FIFA series

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EA Sports FIFA 2006 PSP cover, featuring Wayne Rooney and Ronaldinho
EA Sports FIFA 2006 PSP cover, featuring Wayne Rooney and Ronaldinho

The FIFA series is a popular series of football (soccer) video games, released yearly by EA under the EA Sports label. Since its debut release in late 1993, it has been one of the most profitable and well known video game franchises. While there was no major competition when EA released both the first titles in their Madden NFL and NHL series, football video games such as Sensible Soccer, Kick Off or Matchday Soccer were being developed since the late eighties and were already competitive games in the Football Market when EA announced a football game as their next addition to the EA Sports label.

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The key points of EA's massive advertisement were the isometric view of the ground (when all other games used either top down, side scrolling or birds' eye views), detailed graphics and animations and of course, the FIFA endorsement (although it did not feature real player names). It was shipped for Christmas 1993, named FIFA International Soccer, and was released for most active platforms of the time.

Mega Drive FIFA International Soccer cover
Mega Drive FIFA International Soccer cover

While FIFA 95 did not add much other than the ability to play with club teams, FIFA 96 pushed the boundaries. For the first time with real player names by obtaining the FIFPro license, the PC, 32X and Sega Saturn versions used EA's Virtual Stadium engine, with 2D sprite players moving on a 3D stadium. FIFA 97 had crude polygonal models for players and added indoor football, but the pinnacle was reached with FIFA 98:Road to the World Cup. This version featured improved graphics, a complete World Cup with qualifying rounds (including all national teams registered in FIFA) and refined gameplay. Months later, World Cup 98, EA's first officially licensed tournament game, improved Direct3D support, gave each team a unique kit and broke the sequence of poor video games based on tournaments started by US Gold's World Cup Carnival in 1986 and continued until Gremlin's Euro 96.

The following years' releases were met with criticism: buyers complained about poor gameplay, bugs that were never fixed, bad support and little improvement over the previous title. That led to a decrease in the games' popularity, but fans were still willing to give EA a tabula rasa each year. As both emulation and the console market expanded, FIFA was being challenged directly from other titles such as Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer (known as Winning Eleven in Japan and the U.S.). By FIFA 2003 EA made a determined effort to improve the game, and a year later, included a new mode (Football Fusion) that allowed the ability to play games from TCM 2004 using FIFA's engine, and when Konami announced that PES3 would also have a Personal Computer release, EA doubled the efforts to revive the series.

As it is now, both FIFA Football and Pro Evolution Soccer have a large following but FIFA Football enjoys a substantially higher volume of sales in comparison to Pro Evolution Soccer.

It has been suggested that this section be split into a new article. (Discuss)

Mega Drive FIFA International Soccer in-game
Mega Drive FIFA International Soccer in-game

Released weeks before Christmas 1993, this greatly hyped football title broke with traditional 16-bit era games by presenting an isometric view rather than the usual top-down view (Kick Off), side view (European Club Soccer) or bird's-eye view (Sensible Soccer). It only included national teams. The Mega CD version included some features from the next title, and is a highly polished version of the original version. The game was famous for the fact that the player could rebound a goal kick from the opposition into the back of the net by simply standing in front of the opposition goalkeeper and also the ability to run away from the referee when he brandished a card at the player.

In 1995 a PC CD-ROM version of the game was released featuring a new video introduction, player name editor, new music and running commentary by Tony Gubba. The gameplay and graphics were exactly the same as the disk version, except for the above "rebounding goal kick" flaw being fixed.

Using the same engine only with minor retouches, the game featured the leagues of Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy, Netherland, Spain, and USA, plus the Winners Cup and the Nations Cup. A password feature after you win a tournament allows you to save your achievements if you erase your battery. Penalty shoot-out after an overtime tie. Faster gameplay and more animations. Custom celebrations after you score a goal. There was a big criticism in Brazil, due to most of the local teams having wrong uniform colours (for example, Grêmio's uniform in the game was green, the same colour from its rival Juventude), a trend that would only be over in the '99 edition, when Brazilian consultants were hired to the game crew and nearly all uniforms came out correctly. The PC version comes in floppy diskettes.

