate upgrade, and you won't miss much. Of course the games
could only loosely be construed as upgrades but you get the picture. However that wouldn't be
wise in this case - the technology has improved greatly from last year, just as it has from the
previous few years. The players are now modeled in 3D from motion captured sequences, making
the action look superbly real. In a sense this has improved player detail, but sometimes I'd
rather not see the close-ups: the players now look like clones of each other. Perhaps they
might use proper texture mapping the next time. It's rather eerie at times, if you know what I
mean. What's worse their expressions are fixed, so while a back shot of the players
celebrating after a goal may look alright, it'll look extremely disturbing from the front. The
revenge of the moving mannequins... yikes. All in all, it's a good thing. However extra realism
also means that now there's a little less arcade action in the game. Last year we could just
pass with the press of a button, shoot by just releasing the shoot button. Now there's a time
lapse as the player draws back his leg; that little lapse may be enough for the opponent to
steal the ball. Whether that's good or bad, I'm not deciding. It says that there are now three
commentators; true enough, I guess, but it's still mainly John Motton most of the time, with a
little and very repetitive insight from his Scottish colleague Andy Gray, plus the introduction
done by Desmond Leighman. While improving the realism of the commentating somewhat on the first go, the more lengthy introductions get rather repetitive very soon. Network play is now
supported - however the manual is still very skimpy on the details. Porting this thing to
Windows '95 has been a really good thing for me; now I don't have to reboot all the time - and
one more very very good point, this means that the Microsoft Sidewinder Pro is now totally
supported - well 6 of the buttons anyway. You'll notice that I did say something about the
pathetic joystick support in Fifa '96 somewhere in my other SharewareJunkie reviews. Control
has also improved; I used to have plenty of trouble trying to keep running in a straight line
with the joystick in '96, but now it's a lot simpler - just have the joystick somewhere on the
mark for Semi Pro and straight goes the player. Really nice. Players can also opt for complex
or simple sets of controls plus individual difficulty settings: a new player might even the
playing gap by choosing a Beginner level with a seasoned Fifa gamer with a Pro level setting.
Back to Win '95, EA Sports hasn't left the rest of you without it out of the gaming: there is
another version for DOS users. There is hardly any difference between DOS and Windows gaming
anymore. Oh yes before I forget, there are new features, such as player transfers, but don't
expect Championship Manager 2, in case you were wondering. Plus a new indoor mode, 5 on 5
(well 6 on 6 if you count the keeper) in something resembling a basketball court. It's sort of
a mix between ice hockey and football - the ball just rebounds off the walls; no throw-ins, no
corner kicks. Since the court is smaller, action is amazingly frantic - and flank play won't
work as well as it does on a soccer field. Amazing stuff - they could have made a whole
different game out of it. Play it with a friend with fouls off and man that's a real blast. Oh
one more thing: the American league is now properly entered; last year they only had 4 teams I
believe; now there're almost as many as you'd have in an NBA simulation. Thumbs up here - it's
definitely better than '96 by a whole lot. I'll be hopping out and buying this as soon as I
can: so, a network game, anyone?

Graphics (you need a high-end Pentium though; no VGA mode.)
Sound (very good but I won't rate anything full unless I'm
surprised by its quality.)
Performance (it sometimes stalls on 2x CD-ROMs)
User Friendly
Ease of Installation (autoplay)
Support

Reviewed by Betanik

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