As far as football games go I've played the majority since Matchday for my Sinclair Spectrum back in the day. I would have to say my favourites were "Kick Off" and "Sensible Soccer" for my Atari ST. Software companies never seem to have been able to get a balance between looks and gameplay with football simulators. The latest offering from EA Sports is "Fifa '98 - Road to World Cup"and it is about as close as has been reached so far. Upon loading the mood is set with Blurs' "Song 2" pumping out the speakers set to an excellent FMV sequence and then we are presented with the options. Now not only does it have the international teams to fight it out for that beautiful hunk of gold which is the World Cup but you also have the option of pitting the top teams from domestic leagues around Europe against each other (possibly the only time you would see Newcastle hammer Juventus 6-1).
There are various options to go through to set up arcade, simulation or 5-a-side games. The difficulty can also be changed. Players can be transfered on the domestic market to keep up to date with the latest activity. There is also a feature for setting tactics, the sort of things you only bother about if you are particularly pedantic about such fine detail. Me....I just want to play football. So let the beautiful game begin.
The default view is side on 3D perspective using polygon-made players and the gameplay is excellent. The control is good, there are various tricks you can do and there is a good learning curve to the game. Once you manage to score a goal the next step is to start playing nice football and then score another goal. Then use some fancy moves, nutmeg your opponent and score etc. The AI is good for a football sim but where it really scores is the two player mode. Either against each other or combined against the computer it's much more fun playing with someone else. The graphics are nice and the sound is the best I have heard on this type of game.
The players still look a bit robotic but it's a great improvement on past efforts. All the players are real and their digital representations are good but not excellent. For example Ian Wright is portrayed as a black man with a bald head. But you can't see his gold tooth or his big mouth or Peter Schmeichels red nose. The goal celebrations vary and look quite good and the stadiums vary too. One day we will get a footy game that actually looks like you are watching a real game but for the moment Fifa '98 is the closest we have had.
There isn't much to say about the sound apart from the title music being from Blur and the crowd noise being...well like crowd noise. The matches are introduced by Des Lynam, John Motson commentates and Andy Gray summarises. Top players names have also been voiced and these slip into a nice smooth flowing vocal commentary by the afore mentioned trio.
Sports simulations are ideal when it comes to lastability, especially good ones. You rarely get the same results and once you master a skill level you can move up to the next and start again. Also with the transfer and player/team edit systems, the dedicated footy fan can keep all the teams and players up to date.
There isn't much between ISS Pro and Fifa '98 apart from the audio which tips the scales slightly in the favour of Fifa but football games are getting better all the time and I as always will wait with baited breath to find the ultimate footy game. But for the moment I'm well happy with Fifa '98