This is the first FIFA game to feature 3D real graphics in the 3DO, Sega Saturn, PlayStation and PC versions in technology called "Virtual Stadium". Was also the first to have FMV opening presenting World Cup 94 videos. Was also the first in the series to presenting players with real names and positions in national teams with ranking, transfer and team customization tools. The SNES, Mega Drive, 32X is the simply last year FIFA 95 with updated teams and graphics, the 32X feature some pseudo-3D enhanced graphics. Game Boy version is plain and far different from originals in that year resembling the first 1994 edition with downgraded graphics and polygon count.

Main article: FIFA '97

The biggest change was the inclusion of 6-a-side indoor soccer mode and polygonal players, with motion capture assured by David Ginola. This game features a then unprecedented (except for Sensible World of Soccer) number of playable leagues from England, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany and even features the Malaysian league. The gameplay in the PC and 32-bit consoles, however left a lot to be desired and was very sluggish for a soccer game. In the CD versions, John Motson was first partnered with Andy Gray with Des Lynam introducing the match.

Main article: FIFA '98: Road To World Cup

Considered by many the best game of the series[citation needed], this was the installment that began the official seamless balance for many fans from consoles to PC gaming. The game marked the start of an upward trend in the series that marked it out as potentially the best gaming simulator for the sport in the world. The game was revolutionised, boasted an official soundtrack, had a refined graphics engine, team and player customization options, 16 stadiums, better AI and the popular "Road To World Cup" mode, with all FIFA-registered national teams. The most ambitious of the entire series, it even features many accurate team rosters with even reserves for national callup when playing in the round robin qualification modes. It was also the first FIFA game to contain an ingame player/team editor. The gamer wishing to tweak player stats, however, may have to reduce certain attributes (e.g. creativity skill) in order to boost others (such as improving the speed or acceleration traits) as a fixed amount of points are allocated for this purpose.

"Song 2" by Blur was used as the intro track for the game. The Crystal Method also did 4 songs for the game, More, Now Is The Time, Keep Hope Alive and Busy Child.

While the indoor mode was no longer revived, the gameplay featured increased fluidity and responsiveness. The increasing number of websites dedicated to the game and a larger number of leagues (which came to a problem when the Portuguese League rights' owners tried to pull the game out of the shelves locally) ensured good sale. Graphically, it was a major improvement over FIFA '98, with the inclusion of basic facial animations and different players' heights as well as certain purely cosmetic features such as improved player kits and emblems although they are unlicensed (modding of kits are, however, possible). FIFA '99 also features an elite league called the 'European Super League' which includes 20 top teams in Europe to battle it out in a league format. Alternatively, gamers may also create their own custom cups and leagues and select the teams they wish to play against.

Fatboy Slim's "The Rockafeller Skank" was the music used in the intro. The game's editor allows the gamer to tweak team/player attributes and also features a FIFA 99 version of the Dancing baby.

Graphically slightly superior than older versions. The gameplay was fast, simple and had a clear arcade feeling which failed to keep hardcore fans happy, especially with rival games such as ISS: Pro Evolution gaining in reputation. The leagues also featured many unlicensed teams, which substituted their real names for that of their home cities. Not surprisingly, this title was one of the most poorly received of the entire series. For the first time, U.S. Major League Soccer clubs were included. As for the gameplay, this game introduced a set pieces system in which pressing a certain key would result on a cross to a better-positioned teammate. This system would be used until 2002 edition. Also, it features a passing indicator whose color varies depending on the direction of the pass and potential obstacles - red means a certain wrong pass, yellow says there's a 50/50 chance of success, and green indicates that, most certainly, ball possession will not be lost in the pass. The game also featured a special team block with classic squads of all time, with club teams and national teams altogether, ranging from worldwide famous formations (like Real Madrid from the 50's and the Brazilian team from 1970) to nearly unknown teams (like IFK Gothenburg from the 80's or Rosenborg BK and Busan Daewoo Royals from the 90's).

