Electronic Arts FIFA Soccer 2003 X Box Sports Review

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Visitors rate this review
4.00 of 5,
2 votes

Price Paid:  $59.00 from Game

Summary:
EA as per usual have turned out a game that looks very good stadia, fans, players animation, even the refs look good but it is again of course that little thing called gameplay which they forgot too add.

Overall Rating
 1 of 5

Summary:
The reviews from Marc and Richard below are spot on.

This is like all other EA titles it would seem, EA have spent all their time and money making it look as pretty as poss, but leaving the gameplay til last. This is like a PS1 game with smarter graphics. The gameplay stinks tho, yet EA gets away with churning this rubbish out every year.

To sum it up, me and my playing partner seriously contemplate digging out my PS1 and playing ISS Pro - it so much more fun than this piece of EA crud.

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Price Paid:  $30.00 from toysrus

Summary:
I have played all the games in the fifa series come out and i have to say dat this game without a shoadow of a doubt is the best.If u have even the slightest interest in soccer do not hesitate to buy this game.

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Price Paid:  $30.00 from Target

Summary:
As EA usually does, they have produced a game with excellent graphics with attention paid to detail. Fifa 2003 has tons of teams club teams to choose from and a so-so selection of international teams. I like the game, but a few more options could have made it much better.

You can play in all types of leagues and tournaments. There is also a custom tournament option which is decent, but could be more robust. Basically you can set up a round robin tournament, aggregate knockout or round robin with the top teams advancing to knockout. I would like to be able to set up group play. And why can't I have a one game knockout (why only aggregate ?). And why can't I choose how many teams advance to a knockout phase?

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Price Paid:  $30.00 from Best buy

Summary:
First of all, i wanna start the review saying that even though this game is as flawed as a game can be before being a crappy game, this is the best FIFA game ive played in a next generation console. Ive played FIFA 2001 (Ps2) and i thought it was horrible. I played FIFA worldcup 2002 for xbox and while i thought it was alot better than 2001,i still had problems with some gameplay elements.
I was in desperate need of a soccer game so i decided to give 2003 a try.
I know of many people who complained about how the previous vesions of the game played (2001 and 2002) so it is realy obvious that EA SPORTS went in another direction with this version.
This game is very similar to FIFA ROAD TO WORLD CUP 98 in alot of areas. At times this game seems to be just a prettier, (and at times more flawed) version of FIFA RTWC 98.
In my opinion, its a good thing that this game plays like FIFA RTWC 98 because i loved that game, but this game has alot of those problems we complained about 5 years ago, im talkin about problems are that more annoying nowday because this kind of problems should be in the past already, specially cuz this type of problems were not in previous versions (although, like i said, previous version had different, worse problems.
For example, when you pass the ball the wrong way (where theres none of your players around) and there is a defender nearby, the defender doesnt get the ball, instead he waits for one of your players to come around and get the ball.
Another very annoying thing about this game, and its something that makes me think this game is unfinished, is that you cannot, i repeat, cannot move your players during corner kicks. What you do is pretty much sit down, and watch the whole thing happen cuz you cant move your player. Theres only like 4 players in the box waitting for the corner kick, and none of those 4 players ever have a chance to touch it.
Corner kicks are also a problem in the other side of the field... 80% of the time the machine gets a corner kick, its a goal. They kick the corner kick, then their player hits it with the head, your goalkeeper comes out at the wrong time, and BAM, GOAAAAAAAAAL!!!!!
Another complain is that the computer will hardly ever score on you unless its on a counter-strike. (For those of you who dont know what a counter strike is , its when you are attacking, you are in their side of the field, and suddenly for some reason you lose the ball, they get it back, run as fast as they can to your side of the field to try to score when your defense is not ready).
Another small complain is that none of the camaras is satisfying. You are either too close and you cant see your teammates around you, so that makes it hard to pass it around, or use the lower part of te field. Or you are either too far and you cant controll the player.