FIFA Football 2005 (Xbox)

It's been a mighty long while since a FIFA game came along and genuinely touched our hearts with a faithful and effectively accurate interpretation of the beautiful game. Over the past 5 years since the PS2's launch, the FIFA franchise has progressively worsened. Every year EA implement minor new gameplay features and marginally tweak the visuals of their long-running, officially-endorsed to the hill cash-cow franchise, but these things alone are simply not enough to quash the supreme Pro Evo. Strangely, FIFA doesn't seem to carry the labour of love, passion and thought that pour out of Konami's footy-fest like sweat out of a scouser on an arson charge. In other words, Pro Evo is better. Much better.

So it's with interminable apprehension that we declare FIFA 2005 a prime contender for best footy sim of the year. Mild your anger, there is a method to our madness.

First and foremost, the gameplay is smooth. Smoother than Zidane's bald patch even. The much-improved passing system is eloquently responsive and shots on goal feel 'weighty' and realistic. The bond between the players down on the park is a sure-fire evolution over last year's FIFA with defenders now sticking to their task of defending-not parting like a bunch of rubber ducks to let strikers through. It all perfectly blends together with Zen-like mastery to create a cohesive, fluid and, most importantly, fun rendition of football and imposes a vice-like jostle for the goal with Konami's Pro Evo. Which, incidentally, makes FIFA 2005 a real contender for the much sought after crown of footy-land.

One of the biggest new additions (and indeed ad campaigns) to '05 is the silky new first-touch control. It's activated with a flick of the right analogue stick and enables the ball carrier to skilfully weave around the fumbling opposition with cunning accuracy. You can perform nice little step-overs or even 360 spins, brushing past hapless midfielders with minimum effort. It works impeccably and serves the chief purpose of creating that vital opportunity for an offensive attack. Furthermore, last year's 'Off-The-Ball' feature returns, and this time it's been given the spit and polish and tweaked to perfection. Gone is the cumbersome player positioning of old - '05 introduces a much more flexible and user-friendly system, proven to allow you to arch dazzling 40ft balls from midfield, resultantly lining up Shevchenko for that crucial one-on-one with the keeper. Remember: it's all in the positioning, folks.

The FIFA series has always been widely-acclaimed for its dazzling visuals and sound and the trend is, naturally, continued here. The graphics are sharper than a chemistry teacher's cardigan. Everything you would expect to see and hear at a real football match are faithfully recreated courtesy of EA's enhanced graphics engine. It's all here, from individual blades of grass to authentic club insignias - even down to the subtle details each of the players' boots. There are more than 18,000 licensed players, 500 kits and a wealth of national and foreign licensed leagues. It's pure eye candy from the word go. Commentary, again voiced by John 'over-excited' Motson and Ally 'a wee-bit wide' McCoist, remains top-quality. Impressively, they'll now go off on anecdotes concerning their past and how football's evolved over the last 50 years. Started playing football when you were 4, eh, Ally? Intriguing to say the least.

The stadiums deserve plaudits too. They're heart-joltingly precise from the condition of the pitch to the stands in which the crowds sit. Highbury has all its nooks and crannies and the photo-realistic rendition of Old Trafford is a joy to behold. While we're on the subject of stadiums, it's their atmosphere that sets the scene. Crowds chant their favourite teams and instinctively boo when the ref doesn't give a free kick after a nasty foul. Every match feels like an occasion, an event, and as a result works wonders for the actual experience. In contrast, Pro Evo's atmosphere feels tepid - kind of like everyone's been injected with a 'silence' drug, or something.

The career mode has been radically enhanced also. Ok, so it's not as unfathomably intricate or as complex as the Master League, but it bolts together well to proclaim itself as a worthy competitor. Admittedly, the career mode does initially seem more appealing than the Master League since it is instantly accessible and refreshingly entertaining but the lack of any proper depth negates it of any long term appeal, unfortunately.

