FIFA Soccer (PSP)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 4.0 stars Excellent
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 8.3 (4.0 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Justin Calvert
• Reviewed on: 04/27/2005
• Released on: 04/25/2005
• Originally published on GameSpot: FIFA Soccer (PSP) Review

When EA Sports announced its intention to release FIFA Soccer for the PSP, we naturally assumed it would be a scaled-down version of last year's FIFA Soccer 2005. Well, the PSP game has arrived (a little later than planned), and we're pleased to report that it was well worth the wait. FIFA Soccer is a great soccer game in almost every respect, and it has a lot more in common with its excellent console and PC counterparts than we could have guessed.

The uniforms, and many of the players wearing them, are instantly recognizable.

For starters, FIFA Soccer features more than 350 fully licensed club and international teams from all over the world. The uniforms are detailed enough to include player names, team badges, and sponsor logos, and the better-known players are easily recognizable. Lesser-known players tend to be quite generic looking by comparison, but since you'll spend the majority of your time viewing them from a gameplay camera positioned high above the pitch, this is hardly a cause for concern. FIFA Soccer also boasts a decent create-a-player option similar to that in FIFA Soccer 2005, and while it won't let you edit the features of existing players, there's no reason why you can't use it to create a second David Beckham the next time he gets a headline-making haircut.

FIFA Soccer also features a transfer market option, which lets you easily move players between teams, though it has practically nothing in common with real transfer markets. The most obvious use for the transfer market option is to keep your game's team rosters up to date, but you could also use it to create a dream team of all your favorite players.

Given that the PSP version of FIFA Soccer doesn't feature anything resembling a real-world transfer market, it might come as no surprise that the game also doesn't include a career mode. You'll be able to play through an entire season in any of 26 club divisions, though, or use the new midseason scenario mode to play through just the second half of a season where the real-life results for the first half are already in place. The midseason scenarios are available for 18 different divisions, all of them European. Alternatively, the custom season mode lets you create your own league comprising three to 20 teams. More than 20 real cup tournaments are also available, as well as a custom tournament option.

Other gameplay modes in FIFA Soccer include exhibition matches, a challenge mode, and wireless head-to-head play. The challenge mode comprises no fewer than 40 real-life scenarios for you to play through, most of which are based on memorable matches played in 2004. In real life, these scenarios were all quite different, but in FIFA Soccer they basically boil down to your having to score a certain number of goals in a certain amount of time, thus replicating the spectacular comeback or rout that happened in actuality.

The challenge mode scenarios get really tough as you progress.

When you successfully complete a scenario, you'll unlock the next, more difficult one, and you'll also earn a number of FIFA Soccer points for yourself. In fact, you'll earn FIFA Soccer points the first time you do just about anything in the game, whether it be accessing a new mode, keeping a clean sheet, or scoring a hat trick. You can spend the points at the FIFA Soccer store, which has 38 alternate uniforms, six official balls, nighttime options for 30 stadiums, two extra songs, and the famous referee Pierluigi Collina up for grabs. None of the unlockables are particularly exciting, but it never hurts to have goals--pun intended.

Recent user reviews

• Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 4 reviews
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• Showing 3 of 4 user reviews

• 4.5 stars

  "Most amazing soccer game ever, now even better and portable"

  by damuffinmanda on June 24, 2005

• 4.5 stars

  "Just call it Footbal...and Keep RULING..."

  by bilalafzal on May 18, 2005

• 4.0 stars

  "Great Futbol for Portable"

  by taj asc on April 29, 2005

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