Robbie Williams provided an original theme song with "It's Only Us". This song was also featured on the first and only FIFA Soundtrack CD release by EMI. He allegedly did this on the condition that the football team he supports, Port Vale, were included in the game, which they were, as a special feature team. It is curious, though, to notice that Williams also allowed his hit song "Let Me Entertain You" to be used in British rival game Actua Soccer 3, released around the same time of FIFA 99. The official demo contains a match between MLS top-teams LA Galaxy & D.C. United.

This title had a new graphics engine, which allowed each team to have its own kit, and for some players, their own face. Doing away with ordinary colour pennants as club emblems, the license included official club emblems for the first time although certain leagues like the Dutch league is unlicensed. Slightly tweakable physics made the game a modding favorite for its fan community, which grew immensely at the time of this game. The game also includes the Osterreichische Fußball-Bundesliga (Austrian Bundesliga) as a playable league as previous versions only include, among others, SK Sturm Graz or Rapid Vienna. Moby headlined the soundtrack, with his single "Bodyrock" serving as the title track. The game was called "Soccer World Championship" in Japan.[citation needed]

EA decided to improve the game by introducing power bars for shots and passes, and minimizing the dribbling element in order to attain a higher challenge level. However, it was noticed by many players how the game seemed to predetermine results on higher levels. The power bar could also be customised to suit the gamer's preference. The game also includes club emblems for many more important European clubs as well as for major Dutch clubs such as PSV Eindhoven, Ajax Amsterdam and Feyenoord although there is no official Dutch league. A card reward system licensed from Panini was also introduced whereby after winning a particular competition, a star player card would be unlocked. Also there was a bonus game with the already qualified teams (France, Japan and South Korea), in which the player would try to improve the FIFA ranking of their chosen team by participating in international friendlies.

Fans were anticipating another FIFA:RTWC (FIFA: Road To The World Cup), containing all international teams and the option of squad selection. However, many of the international teams in the game were not licensed (some of them down to the players' names like the Netherlands as well as minor footballing countries e.g. Latvia were only given numbers as player names, whereas some confederations such as certain African nations were not even complete. The Dutch team was also no longer featured in the series from then on. Gorillaz headlined the soundtrack.

This game contains a complete new gameplay compared to FIFA 2002. EA completely revamped the outdated DirectX 7 graphics used in FIFA 2001 and FIFA 2002 and introduced new T&L graphics, featuring more detailed stadia, players and kits. Timo Maas was the main artist on the soundtrack, with his song "To Get Down (Fatboy Slim Remix)" used during the opener. This year is also widely known as one of the best FIFA game made. An Elite league composed of the best European teams was also included (this feature was first present in FIFA 99). The League was composed of 18 clubs from Europe. These are the clubs:

Main article: FIFA Football 2004

While not adding much to the engine (except some fluidity), the biggest inclusion were secondary divisions, which allowed the player to take lower ranked teams into the top leagues and European matches. Gameplay had a new feature dubbed Off the ball, which required the player to control two players at the same time to execute some plays. The online mode was boasted as the main feature. Another key feature was the Football Fusion, which allowed owners of both FIFA 2004 and TCM 2004 to actually play games from the management sim'. This was also the first game to feature Latin American club teams aside from the ones in the Brazilian League (four from Mexico and two from Argentina), if the two classic Argentinian club teams from the 2000 edition don't count. The title sequence was filmed in St James' Park, the home of Newcastle United, with the opening song being Kings of Leon's European hit "Red Morning Light".