You assume the role of a struggling lower-league club. As manager, it's your job to proliferate your team's success through triumph on the field. Customisation is widespread - you can customise your manager's looks, hairstyle and even suit type. Give him a name, race, age, even choose the size of his well, you get the picture. It's pretty pointless really, though since there is no direct relation to the football but, at least it's there.

There's the usual influx of seasonal transfers, tournaments, play-offs and friendlies integrated into the career mode and the option to upgrade your team management staff (such as striker coaches and medical staff) is a welcome addition. Tagging along from last year's footie series, Euro 2004, for inclusion in FIFA '05, is the morale system. It works relatively well with big, green, smiley faces for 'happy' players and red, sad-looking faces for 'unhappy' ones - incidentally, each of your players has one, so care for them as Michael Jackson cares for his friends um, scratch that just look after them well okay?

As you'd expect, keeping your team in a ship-shape mood will undoubtedly increase and better their performance on the pitch, whereas an unhappy and on-the-verge-of-slitting-someone's-throat player will refuse to put in the effort (rapid stamina decreases, injury-prone). Morale is kept topped up by winning matches and attaining as little an amount of bookings as possible throughout the season.

Essentially, though, despite all this, we still need to get back to the point that FIFA 2005 is nowhere near as deeply-realistic or as juicily-addictive as Pro Evo. For starters, goalies jump around more than David Seaman in a World Cup nightmare - sometimes jumping in completely the wrong direction that you've shot the ball, it's almost criminal! Moreover, '05 is literally riddled with problems on the collision detection front. Head-on conservative tackles very frequently result in a moment of the supernatural - your player will run directly through his opponent, cheekily nabbing the ball all at the hands of a glitch. Plus, you'll also notice that when your player lets rip a fireball of a shot, the ball will magically kick itself before you've even brought your foot down. Perhaps you think we're unnecessarily nitpicking, but when you're in a heated match surrounded by these occasional annoying glitches they immediately become damn near unforgivable. FIFA 2005 just isn't as involving and varied as Konami's master-stroke and in that case, why even bother subjecting yourself to a purchase?

Still, there's no denying that EA have come up trumps with '05, nigh-on perfecting the deeply-flawed gameplay of its predecessor.

Unconvinced? Seeing FIFA back to its true form after 5 years of underwhelming annual updates is an actuality that we can all appreciate. A post-pub clash with your mates is what FIFA 2005 was crafted for - it's fun, visually delicious and largely entertaining. On the contrary - in no way do we see it as a substitute for PES4, but it's definitely worth its asking price. With the abundant choice of footie titles now available, we can safely say that there's never been a better time for virtual-football indulgence.

I rented the XBox Game Fifa Football 2005 for the weekend and it is brilliant. I own 2004 and have been pleased with it as a game. 2005 offers a few more teams including extra internationals which is nice, though I still miss giving Brazil a good beating with the likes of Tonga as you could on previous games. The ability to create players again is welcome, though I didn't use this feature as I only had the game for the weekend. The main selling point of the game it appears is the first touch control. This means when you get the ball played into your player by touching the right joy stick you can dictate where the ball goes after bring it down allowing you to beat your marker. This is quite sweet, but a little challenging at first. It is also easier in 2005 than 2004 to beat players by doing little bits of skill though shooting seems slightly harder and I didn't score as many screamers, but you can still score some nice goals never the less.

2005 also comes with an extended 15 year managerial career. It has taken me months to get half way through a 5 year career on 2004 (I don't play as much as I'd like to) so the thought of 15 years was initially off putting. However you can simulate as many games as you like, Champ Man style, meaning each game only takes a minute or two, and then play the games you would expect to lose. I'm not sure I really like the idea of this, if I want to be a football manager I'll buy a management game, I can't help feeling success is based on your ability to play the matches rather than sign and coach players. However it does add something extra to playing the matches and allows a bit of creativity.

So to some up my long ramble. If you've not got Fifa 2004 for your XBox, you need to buy this immediately, if you do have it then you might be better off investing your hard earned cash in something that's not quite so similar. But it's another good effort by Fifa and I am still tempted to buy it. Sorry if that confuses you.