More time with the game brings me to another frustration that I am having a hard time looking past. The CPU controlled players on offense are worthless. When I fire a shot at the goalie, and it is deflected, I do not want everyone to sit around and watch the CPU defenders eventually clear the ball. No, I want my guys to run like bastards towards the ball in hopes of getting a rebound, second look, cheap shot, etc. Maybe there is a setting that I am missing?
Same thing goes for my CPU defenders when the CPU is attacking in my box. They should do everything is their power to get to the ball to desperately clear. Instead, there is no appearance of urgency, no desperation; just lollygagging.
The game is not a total disaster; far from it. The new first touch system is pretty cool. It allows you to flick the right stick in the direction you want your player (about to receive the ball) to redirect the ball. This is important because it helps clear space while keeping a run going. I have discussed before my lack of dexterity when it come to gaming, so I still need lots of work with this feature, but the potential is evident.
I have yet to score with the new “chip the ball shot over the goalie” feature, but I am getting a lot of use out of the new “chip through-ball” feature. It gets pretty crazy when you do a chip through-ball, followed by a first touch, and then fire in a shot.
The sucky manual is really bothering me. I have no idea how some things work, or should work. The manual says that I can use the L1 shoulder button to call in defensive help to cut off a player, but damn if this does not seem hit or miss. I hope someone gets a PS2 specific FAQ posted sooner rather than later. Is it too much to ask for a decent manual? I am not asking for color or anything, just something that describes the game’s controls, features, strategy, and so on. Winning Eleven does this right, so shame on EA for such a lackluster effort.
I will post more later. The verdict is still out on how good or how bad FIFA 2005 is compared to WE7. Right now I think that WE7 easily has the better playing game, but it too has plenty of issues. We could pick apart games all day long, but at the end of the day fun factor wins out. So far, so good, but FIFA 2005’s lack of any semblance of computer controlled AI players is starting to grate very, very quickly.