Main article: FIFA Football 2005

Improving the career mode, the game was extensively advertised and released much sooner than the usual late October date to avoid proximity with the release of Pro Evolution Soccer 4 and the EA Big release, FIFA Street. While some critics still considered it to have inferior gameplay to Konami's series, it was acknowledged to have improved significantly since the 2003 edition (favouring the on-line mode and casual/novice gamers). The game featured a return of create-a-player mode, as well as an improved Career mode. The game's biggest difference compared to previous titles was the inclusion of first-touch gameplay which provided gamers the ability to perform "real-life" tricks and passes. It was also the first version to feature the full Mexican League, which boosted sales in the USA. The game had no opening video per se, but its soundtrack was headlined by British DJ Paul Oakenfold, who composed the FIFA Theme especially for the game, using some sound bits from the game (like crowd noises and comments like "oh, what a finish" - which is why the song was retitled "Beautiful Goal" in the next version). This was the last PS1 title released in the US. The game also featured authentic crowd chants edited by producer Dan Motut.

Main article: FIFA 06

Developers of the FIFA series made a complete overhaul of the game's engine for the 2006 installment of the game, asserting it has dramatically increased the control of play, having rewritten more than half the programming code for the game. In addition to a renovation of the game play engine which discards the "Off the ball" system, developers boast a significantly more involved career mode and the introduction of “team chemistry” which will determine how well teams play together. This installment will break with a long tradition of commentating from John Motson and (more recently) Ally McCoist, replaced by ITV's Clive Tyldesley and Sky pundit Andy Gray (who has already worked in the series as guest commentator in FIFA 98).

Main article: FIFA 07

Tagline: "This Is the Season"

FIFA 07 was released on September 29 2006 in Europe and October 2 in North America on Windows, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Microsoft's Xbox, GameCube, Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance. A version for the Xbox 360 was released on November 1.

The main differences over the last series game are a new Interactive Leagues function, as well as the ability to create custom teams and new stadiums such as the new Wembley Stadium. The game's front-end and graphics engine remain largely untouched.

The Xbox 360 version uses a completely new game engine, created from the ground up for the system. This version also features a much reduced roster line-up, completely removing all lower division teams and focusing on the 6 main European Leagues.

Main article: FIFA series soundtracks
Main article: EA Trax

Licenced music tracks from artists such as Blur and The Crystal Method were first used in the FIFA series with the release of FIFA Road to World Cup '98.

In 2006, Frank Morrison (ASCAP) and Randall Tobin (ASCAP) release the U.S. Anthem "Rhythm of the Ball" on the eve of the United States first match with the Czech Republic in Germany. A preview can be downloaded at www.usssoccersong.com

In 2006, EA Sports introduced FIFA: Road to World Cup where players can "Immerse yourself in the action and heritage as you lead your nation from the qualification rounds all the way to the FIFA World Cup Finals in Germany." This title was originally launched with the Xbox 360 console. This version preceded the release of FIFA World Cup 2006 on the PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360, and other consoles by several months. This version offered superior graphics, though at the expense of many gameplay features.

FIFA Soccer 06' introduced many enhanced features bringing gameplay to a new high for this series. New ballhandling and shielding moves are featured along with mini-games that players use to unlock cheats. Battle your way to a FIFA world championship against skilled CPU or live competition. Use real licensed teams and players.

  • In South Korea, FIFA Online Game (FIFA Online) was released for the first time in the world. Electronic Arts (EA™) made this online game with a Korean game company, which is called "Pmang" (Korean: 피망). Now, it is very popular in Korea. Lots of Korean game users play this online game. For example, the number of this game's users of contemporary connection was 180,000 in July, 19. Korean FIFA Online Home Page (Kor)

Outside the yearly series, but also from EA Sports:

  • Zico Soccer and Tactical Soccer, two Super Famicom titles released only in Japan where the player does not control the players directly, but gives orders to them.
  • FIFA 64 (first FIFA game released on the Nintendo 64 in late 1997 and similar to FIFA 97)
  • Stars series (2000 and 2001)
  • FIFA Soccer World Championship (released in Japan only, it was the first installment of the series on Playstation 2; 2000)
  • Champions League 2004-2005

  • FIFA is the only sports video game series to publish its flagship title on the same platform (in this case the original Sony Playstation) for 10 successive years (1996-2005). The Madden NFL series appeared on the Playstation for 9 straight years.

FIFA Football Fan Websites

Game Archive and Review sites

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