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That’s twice a year

soccer fans were glued to their seats in 1998 — and with good reason. The world championships saw a straiten decline in the number of exciting matches ( were 32 teams actually besides many ? ), while we besides welcomed a newcomer to the world champions club. EA Sports, however, made certain we were all enjoying ourselves in battlefront of the calculator rather of watching Italy on the television receiver, by releasing two FIFA games rather of the usual one. The fact that this mean one had to pay the broad price fair to get an ascent for an exist game, I am surely, only made EA happy. I personally believe this ploy would not have been accepted so easily had the games not been very, identical estimable indeed .
I reviewed FIFA Road To World Cup 98 last fall, and gave it the only gold award I always have. I resisted buying World Cup 98 with all the self-control I could muster, after having played it a couple of times and deciding that it was plainly not worth it when I already had the first base one. And I waited with bate hint to see FIFA 99. It seemed impossible that EA could make something that would actually be so much better as to justify a full release .
But they did .

Reincarnate

american samoa far as packaging goes, FIFA 99 follows the long-familiar proverb : “ if it ai n’t broke, do n’t fix it. ” EA Sports games just look the lapp on the outside class in, year forbidden. The same ashen box and the lapp less than instructive manual. That last bit is important. certain, you can find all possible key combinations listed — if you can understand them — but quite a bit is not mentioned at all. Take in-game ocular clues, for model. Can anyone tell me the claim mean of that bantam ‘blackboard ‘ black box that appears on the lower left of the sieve sometimes ? I tend to believe it means advantage was given, but hey, my guess is american samoa dependable as yours. In any character, anyone who has played an EA Sportsgame from the last two years will feel right at home.

The game occupies 130mb of your force, if you choose your options well, and requires a minimum of 20mb. adenine far as game options go, we have all the usual goodies — lots ( and I mean LOTS — over 200 ) of team, both domestic and external squads, season and cup act, a team and player editor, multiplayer modes galore, and no way to configure the controls ( What ‘s wrong with you, EA Sports ? Why ca n’t we reconfigure the pad buttons ? Pretty please, for next time ? ). Training matches now have defensive objectives, 3D batting order support is good, and the opening is sub- FIFA98 -standard, which is no surprise since that one was merely out of this earth. possibly the most interesting improvement in the features section are the IGM ( In-Game Management ) and IGT ( In-Game Tactics ) options. The former allows you to switch between preset formations on the vanish, while the latter lets you execute bang-up maneuvers such as offside trap, again on the fly. That latter piece adds some more astuteness to an already amazingly rich game, and once you get used to it, it can come in handy .

Unbelieveable? Yes

The one thing that I was very wondering about before I got FIFA 99 for review was the presentation return. The only real trouble with its predecessor in this esteem was the nonsynchronous comment, but otherwise I plainly could not envision EA managing to make the same jump in technological war as they did previously ; FIFA 98 was simply besides beautiful .
I was shocked to find out that, indeed, they managed this even again. FIFA 99 ‘s graphics and sound are fair ampere big a leap from FIFA 98 as the latter was from FIFA 97. They fixed the comment emergence, but that is the least crucial of the improvements. You now get players following the ball when it ‘s flying above their heads, mouth movements in close-ups, a lot more accuracy and fluidity in player movements, and indeed many other small but significant improvements that I could spend the whole review equitable talking about them. I will take care to mention only three : close-ups immediately happen not only after goals or during a foul, but besides after actually big misses when the player who messed up may grab his head in frustration ; the referee is much more enliven now, and the full effect during foul is sol good that it is tempting to make harsh foul precisely to see what would happen ; and EAtook care to remove those stupid animations during deadballs. besides, the free complain arrows are much easier to understand now, and players are scaled better ( although the testis is always so slenderly excessively big ) .
angstrom far as strait effects go, it seems like crowd chants nowadays happen during more realistic moments in play, but otherwise, the game keeps the very high standard of its harbinger. More typically british temper has been added to the broadly brilliant comment ( Motson and Lynham lead the commentator team again, and that ‘s all we need to know ) angstrom well. One last important issue is that of musician heights, which are now reflected graphically and have an actual effect on their bet on .
The above truly only scratches the surface arsenic far as how beautiful FIFA 99 truly is. If any sports plot can be called a exercise of art, then this is the one. The adjacent measure would be … the future step is … well, I actually have no mind what the adjacent step could be for this series. I guess I will plainly have to wait and see .

Let’s play ball!

presentation values apart, the most significant moment in any title is gameplay. Remember FIFA 97 ? A treat for the senses, at the meter, but impossible to play. It took EA another class to find the secret recipe that made FIFA 98 such an enjoyable experience .
FIFA 99 gave me mix feelings. On the one pass, it is the best soccer game I have ever played apart from on a veridical pitch. No doubt about it. It is highly enjoyable, extremely well balanced, and I have yet to find such faults with it that will allow one to score sure goals. There was such a problem in FIFA 98 — one could run towards the corner of the five-meter box, and when the keeper would barely begin to come out you could shoot for a certain goal. No such thing here. I have seen entirely one goal that was slenderly distrust in terms of engine faults. That is, even though some goals are obviously the solution of problems with the game engine, such as inadequate defense AI, they never feel that way. In inadequate, all goals I saw scored in FIFA 99 up to this period ( and I ‘ve watched few hundred of them already ) could have been scored in a substantial soccer match. This is a highly important issue for any sports game, because ‘artificial ‘ goals would easily ruin the illusion of playing the real sport.

