FIFA 07 Updated Hands-On

Our last look at the upcoming FIFA 07 for the Xbox 360 came at the Leipzig Games Convention, where we got to try out the game's rebuilt physics engine and play a bit of 11-on-11 soccer to see how the new system is turning out. Representatives from EA were in town today to show off a more recent build of the game, and we're pleased to say that FIFA 07 seems to be making great progress toward its release in late October.

While we discussed some of the new features last time around, the new game engine bears mentioning again. Both the movement of the individual players and the ball itself feel different from last year. More so, players on the pitch are more responsive than ever before; if you change direction quickly in the middle of a run, the player will more or less instantly respond to the input on your controller. Better yet, all of the animations that make up that switch in momentum will be context sensitive. When switching directions, for instance, a player will first plant his feet appropriately, turn his body around, and then push off his back foot in the new direction, just as he would in real life. Player bodies, too, feel more solid than before. During one game we played, the new collision physics between players was on fine display. While defending against an attacker, for example, we didn't have to hammer on the tackle button. Instead, by simply putting our player's body into the other player, we could upset his progress or, better yet, wrest possession away from him.

The ball, too, feels different in FIFA 07. Far from being "tied" to player animations on the field, the ball is an entirely separate entity in FIFA 07 and will bounce off of crossbars, player chests, and feet and legs with equal realism. As a result, plays in the game feel much less deterministic and much more the result of the random, and entirely exciting, happenings that can crop up when a bunch of blokes crowd around a soccer ball and try kicking it. Other control tweaks help out, as well--jumping up for headers, for example, requires delicate timing to press the jump button at the right moment, as opposed to merely mashing the button repeatedly in previous games.

One point that EA producers are quick to point out about FIFA 07 is that the game is entirely data driven. What they mean, it seems, is that thanks to a more sophisticated animation and physics system, the incremental differences in players' abilities really are tangible in the game. Sure, you might not be able to perceive the difference between a player with a speed rating of 91 and one with a 90, but the game does note it. And it's these microscopic variations that make up a virtual player's abilities and how he performs in the game.

As you play games in either quickplay mode or manager mode (the FIFA 07 equivalent to a franchise mode), how your players perform in the matches will determine how their attributes improve over the course of their career. After each match, every player who took part is evaluated over a number of different categories, including attacking, defending, passing, and so on. The more success he finds in the match, the more experience points he will earn after the match is over. Once you are back in the player-management screen, you can use those experience points to improve any of a truly impressive list of attributes for each player. Overall player attributes include attack, defense, skill, power, movement, and mentality, and each attribute has a number of more specific skills attached to that attribute. The defense attribute, for instance, has skills such as marking, standing tackle, and sliding tackle. You apply experience points to these individual subcategories of attributes to determine just how that particular player improves.

Another attribute to player growth deals with player traits. Traits are slightly different from regular attributes, as they are either on or off; there is no middle ground. For example, a player is either prone to injury, or he isn't. What sets traits apart from normal attributes is that there is a risk for each trait you choose to activate or deactivate. You can, for instance, choose to make a particular player more prone to injury, for example, and reap the reward of an instant bonus of experience points to spend as you see fit. Of course, even with those new points, your player might suffer a season-ending injury at any time. Conversely, choosing a beneficial trait for your player will cost you experience points.

Stat tracking in FIFA 07 for the Xbox 360 covers more than just player attributes and traits, however. The increased processing power and memory of the next-gen console is allowing for a truly ludicrous amount of in-game stats to be tracked by the game. There's your standard stuff, such as shots taken by a player and number of passes made and attempted, but the game also records every individual dribble path each player on the team made and where it happened on the field (and whether it resulted in a successful pass or that player losing the ball). If you want to know the number of yards a player has traveled with the ball over the course of the season, FIFA 07 will be able to tell you. Beyond using this kind of information for scouting purposes, one particularly cool use for this obsessive attention to stats will be when playing a game with a buddy, where both players are playing on the same team. Now, you'll be able to see exactly who contributed what to your winning (or losing) effort. Feel like your partner didn't pull his weight in your last game? Now you'll be able to prove it with hard, irrefutable data.

One thing that the FIFA series has been able to nail for a while now is the manic, passionate football atmosphere that makes soccer one of the most popular sports in the world. The sounds of the massive crowds in the game are front and center, and you'll likely hear songs and chants from your favorite clubs when playing with them in the game. The commentary duo of Martin Tyler and Andy Gray will handle play-calling duties in FIFA 07, and they seem like a lively pair in the booth.

Beyond the quickplay and manager modes, FIFA 07 will also see the return of the popular lounge mode, which debuted in FIFA 06; online multiplayer support for up to four players (two per team); and a challenge mode, which will include 10 levels of gameplay comprised of 8 to 10 skills challenges per level. We expect to see more on FIFA 07 later this month--the game will be playable at Microsoft's X06 event--and we'll be bringing you more on the game then.