Genre: Sports
Developer: EA Canada
Publisher: Electronic Arts

Titles that are internally developed or supervised at an Electronic Arts studio generally aim for the lowest-common-denominator as it pertains to PC hardware. FIFA 2005 is no exception; sporting a straight-up, DirectX 8.1 engine, the game really lacks the special, pixel-shaded effects that modern graphics chips are capable of. As a DX8.1 title goes, however, FIFA 2005 is a reasonably nice looking game, with marginally above-average textures and some excellent, motion-captured animation. A more high-tech engine would have been definately been appreciated however.

The commentating duo of John Motson and Ally McQuoist return for yet another iteration of this franchise, and their comments are just as mundane and repetetive as ever. Visual Concept's redefined the video-game sports commentary field years ago with NFL 2K on the Dreamcast, and EA still hasn't caught on with any of their sports titles, including FIFA. The music selection is reasonably varied, but even for fans of the styles of music in the game (which I am not), the choices will probably be a little disappointing.

EA's sports titles take baby steps towards improvement each year, with major changes seldom occurring. The FIFA series moved to 3d with FIFA '97, and the gameplay was much different as a result. This year's edition features probably the most significant gameplay changes since then, with a completely re-written ball physics engine: passing and ball control feel much different in this year's version, through-balls particularily are more challenging and realistic. Outside of gameplay, a "Career mode" was added, where you create a coach and play through 15 season's worth of football, maybe with a different team every single season as your career waxes and wanes. This mode is fairly deep and adds some much needed complexity to the title.

I quite like this year's version of FIFA. The new physics engine does wonders for what is otherwise antiquated gameplay, and makes the game look and play much more like real football. As well, the "Career mode" is a blast, moving from coach of an English Second League team to manager of a Premiership Squad is very rewarding. The soundtrack and visuals are a tad disappointing, but this title sends the franchise off in a new, less arcade-like direction. If EA Canada can implement a new graphics engine and continue to make revisions to the gameplay each year, the FIFA series will get back on track towards being a competent football series. FIFA 2005 is a good first step.