On the other hand, this game is less of a pretense than its prequel. not that the latter was anything more than a slowed down arcade game, but it hush felt more like very soccer. FIFA 99 ‘s arcade nature, however, is more apparent. The game is agile — not angstrom immediate as, say, the lightning-like Actua Soccer series, but fast adequate to keep you constantly on the edge. Relaxed dribbles, are few and far between. Tackles are more effective now, and unless you use the diverse particular maneuvers and prison term them correctly, they are impossible to avoid. In fact, dribbles are no longer a viable option. You now have to master the happen, in all its varieties, in holy order to succeed. Short and long lob and whatever else, must be learned. What ‘s more, you have to get them off in rapid succession. This of course requires good reflexes, a dependable eye, and an ability to understand the fine points of the locomotive so as to anticipate the placement of players outside the scene sphere .
Headers are overall much easier to control and consequently much more effective, and chest traps have been improved well. In fact, the control system has been tweaked, and the players are now well easier to handle once you remember all the different combinations. The ocular interface is besides improved, with white crosshairs pointing to the player who will receive the following pass ( I would like to know what a dark brown marker means, though, as it is not explained in the manual ). The ball may still go through the net sometimes, although this happens more rarely than earlier, and free kicks are easier to control since the kick arrow can immediately be moved after the dart button is already being held. Two major improvements in gameplay are both relate to the fact that after-touch is far more effective now. Most importantly, you can direct your shots much more well and, adverse to FIFA 98, apply some dangerous curve can to some balls. Another major improvement is the fact that you can now interrupt a move while it is being performed, eliminating one of the most annoy expression of FIFA 98 and allowing far better control over your player. Oh, and you can actually stop a ball near the sidelines excessively .
The most interesting conclusion I ‘ve made about FIFA 99 is this : the game is now better in multiplayer mood but slenderly worse in single-player manner. In multiplayer, everything works absolutely, with the human touch adding that supernumerary bit to game balance wheel. The teams are affected by the player ‘s decisions, and the engine is good adequate that it never feels intrusive. Whoever plays the best wins. Single actor, however, is different. amateur modality is useless, as always. Professional is now a good in-between ground, since it is challenging but not besides much so, and I personally prefer this grade to the other two. The problem is with first flat meet. It is here where FIFA 99 becomes more a game of pinball than anything else. It is practically impossible to hold a ball for more than a second, or two at best, and once you are in the computer ‘s half, evening this is besides much. The short pass button is constantly employed, and after a while this gets a little boring. The reason for all this is that the engine is now good enough to nullify the human factor by having the advantage of split-second decisions. Add to that the over-effectiveness of tackles, needed for improved crippled proportion, and you will get into a “ get rid of the testis ” craze pretty promptly. I ‘m not certain if anything could be done about this, but the overall result is that playing first sends the game back into the arcade kingdom, and becomes less enjoyable after a while. In any casing, professional horizontal surface is nowadays a identical full choice, since it is now harder and however, in many senses, restrained. This should be the option of FIFA 98 veterans. One final note is that the computer about never uses the long ball or lob, preferring the short pass alternatively .
One death return I would like to mention is keeper control and the AI. You can now control your custodian, even to the item of initiating a goalkeeper first-come-first-serve during bring. But, more importantly, keeper AI is greatly improved. They are now much more aggressive and can ultimately be termed effective — and naturalistic. They will close down your shooting angle, charge when they should, and tip the ball much more often than ahead. They will even go away from the finish line to catch high balls, something therefore sorely missing in FIFA 98. vitamin a far as gameplay goes, this area is improved the most, and keepers are ultimately up to par with the rest of the bet on. Kudos .

Offside

Before I go into my conclusions, I would like to say a few words about the write out of FIFA 99 ‘s let go of. EA Sports promised us 20 stadiums to play in, and a superficial attend will confirm this, as game intros are different for each stadium present. The games themselves, however, take plaza in a smaller number of actual stadiums — 11, to be exact ( although some people in the newsgroups claim to have seen only five or six ). A lot of people complained about this, and on the face of it, it seems like EA may have screwed up .
personally, I could n’t care less. There is enough diverseness in the game as it is, and a few more stadiums would add nothing to the feel. As it is, the FIFA line is n’t that hot on stadium details anyhow — no crowd animations ( disregarding the two pixel rows of FIFA 98, which were a laugh at best ), no changing banners or flags or mexican waves or whatever. In fact, the games are therefore demanding when it comes to gameplay, that I can not see where one would have time to appreciate the fine points of stadium computer architecture. So equally far as I ‘m refer, this detracts nothing from the game. however, be warned. You wo n’t have 20 stadiums to play in. And yes, I hush think that EA should issue a ball apology regarding this.

Read more: David Prowse

Final score

There is no denying it. FIFA 99 is the best calculator soccer game on the planet. I can not see where it could be seriously improved for following year, but I besides did not foresee how this one would improve over FIFA 98. If you like soccer, then you must have this game, and evening if you only have a distant interest, you should badly consider buying it. FIFA 99 is beautiful, sounds amazing, plays absolutely, is highly addictive and highly well balanced. It is sincerely in a league of its own .
note : As you ‘ve credibly noticed, this review used the term “ soccer ” throughout. Using “ football ” would have made things awkward for american english readers, whereas “ soccer ” is silent everywhere. however, the reviewer is NOT from the US .
review By GamesDomain