This review was first published in Edge issue 15, December 1994.
Electronic Arts virtually cornered the 16bit soccer sim market with FIFA Soccer. Now the company is trying to repeat that success in the 32bit field. EA’s sports division has channelled all its considerable creative talents into creating the definitive next-gen footy game, and the result is 3DO FIFA. Given that FIFA went down well on the SNES and Mega Drive and that the 3DO has obvious technical advantages over those machines, 3DO FIFA must be the best soccer sim ever, right? Well, almost.
It’s obvious from the moment you boot up the game that 3DO FIFA is premier-division stuff. A lavish intro, toe-tapping music and video clips from great moments in soccer history make it arguably the best-presented 3DO game yet. Like most EA sports games, it also has an exhaustive range of options. You can play an exhibition match, enter the World Cup or even set up your own league.
After the teams have been chosen, it’s on to the game proper. The camera zooms in on the stadium, the players sprint onto the pitch to an enthusiastic roar from the crowd and the match gets under way. It’s now that things start to get really interesting. Firstly, there are seven set camera angles. Admittedly, a few of them are largely decorative – they’re too close to the action to be useful – but the remaining ones allow you to see enough of what’s going on and give you a sufficient range of perspectives to make 3DO FIFA a genuinely 3D experience.
In fact, on the visual side there’s virtually nothing to criticise in 3DO FIFA – choose the tele-cam mode, sit back, and you could almost be watching a real televised match. Not only do the players run, tackle and shoot in an acceptably lifelike manner (although not quite well enough to give credence to EA’s claim that each character can call on over 2,000 frames of animation) but they also have a reasonable level of artificial intelligence. The pitch is also superbly textured and scrolls around smoothly and convincingly.
‘A lavish intro, toe-tapping music and video clips from great moments in soccer history make it arguably the best-presented 3DO game yet.’
As if that weren’t enough, the sound is wonderful too. All the crowd noises were sampled from the ’94 World Cup and are completely event sensitive. Unlike some CD based football games – Sensible Soccer on Mega CD, for example – there’s no noticeable delay between an event on the pitch and the crowd’s reaction to it. If a powerful swerving shot is tipped over the bar, you won’t have to wait until the corner kick is taken before you hear the crowd gasp.
But, of course, the most important aspect of any sport sim is playability, and this is where 3DO FIFA takes a slight tumble. The 16bit versions were never the most intuitive or strategic of soccer sims – they relied instead on their arcade-like action. And although the aesthetics have been greatly improved for the 3DO, the play mechanics have simply been ported over from the previous game.
The result is that those imperfections that always made playing FIFA Soccer a rather frustrating experience for die-hard football fans are still present. No matter how many hours you invest in practice, you never feel that you’re fully in control of events. It’s very difficult, for example, to string a series of quality passes together, because the opposition always man-marks. This wouldn’t be so bad if you could just dribble past the opposing player, but their close proximity makes this impossible too. So you end up simply hoofing the ball up the pitch the moment you receive it in the (often vain) hope that one of your players is on the other end.
Scoring goals is obviously what football is all about, but in FIFA Soccer there’s no real technique for getting the ball in the back of the net; it’s just a case of running near the goal and blasting away in its general direction. The peculiar thing is that, because of the arcade nature of the game, you’re just as likely to score from the halfway line as you are from inside the penalty area.
‘There’s no real technique for getting the ball in the back of the net; it’s just a case of running near the goal and blasting away in its general direction.’
In it’s favour, 3DO FIFA does feature the most comprehensive and versatile action-replay system you’re ever likely to see. As well as being able to rewind and fast-forward the sequence, you can view it from almost any angle you wish. This is a very effective, professional touch which rounds off an already polished piece of software.
One of the reasons for the huge impact made by the original FIFA Soccer was its excellent multiplayer option – in fact, many people regarded it as the whole point of the game. 3DO FIFA is equally adept in that department and allows up to six people to play simultaneously, which makes for a hectic but supremely enjoyable experience.
The best word to describe 3DO FIFA Soccer is ‘fun’. It looks and sounds great and the action is fast and furious, but it’s too clumsy to be taken seriously. The truth is that 3DO FIFA just isn’t in the same league as Sensible Soccer. If you enjoyed the 16bit version, you’ll find the 3DO game pretty much irresistible. If you didn’t, the alluring visuals are unlikely to convert you.
The post Classic review: FIFA International Soccer (3DO) appeared first on Edge Online.
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