FIFA 2003 Preview
We travel to EA Canada to get in the inside scoop on the next FIFA game for the PlayStation 2.
Matt Bilbey considers FIFA 2003 to be something of a "payback" for fans. The product manager for the world's favorite soccer simulation believes that that upcoming game will be one of the best in the history of the long-running EA Sports franchise. Much of the game has been rebuilt from the ground up with an eye toward providing more realistic action for devoted aficionados who have at times struggled mightily with play that wasn't exactly true to life.
"For a long time, the FIFA series has been a real moneymaker for EA," Bilbey said during a recent tour of EA Canada's design studios just outside of Vancouver. "This year it was time to offer a payback to the fans who have allowed it to be so successful and give them the game that they deserve. We pulled people from other design teams, moving them from some of our other series so we could do what we really wanted to with FIFA this year. The size of the FIFA 2003 design team is almost double what it has been in previous years, and the 112 people have done amazing work. What they've achieved in a short space of time--improving the AI, creating accurate stadiums and player artwork--is quite fantastic."
Spending a day with the nearly completed product revealed that these statements weren't the typical games industry hyperbole. The new game appears to be much improved in every area, including the core elements of play. According to Bilbey, the expanded design team started with dribbling. Many developers weren't happy with how a player became attached to the ball as soon as he took possession of it, finding that this one faulty element sabotaged any pretense that the FIFA series had to realism. So the first thing the programmers worked on was enhanced ball physics. They detached the ball from the ball handler's foot and added all sorts of little touches to make the gamer seem like he or she was really dribbling up the pitch.
This is perhaps the most noticeable improvement in the build of FIFA 2003 that we previewed. Instead of controlling the ball as if it were attached to your feet like some sort of inflated yo-yo, players now must take pains to keep possession. Sprint too much and you'll lose control of the ball. Make too many sudden moves and you'll lose control of the ball. At the same time, the developers don't seem to have pushed their attempts at realism too far. Although it is harder to maintain tight control of the ball in this build of FIFA 2003 than in FIFA 2002, dribbling isn't so difficult that casual players will be put off. On the contrary, the added level of challenge seems to have been balanced so soccer neophytes will be entranced, not frustrated.
"Now, players have to move the ball in FIFA just like players have to move the ball in a real football game," Bilbey said. "We felt that we had to change the AI in this fundamental way so we could make our game more like real football. We had to make the game authentic to the real world of football, so we spent a solid eight to 10 weeks of around-the-clock work on the AI this summer."
FIFA Soccer 2003 Quick Links
Summary | Reviews | News | Previews & Features | Images | Videos | Answers | Hints & Cheats | Forum | Check Prices
Games you may like…
-
FIFA Soccer 2004
(PS2) -
FIFA Soccer 2002
(PS2) -
FIFA 2001
(PS2) -
FIFA Soccer 2005
(PS2) -
World Tour Soccer 2003
(PS2)
Users who looked at content for this game also looked at these games.
See More Similar Games
1 Comments