Fans of previous FIFA games, or of any soccer games for that matter, shouldn't have too much difficulty picking up FIFA 2004. It's actually a good idea to play your first few matches without even attempting to try out the new off-the-ball controls, just to get a feel for the game's basic controls, which, incidentally, are more responsive than in previous FIFA titles. The fact that the amount of pressure you exert on the analog stick has no effect on your players' speed could take some getting used to if you've been playing some of the other soccer games available, but using the trigger buttons as walk and sprint modifiers actually works very well. Being able to slow your players down to a walk at the push of a button certainly comes in very handy when you want to shield the ball from opponents, since it allows you to move in different directions without actually changing the way that your player is facing.

Fans of previous FIFA games, or fans of any soccer games for that matter, shouldn't have too much difficulty picking up FIFA 2004.

Another extremely useful new feature in FIFA 2004, which fans of Konami's soccer games have been employing for years, is the ability to have one of your defenders pursue an opponent in possession of the ball simply by holding down a single button. The purpose of this feature isn't really to allow you to have two players gang up on a single opponent--although that certainly works on occasion--but it's designed to let you have a second player attempt to get the ball while you concentrate on marking another opponent, just in case the first one manages to release a pass. The players that you send after the ball perform their function admirably--most of the time. Since they more or less just aiming for the ball in a straight line at all times, there are occasions--mostly when the opposing player is sprinting--that you'll wish they had the intelligence to take the other player's movement into consideration when deciding on their intercept courses.

The most publicized new feature of FIFA 2004, and the one you're probably the most curious about, is EA Sports' new off-the-ball control. To explain it simply, the system allows you to control a second player's movement on the field by using the second analog stick. Really, there's a lot more to it than that. In addition to being able to send players off on runs, as in FIFA 2003, you're now able to exert various levels of control over these runs by using the right analog stick. The simpler technique, of the two available, allows you to alter the direction of the player's run by simply flicking the analog stick accordingly. Once you're comfortable with this one, though, you'll definitely want to spend some time mastering the second. When looking to pass the ball, you now have the option of highlighting three potential receivers. You choose one and then move him in exactly the same way as you're moving your current player--though now you're using the second analog stick. You've probably guessed that this is, by no means, easy, and, to be honest, we've found it to be a system that's best used sparingly. This is particularly true of multiplayer games when your opponent will be able to see exactly what you're up to. When used to good effect, though, the off-the-ball controls are incredibly satisfying, to say the least, and make for far less predictable patterns of play. Incidentally, the off-the-ball system also makes it a lot easier to pick out specific players when you're crossing the ball into the opposing team's goalmouth.

As great as everything is sounding up to now, FIFA 2004 isn't without its fair share of problems. For one thing, the menu option to move players between teams--so that you can keep them current--is next to useless since any player moving from one team to another has to be swapped one-for-one. So, for example, if David Beckham were to return to Manchester United, one of the existing Manchester players would have to take his place at Real Madrid. The TV-style camera angles used for corner kicks are also problematic, not only because the "jostling for position in the box" gameplay that EA has attempted to implement in these situations doesn't work terribly well but also because the camera takes just a little too long to return to normal once the set piece is over. Depending on which corner the kick is being taken from, the camera change can also have the effect of making you attack from left to right and then from right to left and back again in a relatively short space of time. This, of course, can get confusing.

Problems can also arise when you attempt to use the newly implemented in-game management (IGM) system to alter your team's tactics during gameplay. After calling up the IGM menu, you use the directional pad to determine whether you're changing a defensive strategy, an attacking strategy, or a formation preference, and then you choose the strategy from one of three more options. It sounds simple enough, but it takes just a little too long to do, and so it's best attempted only when play is stopped. A simple list of all nine options to scroll through would've been easier to tackle, particularly since the existing menus of three options apiece don't allow you to jump from option three back to option one without scrolling back through option two.

Finally, we've been disappointed to discover that the majority of the goals scored in FIFA 2004--at least those scored by us--have been the result of powerful shots unleashed a good distance from the goal. A goal is a goal, of course, and not all of those scored in real life are works of art, despite what strikers say. The fact that the game rewards players who are trigger happy over and above those who are looking to play the beautiful game in a beautiful way, certainly doesn't seem to be in keeping with the game's new off-the-ball style of play. Cranking the game up to its fourth and highest difficulty setting certainly makes the keepers harder to beat, but they're often still not quick enough to come out for balls, nor are they fast enough to react to shots taken from a distance.

FIFA Soccer 2004 features more than 350 real teams from all over the world.

An area of FIFA 2004 that certainly doesn't disappoint is its sound effects, commentary, and soundtrack. Matches take place in stadiums packed with supporters who cheer at all the right times and know the correct chants for some of the bigger teams. The in-game commentary from BBC favorites John Motson and Ally McCoist is both accurate and nonrepetitive. It'll come as no surprise to those who have played an EA Sports title recently that the game also boasts an impressive lineup of licensed music, including tracks from the likes of The Dandy Warhols, Kings of Leon, The Jam, Radiohead, and Timo Maas.

The Xbox version of FIFA 2004 is the most impressive console version, as far as the visuals are concerned, and, along with the GameCube version, it boasts progressive scan support for those of you in a position to take advantage of the feature. The gameplay in all three console versions is virtually identical, but it has to be said that the layout of the buttons on the Xbox controller can make some of the more-demanding moves a lot trickier to perform than on the PS2. In the absence of any serious competition, FIFA Soccer 2004 is far and away the best soccer game available for the Xbox right now. If you have any interest in the sport whatsoever, you'd be crazy not to give it a try.